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Sant'Agnese in Agone (also called Sant'Agnese in Piazza Navona) is a 17th-century
Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
church in
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, Italy. It faces onto the Piazza Navona, one of the main urban spaces in the historic centre of the city and the site where the
Early Christian Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and be ...
Saint Agnes was martyred in the ancient
Stadium of Domitian The Stadium of Domitian (), also known as the ''Circus Agonalis'', was located under the present Piazza Navona which follows its outline and incorporates its remains, to the north of the ancient Campus Martius in Rome, Italy. The Stadium was com ...
. Construction began in 1652 under the architects Girolamo Rainaldi and his son Carlo Rainaldi. After numerous quarrels, the other main architect involved was
Francesco Borromini Francesco Borromini (, ), byname of Francesco Castelli (; 25 September 1599 – 2 August 1667), was an Italian architect born in the modern Switzerland, Swiss canton of Ticino
. The church is a titular deaconry, with
Gerhard Ludwig Müller Gerhard Ludwig Müller (; born 31 December 1947) is a German Catholic prelate who served as the Cardinal-Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012 until 2017. Pope Francis e ...
being the current
Cardinal-Deacon A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. Ca ...
. As well as religious services, the church hosts regular classical concerts in the Borromini Sacristy, from sacred Baroque works to chamber music and operas.


History

The building of the church was begun in 1652 at the instigation of
Pope Innocent X Pope Innocent X (6 May 1574 – 7 January 1655), born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj (or Pamphili), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 September 1644 to his death, in January 1655. Born in Rome of a family fro ...
whose family palace, the Palazzo Pamphili, is adjacent to this church. The church was to be effectively a family chapel annexed to their residence (for example, an opening was formed in the drum of the dome so the family could participate in the religious services from their palace). The first designs for a centralised Greek Cross church were prepared by the Pamphili family architect, Girolamo Rainaldi, and his son Carlo Rainaldi in 1652. They reorientated the main entrance to the church from the Via Santa Maria dell’Anima, a street set one urban block away from the piazza, to the Piazza Navona, a large urban space that Innocent was transforming into a showcase associated with his family. It had been the intention to build the new church over the old church which would become the crypt; this meant the new church was to be raised well above piazza level, but this idea was abandoned once construction started. The original drawings are lost but it is thought that the Piazza Navona façade design included a
narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of Early Christian art and architecture, early Christian and Byzantine architecture, Byzantine basilicas and Church architecture, churches consisting of the entrance or Vestibule (architecture), ve ...
between two towers and broad stairs descending to the piazza. Harsh criticism was made of the design, including the steps down to the piazza which were thought to project excessively, so Carlo Rainaldi eliminated the narthex idea and substituted a concave façade so that the steps would not be so intrusive. The idea of the twin towers framing a central dome may be indebted to Bernini's bell towers on the façade of
Saint Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (), or simply St. Peter's Basilica (; ), is a church of the Italian Renaissance architecture, Italian High Renaissance located in Vatican City, an independent microstate enclaved within the cit ...
. Nonetheless, Rainaldi's design of a concave façade and a central dome framed by twin towers was influential on subsequent church design in Northern Europe. In 1653, the Rainaldis were replaced by Borromini. Borromini had to work with the Rainaldi ground plan but made adjustments; on the interior for instance, he positioned columns towards the edges of the dome piers which had the effect of creating a broad base to the dome pendentives instead of the pointed base which was the usual Roman solution. His drawings show that on the façade to Piazza Navona, he designed curved steps descending to the piazza, the convex curvature of which play against the concave curvature of the façade to form an oval landing in front of the main entrance. His façade was to have eight columns and a broken pediment over the entrance. He designed the flanking towers as single storey, above which there was to be a complex arrangement of columns and convex bays with balustrades. By the time of Innocent's death in 1655, the façade had reached the top of the lower order. Innocent's nephew, Camillo Pamphili, failed to take interest in the church and Borromini became disheartened, eventually leading to his resignation in 1657. Carlo Rainaldi was reappointed and made a number of modifications to Borromini's design including an additional storey to the flanking towers and simplifying their uppermost parts. On the death of Camillo Pamphili, his wife Olimpia Aldobrandini, commissioned Bernini to take over. He was responsible for the straightforward pediment above the main entrance and for the emphatic entablature in the interior. In 1668, Camillo Borghese (Olimpia's son & Camillo Pomphii's step-son) took over responsibility for the church. He reinstated Carlo Rainaldi as architect and engaged
Ciro Ferri Ciro Ferri (1634 – 13 September 1689) was an Italian Baroque sculptor and painter, the chief pupil and successor of Pietro da Cortona. Biography He was born in Rome, where he began working under Cortona and with a team of artists in the extens ...
to create
fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...
es for the interior of the dome. Further decorations were added; there were large scale sculptures and polychrome marble effects. None of these are likely to have been intended by Borromini.


