Santi Cosma e Damiano, Rome

Coordinates: 41°53′31″N 12°29′15″E / 41.8920625°N 12.4874308°E / 41.8920625; 12.4874308
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Temple of Romulus
)
Santi Cosma e Damiano
Basilica of Saints Cosmas and Damian
Basilica dei Santi Cosma e Damiano
Style
Early Christian
GroundbreakingAD 309
Completed1632
Administration
Subdivisionupright
DioceseRome

The basilica of Santi Cosma e Damiano is a titular church in Rome, Italy. The lower portion of the building is accessible through the Roman Forum and incorporates original Roman buildings, but the entrance to the upper level is outside the Forum.

The circular building located at the entrance of the Forum, which now houses a small archeological exhibition, was possibly built in the early 4th century as a

early Christian art
, especially in its mosaics.

Today it is one of the ancient

Forum of Vespasian
, also known as the Forum of Peace.

History

Modern street view of the Church
Engraving of the Church
Giovanni Battista Falda (1665)

The Temple is traditionally held to have been dedicated by Emperor

Penates
, restored by Maxentius.

The temple was

Christ at the end of time. The bodies of Saints Mark and Marcellian were translated, perhaps in the ninth century, to this church, where they were rediscovered in 1583 during the reign of Pope Gregory XIII
.

In 1632,

Campo Vaccino
, thus avoiding the infiltration of water. Also, a cloister was added. The old floor of the basilica is still visible in the lower church, which is actually the lower part of the first church.

In 1947, the restorations of the Imperial Forums gave a new structure to the church. The old entrance, through the Temple of Romulus, was closed, and the temple restored to its original forms; with the Pantheon, the Temple of Romulus is the best preserved pagan temple in Rome. A new entrance was opened on the opposite side (on via dei Fori Imperiali), whose arch gives access to the cloister, and through this to the side of the basilica.

Structure and art

Plan of the Basilica and Monastery

Next to the new entrance to the complex, there are the rooms with the original marble paving of the Forum of Peace, and the wall where the 150 marble slabs of the Forma Urbis Romae were hung. Through the cloister, the entrance to the church opens on the side of the single nave. The plan of the basilica followed the norms of the Counter-Reformation: a single nave, with three chapels per side, and the big apse, which now looks quite oversized because of the reduction in height of the 17th-century restoration, framed by the triumphal arch, also mutilated by that restoration.

The mosaics are masterpieces of 6th- and 7th-century art. In the middle is Christ, with

Theodorus (right), and Saint Paul presenting Saint Damian and Pope Felix IV
; the latter holds a model of the church.

History of medicine

The importance of this basilica for the

Claudius Galen himself lectured in the Library of the Temple of Peace ("Bibliotheca Pacis").[citation needed] Furthermore, for centuries, in this "medical area"[vague] Roman physicians had their meetings.[2]

Gallery

  • Pope Felix IV presents Saints Cosmas and Damian with the basilica he rededicated
    rededicated
  • Apse mosaic
    Apse mosaic

Cardinal-deacons

See also

References

  1. ^ Hunt, E. D., "Imperial Building at Rome: The Role of Constantine"; in Cornell, T, and Lomas,Bread and Circuses': Euergetism and Municipal Patronage in Roman Italy, Routledge, 2005, pp. 106–107.
  2. ^ Cfr L. Temperini, Basilica Santi Cosma e Damiano, Edizioni Casa Generalizia TOR, Roma, s.d., p. 5.

Books and articles

  • Pietro Chioccioni, La Basilica E Il Convento Dei Santi Cosma E Damiano in Roma (Roma: Curia Generalizia dell'Ordine, 1963).
  • Roberta Budriesi, La Basilica dei Ss. Cosma e Damiano a Roma (Bologna: Patron 1968).
  • Vitaliano Tiberia, Il Restauro Del Mosaico Della Basilica Dei Santi Cosma E Damiano a Roma (Todi, Perugia: Ediart, 1991) [Arte e restauro, 7].
  • Roma, Touring Club Italiano, 2004, pp. 276–277.
  • Tucci, Pier Luigi, "Nuove acquisizioni sulla basilica dei Santi Cosma e Damiano", Studi Romani 49 (2001) 275–293
  • Tucci, Pier Luigi, "The Revival of Antiquity in Medieval Rome: the Restoration of the Basilica of SS. Cosma e Damiano in the Twelfth Century", Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 49 (2004) 99–126.
  • Jacalyn Duffin, Medical Saints: Cosmas and Damian in a Postmodern World (NY-Oxford: Oxford University Press 2013).

External links

Media related to Basilica dei Santi Cosma e Damiano at Wikimedia Commons

Preceded by
San Clemente al Laterano 		Landmarks of Rome
Santi Cosma e Damiano 		Succeeded by
San Crisogono, Rome
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