Santa Maria in Ara Coeli

Coordinates: 41°53′38″N 12°29′00″E / 41.8939°N 12.4833°E / 41.8939; 12.4833
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Santa Maria in Aracoeli
)
Basilica of Saint Mary of the Altar in Heaven
  • Basilica di Santa Maria in Aracœli (
    Style
Romanesque, Gothic
Completed12th century
Specifications
Length80 metres (260 ft)
Width45 metres (148 ft)
Nave width20 metres (66 ft)
Clergy
Cardinal protectorSalvatore De Giorgi

The Basilica of Saint Mary of the Altar in Heaven (

cardinal priest of the Titulus Sanctae Mariae de Aracoeli is Salvatore De Giorgi
.

The shrine is known for housing relics belonging to

Holy Sepulchre, both the pontifically crowned images of Nostra Signora di Mano di Oro di Aracoeli (1636) on the high altar and the Santo Bambino of Aracoeli
(1897).

History

Interior of the church.
Fresco of Madonna and the Child by Pietro Cavallini.

Originally the church was named Sancta Maria in Capitolio, since it was sited on the

Christ. "For this reason the figures of Augustus and of the Tiburtine sibyl are painted on either side of the arch above the high altar".[1] Its name originates from a legend according to which a sibyl predicted the coming of the son of God to Augustus by saying: "Haec est ara Filii Dei" (This is the altar of the son of God): hence the name Ara Coeli.[2]

In The History of Money, anthropologist Jack Weatherford goes into some detail about the church's previous incarnation as the temple of Juno Moneta—on the Arx—after whom Money is named.

According to Roman historians, in the fourth century B.C., the irritated honking of the sacred geese around Juno's temple on Capitoline Hill warned the people of an impending night attack by the Gauls, who were secretly scaling the walls of the citadel. From this event, the goddess acquired [the] surname-Juno Moneta, from Latin monere (to warn) . . . As patroness of the state, Juno Moneta presided over various activities of the state, including the primary activity of issuing money...from Moneta came the modem English words mint and money and, ultimately, from the Latin word meaning warning.

Today, the site of the Temple of Juno Moneta, the source of the great stream of Roman currency, has given way to the ancient . . . brick church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli. Centuries ago, church architects incorporated the ruins of the ancient temple into the new building.[3]

The church is also thought to have replaced the auguraculum, the seat of the augurs.

The foundation of the church was laid on the site of a

Insula Romana
") - were discovered in the 1930s. At first the church followed the Greek rite, a sign of the power of the Byzantine exarch. Taken over by the papacy by the 9th century, the church was given first to the
Franciscans in 1249–1250;[4] under the Franciscans it received its Romanesque-Gothic aspect. The arches that divide the nave
from the aisles are supported on columns, no two precisely alike, scavenged from Roman ruins.

Ceiling.

During the Middle Ages, this church became the centre of the religious and civil life of the city. It was here in 1341 that Petrarch was proclaimed Poet laureate.[5] During the republican experience of the 14th century, when self-proclaimed Tribune and reviver of the Roman Republic Cola di Rienzo inaugurated the monumental stairway of 124 steps in front of the church, designed in 1348 by Simone Andreozzi, on the occasion of the Black Death. Condemned criminals were executed at the foot of the steps; there Cola di Rienzo met his death, near the spot where his statue commemorates him.

Basilica of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli. The Vittoriano can be seen on the left.
Same view as above in 1816.

In 1571, Santa Maria in Aracoeli hosted the celebrations honoring

Roman Republic, the basilica was deconsecrated and turned into a stable. It was almost demolished in the 1880s during the construction of the nearby Vittoriano.[2]

Exterior

Central fresco by Pinturicchio in the Santo Bernardino Chapel (1486).

The original unfinished façade lost the mosaics and subsequent frescoes that originally decorated it, save a mosaic in the tympanum of the main door, one of three doors that were later additions. The gothic window is the primary detail that tourists observe from the bottom of the stairs; it is the only authentically Gothic detail of the basilica.

Interior

The basilica is built as a nave and two aisles that are divided by Roman columns, which were taken from diverse antique monuments and are all different.[4] Among its numerous treasures are Pinturicchio's 15th-century frescoes depicting the life of Saint Bernardino of Siena in the Bufalini Chapel, the first chapel on the right. Other features are the wooden ceiling, the inlaid cosmatesque floor, a Transfiguration painted on wood by Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta, and works by other artists like Pietro Cavallini (of his frescoes only one survives), Benozzo Gozzoli, and Giulio Romano.

Madonna Aracoeli, the primary icon of the basilica

It also houses the Madonna Aracoeli (Our Lady of the Golden Hands), a Byzantine icon of the 10-11th century, in the altar. This Marian image was Pontifically crowned on 29 March 1636 by Pope Urban VIII. Pope Pius XII consecrated the people of Rome to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary and her Immaculate Heart in front of this image on 30 May 1948. In the transept there is a sepulchral monument by Arnolfo di Cambio.

The church was also famous in Rome for the wooden statue of the

Epiphany
the bejeweled image resides in the Nativity crib in the left nave of the basilica.

The relics of

Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, are housed in the basilica, as is the tablet with the monogram of Jesus that Bernardino of Siena used to promote devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus
.

Burials

Tomb of Honorius IV
The tomb of Honorius IV.

Curiosities

See also

References

  1. ^ Rodolfo Lanciani, Pagan and Christian Rome, ch 1 "The Transformation of Rome from a Pagan to a Christian City"
  2. ^ a b c "The Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli", Turismo Roma, Major Events, Sport, Tourism and Fashion Department
  3. .
  4. ^ a b Lang, Peter. "Santa Maria in Aracoeli", University of Washington
  5. ^ Ingrid D. Rowland (2012) Anachronic Renaissance, Konsthistorisk tidskrift/ Journal of Art History, 81:3, 172-177, DOI: 10.1080/00233609.2012.706234
  6. ^ M. Gianturco, Giulio Salvadori (Milan, 1930)
  7. ^ Lorenzo Cardella, Memorie de' Cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa (Rome 1793), p. 30.
  8. ^ Renascence: The Sculptured Tombs of the Fifteenth Century in Rome, by Gerald Stanley Davies, page 250.
  9. Heavy.com
    . Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  10. ^ "Italian History".

Bibliography

  • Johanna Elfriede Louise Heideman, The cinquecento chapel decorations in S. Maria in Aracoeli in Rome, Academische Pers, 1982.

External links

Media related to Santa Maria in Aracoeli (Rome) at Wikimedia Commons

Preceded by
Santa Maria in Domnica
Landmarks of Rome
Santa Maria in Ara Coeli
Succeeded by
Santa Maria del Popolo