Interior

The cupola is frescoed with the '' Apotheosis of Saint Agnes'', begun in 1670 by
Ciro Ferri Ciro Ferri (1634 – 13 September 1689) was an Italian Baroque sculptor and painter, the chief pupil and successor of Pietro da Cortona. Biography He was born in Rome, where he began working under Cortona and with a team of artists in the extens ...
and finished after his death in 1689 by Sebastiano Corbellini. The pendentives of the dome were painted with the ''
Cardinal Virtues The cardinal virtues are four virtues of mind and character in classical philosophy. They are prudence, Justice (virtue), justice, Courage, fortitude, and Temperance (virtue), temperance. They form a Virtue ethics, virtue theory of ethics. The t ...
'' (1662–1672) by Bernini's protégé,
Giovanni Battista Gaulli Giovanni Battista Gaulli (8 May 1639 – 2 April 1709), also known as Baciccio or Baciccia (Genoese nicknames for ''Giovanni Battista''), was an Italian Baroque painter working in the High Baroque and early Rococo periods. He is best known for h ...
. In the sacristy, there is a painting depicting the ''Glory of Saint Agnes'' by Paolo Gismondi. The near-circular interior, actually a Greek cross design, is circumferentially surrounded by marble sculptural
Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
masterpieces, dedicated to individual martyred saints. There are four altars in the pillars with reliefs, unusually set in semi-circular niches. Among the sculptural decoration are the following: *''The Two Holy Families'' (1676) by Domenico Guidi – The main altar initially was intended to hold a ''Miracle of Saint Agnes'' commissioned from Alessandro Algardi, but who died shortly after receiving the commission. Algardi provided a small model while a full scale plaster model (now in the Oratorio dei Filippini) was made by his assistants Ercole Ferrata and Guidi. For some reason the project for the ''Miracle'' ensemble was dropped, and instead Guidi created a marble relief, depicting ''The Holy Family'' according to his design. *''Death of Saint Alexius'' by Giovanni Francesco Rossi is the relief above the first altar on the right. *''Martyrdom of Saint Emerentiana'' by Ercole Ferrata, with the upper portion completed by Leonardo Reti is on the second altar on the right. *''Martyrdom of Saint Eustace'' by Melchiorre Cafà is on the first altar on the left. Due to Cafà's sudden early death large parts of the relief were completed by his master, Ferrata, and his workshop. *''Death of
Saint Cecilia Saint Cecilia (), also spelled Cecelia, was a Roman Christian virgin martyr, who is venerated in Catholic, Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox, Anglican Communion, Anglican, and some Lutheran churches, such as the Church of Sweden. She became the ...
'' by Antonio Raggi is on the second altar on the left. *''Saint Agnes on the
Pyre A pyre (; ), also known as a funeral pyre, is a structure, usually made of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite or execution. As a form of cremation, a body is placed upon or under the pyre, which is then set on fire. In discussi ...
'' by Ercole Ferrata is in the second altar of the transept on the right is the *On the second altar of the transept on the left is the ''Saint Sebastian'' (c. 1717–1719) with a statue by Pier Paolo Campi, and also boasts two marble angels by his master Pierre Le Gros which might well be Le Gros' very last works. The statues of Saint Agnes and of Saint Sebastian are placed in an illusionistic architecture of colored marble. *''Tomb Monument of Pope Innocent X'' (1729) by Giovanni Battista Maini – The monument originally planned on a grand scale, but was executed placed above the main entrance in a far more modest monument. *The stucco decorations in the niches' semi-domes with angels presenting the symbols of the respective saint are by Ferrata's workshop. Inside the church is also a shrine for Saint Agnes, containing her skull and a marble relief by Alessandro Algardi.


