mercoledì 14 marzo 2012

SECRETS AND MYSTERIES IN ROME. ALTERNATIVE ITINERARIES - PART 2

 
 
SECRETS AND MYSTERIES IN ROME. ALTERNATIVE ITINERARIES - PART 2

SAINT YVES AT THE SAPIENZA

One of Borromini's masterpieces. Pope Urban VIII Barberini, asked him in 1632 to complete the Sapienza palace, the seat of the university and today... housing the National Archives, with a church dedicated to Saint Yves.

The church, one of the most elegant in Rome, has a wealth of symbolic elements starting from its triangular shape, built on the seal of Solomon which together with parts of the circle forms the figure of a bee. The interior of the Church, with its diffuse whiteness, is regarded as one of the finest expressions of the Roman Baroque.

Borromini was forced to adapt his design to the already existing palace. He choose a plan resembling a star of David, and merged the facade of the church with the courtyard of the palace. The dome, with its corkscrew lantern, is remarkable in its novelty. The complex rhythms of the interior have a dazzling geometry to them. It is a rational architecture- intricate to view, but on paper the overlap of a circle on two superimposed equilateral triangles creates a basis for a hexagonal array of chapels and altar in a centralized church. The undulations, both concave and convex of the interiors, create a jarring yet stunning appeal. The decoration is a mixture of novel organic (six-winged cherubic heads) and geometric (stars). Rising along the base of three of the dome's pillars are the symbol of the papal Chigi family, the "six mountain beneath a star".

The main artwork of the interior is the altarpiece by Pietro da Cortona, portraying St. Yves.

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