Concluding Thoughts

For the time being, my blog has served its purpose...

I've needed to do some catching up over the holidays (I had several drafts going at once as I sorted through all those pilgrimage churches in Rome), but I have brought you to the end of my summer research trip! =) I hope it proves to be only the beginning of the adventure. Of course, I'll post any further travels that I might have opportunity for during the next months/years of my graduate study. Will have to wait and see how these experiences and ideas evolve into something more. 'Til then, Merry Christmas!

The Vatican Museums

My strategy had worked well in Istanbul... I saved the last morning for a second visit to the Archaeological Museum and had time to catch what I'd missed the first time around. So on my last day in Rome, I returned to the Vatican Museums for another look. The tricky part was trying to re-visit the Vatican Libraries without going back through the Stanze Raffaello or all the way to the Sistine Chapel! The Museums have been organized for a one-way itinerary, so I had to walk against the main flow of traffic for my view of the artifacts on display from the catacombs and some of the Sancta Sanctorum relics. The Vatican Libraries also contain some of the earliest maps of the Americas and a bronze mappamundi (with a planetary map piercing through the terra firma).

Mappamondo Borgiano (c. 1430)

Portolano showing the New World

I had planned to spend most of my time in the Pio Christiano, but found that half the gallery (including the Good Shepherd) was closed! I couldn't get any specific reason for this from the guard. So I took in the sarcophagi and a few more rooms of Greek and Roman sculpture before leaving. I also browsed the Pinacoteca, which has a really wonderful selection of 13th century Siennese panels. I needed the afternoon to get out to the Catacombs of Priscilla and Santa Costanza. The porphyry sarcophagus from Sta. Costanza is actually in the Vatican. Unfortunately, I only caught a glimpse of it from a distance while I was still in the Museums... I got turned around in the hallways and never made it back to the room where it was on display (the Greek cross within the Pio-Clementine collection). Even on a supposed one-way route, the Vatican Museums are labyrinthine.

Since my last day was overcast and rainy (my sandals got soaked; I ended up storing them in plastic bags in my carry-on luggage), I didn't really take any other pictures. I had my own adventures getting out to the Catacombs of Priscilla... lots of practice asking directions in Italian. I was worried about getting to the church too late to see it. While I didn't have time to take in the catacombs beneath Sant'Agnese Fuori-le-Mura, I did get to wander through Sta. Costanza's ambulatory. The mosaics are delightful, arranged in sections that grow richer in paradisaical imagery as one approaches the niche where the sarcophagus of Constantia would have been placed. I arrived just as the last guests of a wedding were leaving the church; one or two cars with white bows and ribbons were shuttling the final bridesmaid and flower girl off to the reception, I suppose. Later on, I warmed up with a coffee (macchiato, or "stained") as I was waiting for the bus back to Termini. Then took the metro to a stop near the Vatican and my B&B.

Stone lion from the Animal Room in the Vatican Museums
(probably by Francesco Antonio Franzoni, late 18th C)

Skylight above the exit from the Museums

Double spiral stairway by Guiseppe Momo (1932)

Bridge across the Tiber

This view of the Ponte Palatino was part of my evening walk from Santa Sabina back to the B&B on my next-to-last night in Rome (the penultimate). What caught my attention was the flock of birds, seagulls probably, flying over the water. I couldn't capture the subtle changes as dusk settled, with the lights of the city becoming more and more noticeable and the water darkening with the sky.

Rome had an entirely different character than Istanbul or Cairo. It was helpful for me to see the ruins of the ancient capital in order to better understand the imperial foundation of Constantinople. After exploring the Roman forums, I could at least imagine the layout of the Augusteion and imperial forums along the Mese (replaced by the tram tracks of the Divan Yolu). But the strategic placement of churches and their dedication (to divine wisdom and light, to the holy apostles) in Constantinople was a world apart from the bones and relics of Rome. Here, subterranean catacombs and the bodies of the martyrs established the initial network of churches and pilgrimage sites, not imperial ritual/procession. Similarly, however, the venerated past of Rome combines the ruins of classical antiquity with early Christian identity. It exists as a tangle of history and archaeology, memory and sacrament.

It's taken me most of the fall to sort and organize my pictures and experiences in this blog format. I'm still doing some of the processing from my trip! Especially as I try to figure out how all of this informs, challenges, or inspires a possible dissertation topic...

Rome B & B

Shared kitchen area in the B&B.

The "Yellow Room"

I thought I should include a few pictures of my B&B; like my hotel in Cairo, I'd highly recommend the Arcobaleno for anyone traveling to Rome. Francesca, the woman who owned the rooms and ran the B&B, was incredibly friendly and helpful. She explained everything to me in clear English, and did the same for the guests in the rooms next door (in French and in German).

