Page 385 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Europe

ROME  383

chapel, and a theater. The family added by Il Baciccia during the
art collection has over 400 17th century. The painting in
paintings dating from the 15th the nave depicts the Triumph
to the 18th century, including of the Name of Jesus and its
a portrait of Pope Innocent X message is clear: faithful,
by Velázquez and works by Catholic worshippers will be
Caravaggio, Titian, Guercino, joyfully uplifted to heaven
and Claude Lorrain. The opulent while Protestants and heretics
rooms of the private apartments are flung into the fires of hell.
retain many of their original The message is reiterated in
furnishings, including Brussels the Cappella di Sant’Ignazio,
and Gobelins tapestries, Murano a rich display of lapis lazuli,
chandeliers, and a gilded crib. serpentine, silver, and gold.
In the first half of the 18th The Baroque marble by Pierre
century, Gabriele Valvassori Legros, Triumph of Faith over
created the gallery above the Idolatry, shows a female Statue of Marcus Aurelius in the center of
courtyard and a new facade “Religion” trampling on the Piazza del Campidoglio
along the Corso, using the head of the serpent “Idolatry.”
highly decorative style of The Palazzo dei Conservatori
the period, known as the 0 Capitoline had been the seat of the city’s
barocchetto, which now magistrates during the late
dominates the building. Museums Middle Ages. Its frescoed halls
Musei Capitolini, Piazza del are still used occasionally for
Campidoglio. Tel 06-06 08. @ 63, 64, political meetings and the
70, 75 & many others. Open Tue–Sun. ground floor houses the
Closed Jan 1, May 1, Dec 25. & 8 municipal registry office. The
7 ∑ museicapitolini.org current building was begun in
1536, built by Giacomo della
When Emperor Charles V Porta, who also carried out
announced he was to visit Michelangelo’s other designs
Rome in 1536, Pope Paul III for Piazza del Campidoglio.
asked Michelangelo to give A collection of Classical
the Capitol, formerly the citadel statues has been kept on the
of Ancient Rome, a facelift. Capitoline Hill since the
He redesigned the piazza, Renaissance. When the Palazzo
renovated the facades of Nuovo was completed, some
its palaces and built a new of the statues were transferred
staircase, the Cordonata. This there. In 1734, Pope Clement XII
Triumph of Faith over Heresy by Pierre gently rising ramp is now decreed that the building be
Legros in the Gesù crowned with the massive turned into the world’s first
9 Gesù Classical statues of Castor public museum.
and Pollux.
The museum is still
Piazza del Gesù. Tel 06-69 70 01. The Capitoline Museums, devoted chiefly to
@ many routes. Open daily. the Palazzo Nuovo, and the sculpture. Most of its
Palazzo dei Conservatori finest works, such as
The Gesù, built between 1568 stand on opposite sides The Dying Galatian, are
and 1584, was Rome’s first Jesuit of the impressive Piazza Roman copies of Greek
church. The Jesuit order was del Campidoglio. masterpieces. There are
founded in Rome in 1537 by a Since 2000, they also two collections of
Basque soldier, Ignatius Loyola, have been connected busts, assembled in the
who became a Christian after via a subterranean 18th century, of the
he was wounded in battle. The passage. In the philosophers and poets
order was intellectual, austere, center of the piazza of ancient Greece and the
and heavily engaged in teaching is an equestrian rulers of ancient Rome.
and missionary activities. statue of Marcus Although much
The much-imitated design Aurelius (it is a of the museum
of the Gesù typifies Counter copy; the original is given over to
Reformation architecture: a bronze is in the Esquiline Venus, sculpture, it also
large nave with side pulpits Palazzo Nuovo). Capitoline Museums houses a collection
for preaching to crowds, and The facade of the Palazzo of porcelain, and its art
a main altar as the centerpiece Nuovo was designed by galleries contain various
for the mass. The illusionistic Michelangelo, but the work was works by Veronese, Titian,
decoration that covers the nave finished in 1655 by the brothers Caravaggio, Rubens, van
ceiling and the dome was Carlo and Girolamo Rainaldi. Dyck, and Tintoretto.

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