On Saturday, July 3rd I was finally able to explore the history and lower levels below San Lorenzo in Lucina which is a church located in one of my two piazzas. As the sign says there is a guided tour on the first Saturday of the month and I was very patient in my wait to go and explore it more. The church while being a minor one in Rome has had some very important history in the past. At first (first known) it was a Roman insula and then that was built over with the first church on the site. This church was then subsequently built over by the current church which has gone under many remodels itself. Most of the lower floors were not dug up until the 1920s (while Mussolini was in power) and some of the latest remodels were done in 1986 when it appears they re-shored some of the work that was done. Some recent digs have been done but unfortunate I was unable to find dates for them. One of the interesting facts is that the church was actually consecrated twice since the first time was done by Pope Anacletus I but after his death the Lateran Council decided that he had not been a Pope. It was then reconsecrated in around 1200 by Pope Celestine III.
The church is definitely worth seeing and while it is nowhere near the grandest church in Rome there are some things to see. One work worth seeing is the Monument to Gabriele Fonseca which was scuplted by Bernin in 1661. Pretty small but very worthwhile.
Until next week and my last blog post in Roma,
No comments:
Post a Comment