|
SS. Quattro Coronati |
|
|
||
|
The
name of the church refers to some stories about four martyrs that could
be or a group of sculptors from the Roman province of Pannonia near the
Danube martyred by Diocletian because of refuse to sculpture pagan
divinity of Aesculapius, or a group of soldiers that refused to murder
the artists, or four martyrs of Albano. The word "coronati"
("crowned") speaks for the crown that the image of a martyr
receives. The
church was built in the 4th century, but in the middle of the 9th
century it was seriously restored by St Leo IV. During these works the
bell-tower, the most ancient in Rome, was erected. In those times the
church was much larger and the second of present courtyards made a part
of the construction, as well as one side of the adjoining cloister was
church's left aisle, and a present refectory of the monks was its right
aisle. The reduce of the church took place in 1112-1116 when it was
reconstructed by Pascal II after the fire and sack brought by Normans in
1084 in all the zone between St John Lateran and Colosseum. At the same
time a fortified monastery was erected to protect the church and the
territory around it. Beneath
the presbytery with the 16th century frescoes is an ancient crypt
preserving the rests of the martyrs. The floor is Cosmatesque. In
1557 the future King of Portugal had the lacunar ceiling built, and in
1621 cardinal Giovan Garzia Mellini had the apse frescoes restored. In
1912 Antonio Munoz conducted a series of important reconstruction of the
church that was in the state of degrade. The
convent hosted different great personalities of different epochs, such
as different popes and Charles of Anjou, senator of Rome. In 1560 the
convent passed to the sisters-Agostinians who transferred here the
hospice for the girls-orphans, located before it on Isola Tiberina. On
the right of the church is a rectangular Chapel of St Sylvester built in
1246. Its vault is beautifully decorated with the polychrome stars and
elements of majolica. The walls are covered with the important cycle of
frescoes (13th century) representing the Stories of Constantine and pope
St Sylvester. In 1570 this chapel was assigned to the confraternity of
marble masons, who added a presbytery with the paintings.
|
Via dei SS. Quattro Coronati, 20
M Colosseo
BUS 13 15 30/ 81 85 87 118
|
|||
06735321