Churches & mosaics of Trastevere, Rome

[bixaorellana]

The Trastevere district of Rome attracts the visitor with its leafy streets, riverside walks, medieval setting, and plethora of restaurants. But another reason to visit is the wealth of art in its churches.

A fuller Anyport report on Trastevere, which includes some of the churches along with a look at more of the district's charms, can be found here.

There are 45 churches in Trastevere, at least according to this list. My report will just barely touch on a very few of those, but for anyone wishing to make a dedicated church tour of the district, the list can be used to start further research. There is a Churches of Rome wiki. A link to it can be found on this page, which covers Santa Maria, pictures of which I'll show in my report here. 

Here we are in the church of Santa Cecilia ~















More examples of how many artistic styles are represented in that church ~



This was in the porch of the church. I am fascinated by sculptures executed in different marbles, and this one pinged on so many levels ~







One can knock on a small side door to the right of the church & be admitted to a chapel with late 12th century frescoes by Pietro Cavallini. Photos are strictly forbidden ~

[bixaorellana]

I see that I was really remiss in capturing the exteriors of these churches. Do refer to Kerouac's Trastevere thread for those.

The interior of the Basilica of San Cristogono. The 22 granite columns are reused antique columns, "spolia".
Following a link on spolia, I found that the shrine shown in the Trastevere thread incorporates some as decoration.





Madonna & Child with Saints Crisogono & James by the 12th century school of Pietro Cavallini. source ~





Cosmatesque mosaic floor ~





There is a small chapel dedicated to Blessed Anna Maria Taigi ~







As you can see, this church shows evidence of its 800 years of accumulating frescoes, icons, and other decoration ~



St. Anthony, for my mother ~

[bixaorellana]

And now on to our final church, the jewel that is the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, one of the oldest churches in Rome. Fascinating background information here.

[bixaorellana]

As you ascend the stairs on the left side of the altar, the eye is drawn to the opening perfectly framing the domed ceiling painting beyond ~







St. Peter was crucified upside down, so this must be he ~



Just a last look at these unbelievably beautiful mosaics ~



Note the caged bird on the left. It represents sin ~

[kerouac2]

Bixa, I am so glad that you have so much more religious fervor than I. Your church photos are always perfect whereas my overview of such places takes about three minutes. Other readers should know that on this expedition, I mostly just sat on one of the chairs to cool down from the outside temperature while Bixa prowled every nook and cranny.

As the documentation promised, the mosaics in those churches really are out of this world, and I am also extremely impressed that you brought the dead lady in the glass coffin alive in your photo, because she looked much more fake in person.

National differences in churches are really interesting, because it is very clear that while the French were working on stained glass, in which the Italians seem to have no interest at all, the Italians were definitely working harder on the interior decoration. I also noted that the outside of many of the churches of Rome seemed quite ordinary but when you went inside, it was WOW. In France, the opposite is often true -- many of the exteriors are quite impressive but the inside is often a bunch of big emptiness. True, one of the countries did have a revolution during which most traces of religious power were destroyed.

[bixaorellana]

*cough* I believe it's more architecture/art history fervor than religious, although it's a happy accident of life that my early religious education allows me to know some of the stories and symbolism behind church art.

Did you click on the link above the dead lady's picture? Yow.

Funny you brought that up about the differences of churches in different countries. Someone just asked me if Italian or French churches were better, and I mentioned the damage to churches in France during its revolution and much earlier in other countries after the rise of Calvinism.