Origin of name and legends

The name of this church is unrelated to the ‘agony’ of the martyr: ''in agone'' was the ancient name of Piazza Navona (''piazza in agone''), and meant instead, from the Greek, ‘in the site of the competitions’, because Piazza Navona was built on the site of an ancient Roman stadium of the Greek model, with one flat end, and was used for footraces (Latin ''agōn'', "contest"). From ‘in agone’, the popular use and pronunciation changed the name into ‘Navona’, but other roads in the area kept the original name.As, for example, the Corsia Agonale, a short road that connects the piazza with the Palazzo Madama.
Bernini Gian Lorenzo (or Gianlorenzo) Bernini (, ; ; Italian Giovanni Lorenzo; 7 December 1598 – 28 November 1680) was an Italian sculptor and architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prominently the leading sculptor ...
's '' Fountain of the Four Rivers'' is situated in front of the church. It is often said that Bernini sculpted the figure of the "Nile" covering his eyes as if he thought the façade designed by his rival Borromini could crumble atop him. This story, like many urban legends, persists because it has a ring of authenticity, despite the fact that Bernini's fountain predates the façade by some years. Borromini and Bernini became rivals, and more, for architectural commissions. Most prominently, during the Pamphili papacy, an official commission was established to study defects that had arisen in the foundations of the belltowers (built under Bernini's guidance) in the façade of Saint Peter's Basilica. In testimony before the commission, Borromini was one of many harsh critics that assailed the project's engineering. Ultimately, in a severe blow to Bernini's prestige as an architect, the façade bell-towers were torn down, and never rebuilt.


Cardinal-Deacons

*Lorenzo Cardinal Antonetti 1998–2013 * Gerhard Ludwig Cardinal Müller 2014–present


Gallery

File:Sant'Agnese in Agone (Rome) - Interno.jpg, View towards the main altar File:Sant'Agnese in Agone (Rome) - Dome.jpg, Cupola with Frescos by Ferri File:St Agnese in Agone Rome interior 01.jpg, ''The Death of Saint Alexius'' by Rossi File:St Agnese in Agone Rome interior 05.jpg, ''The Death of Saint Cecilia'' by Raggi File:Sant'agnese in agone, interno 09.JPG, ''The Martyrdom of Saint Eustace'' by Cafà File:Sant'agnese in agone, interno 06.JPG, ''The Martyrdom of Saint Emerentiana'' by Ferrata File:St Agnese in Agone Rome interior 02.jpg, ''Saint Agnes on the Pyre'' by Ferrata File:St Agnese in Agone Rome interior 06.jpg, Statue of ''Saint Sebastian'' by Campi and ''Angels'' by Le Gros File:SantAgneseAgone-InnocenzoX-SteO153.JPG, Tomb of Innocent X by Maini File:Shrine Saint Agnes.JPG, Shrine of Saint Agnes


See also

* Palazzo Pamphilj


References


External links

*
"Sant'Agnese in Agone"
by Nyborg. *High-resolution 360° Panoramas and Images o
Sant'Agnese in Agone , Art Atlas
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Agnese In Agone, Sant' Roman Catholic churches completed in 1657 Agnese Agone Baroque architecture in Rome Burial places of popes 1657 establishments in Italy Churches of Rome (rione Parione) Church buildings with domes 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Francesco Borromini buildings Piazza Navona