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- It is one of the most important cemetery
basilicas in Rome built on the catacombs of St Agnes to honor the
young martyr. It was probably built by the daughter of emperor
Constantine, Constantia, in the middle of the 4th century, on her
estate next to the tomb of St Agnes (304 A.D.). Next to it,
Constantia built the mausoleum in which she and her sister Helena
were buried.
- It was first restored by pope St Symmachus
in the early 6th century and reconstructed by Honorius I in the
7th century, when basilica was already in ruins. Afterwards it was
restored by Hadrian I, Paul V (1614) and Pius IX. The level of
basilica could be approached by 45 white marble steps leading down
built in 1590 and decorated by sculptural fragments and burial
inscriptions.
- The apse of the basilica is in Via
Nomentana with its beautiful 15th century bell-tower. A tower with
the coat-of-arms of Julius II adjoins the church; it is what left
from the fortifications once defending the basilica. A hall
beside the entrance is decorated with the painting celebrating the
collapse of the floor of the room above, which took place here
during the visit of Pius IX on April 12, 1855, which didn't harm
pope in anyway.
- Interior is on a basilican plan with
the nave separated from aisles by 14 ancient Roman columns, In the
second chapel on the right is a Cosmatesque altar, a relief by
A.Bregno (1490), a bust of Christ by N.Cordier (copy from
Michelangelo's lost work), and a 15th century fresco Madonna and
Child. The high altar preserves the relics of St Agnes. The apse
mosaic remained from the epoch of Honorius I (7th century) and
represents St Agnes between the popes Symmachus and Honorius I. The
dedicatory inscription below records how much Honorius spent on the
church.
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- The entrance to the Catacombs of St. Agnes
in the left aisle. These are the best preserved Roman Catacombs,
discovered in 1865. It doesn't have paintings, but numerous
inscriptions, as well as many intact loculi. The catacombs may date
from 258 A.D.. Here is the chapel where the body of St Agnes was
found.
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Via Nomentana, 349
 068610840
M
Bologna
BUS
39 60 84 90 310
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