I especially appreciated the privacy of the Bed and Breakfast arrangement at the end of my three weeks on the road. It was nice to put together my own breakfasts (or midnight snack if needed). And the location of my room was great for access to the Vatican, but also for getting around to any of the other neighborhoods of the city. By the end of the day, I was always tired and foot-sore, literally. The cobblestones on the streets are not kind to sandals and lots of walking! The B&B was tucked away in an apartment complex off the Via Crescenzia; I had keys to the courtyard and apartment as well as my room. There were usually one or two well-fed cats hanging about downstairs to greet me as I came and went. =)

Mosaic walking tour

Sta. Maria Maggiore, view of the apse

Sta. Pudenziana

There are a lot of churches in Rome... I think I already described my list of things to see/do 'next time,' which I composed on the flight home at the same time as I was recording the list of churches and monuments which I did see. I had to do a lot of catching up in my journal for the Rome portion of this trip on my return flight. Like for Istanbul, which I mostly wrote about while enjoying afternoon shade at the monastery guesthouse in Sinai.

I fit in most of my churches on Weds. (the 13th of September), after Andrew had left. 'Lonely Planet' provided an itinerary for a mosaic walking tour that included several churches I still wanted to see. And I adapted it to include a couple others en route.

I started with Santa Maria Maggiore; it has its own blog post already... but I am beginning here with the view of the apse that was my first glimpse. Close by are two other churches with medieval mosaics, Sta. Pudenziana and Sta. Prassede. Unfortunately, I didn't get inside either of these (although I took a photo of the exterior of Sta. Pudenziana, mostly 19th century with a Romanesque bell tower). I spent too much time meandering about Sta. Maria Maggiore with my audio guide and missed the noontime cut-off for visiting the other churches! But San Clemente (which I also treated separately) was worth some extra time as well.

Between Sta. Maria Maggiore and S. Clemente, however, I walked through the Piazza di S. Giovanni in Laterano once again. This time I stopped at the Scala Sancta, which ascend to the Capella Sancta Sanctorum (what used to be the private chapel of the pope and held the most sacred of relics). The holy steps also had odd visiting hours (only one hour in the morning and again in the late afternoon). But I managed to co-ordinate my schedule enough to be there as the doors opened at 3. The Scala Sancta were fascinating; 28 marble steps believed to be taken from Pilate's palace in Jerusalem by Helena in the 4th century. Pilgrims can climb them only on their knees. Today they are encased in a protective wooden covering, also worn down by the number of penitents. A little kiosk at the bottom of the steps sold booklets with prayers to be said as one climbed, a prayer for each step. I found the relationship between these steps and the path up Mount Sinai interesting... both pilgrim routes following ingrained patterns of human behavior. But like some of our Sinai experiences, this seemed inappropriate subject matter for photography. It was fun to recognize the Scala Sancta (without the wooden casing) in the movie "Luther" when I watched it later this fall! Lots of relic critique going on there!

St. Paul outside his basilica (S. Paolo Fuori-le-Mura)

S. Paolo Fuori-le-Mura

Interior of S. Paolo Fuori-le-Mura

From San Clemente, I took the metro at Colosseo to the Basilica San Paolo stop. I had just enough time to find the basilica and dash about through its cavernous interior before taking the metro back to Pyramide and trying to reach Santa Sabina by dusk!

San Paolo Fuori-le-Mura is truly huge. It is the largest basilica in Rome after St. Peter's, and although it was also originally built by Constantine, much of the early Christian church was destroyed by fire in 1823. The reconstruction is supposed to closely follow the plan and dimensions of the Constantinian basilica. What survived the fire was the triumphal arch and its mosaics (heavily restored since). The nave has double side-aisles, so that its enormous columns feel like a thick forest of tree trunks. I liked the more intimate scale of the Benedictine cloister adjoining the church. There are beautiful, twisted columns surrounding the cloister and its rose garden; these are also inlaid with mosaic.

Twisted, Cosmati columns in the S. Paolo cloister.

I wanted to see the famous, ancient wooden doors at Santa Sabina. The portal belongs to the 5th-century church and contains the oldest narrative image of the Crucifixion. Christ is shown with the two thieves, one on either side of him. All three figures have their arms outstretched, with the supporting cross-beams barely showing behind them. Instead, they seem suspended before the facade of a church. Of course, I couldn't really make out the Crucifixion or many of the other biblical scenes in the dark entryway. My own picture is pretty miserable! (You can find the Crucifixion scene from the door on Wikipedia, instead.)

Entryway to Sta. Sabina with its wooden doors (far left).

Sta. Sabina, exterior

Basilica and surrounding park

Anyway, Sta. Sabina was still a treat at the end of my long walking tour. The interior is beautiful and simple, and I arrived as the evening light fell across the clerestory and was barely still touching the inlay of porphyry and serpentine marbles on the spandrels of the arcades. There is a little park outside the basilica. Since Sta. Sabina is placed on the edge of the Aventine Hill, the park overlooked the river and provided a lovely view of the sunset. I finally walked back to my B&B by following the Tiber back toward the Vatican, after a steep descent along a narrow road that cut through the park.

Sunset over Rome

The Cat Sanctuary

So, you were probably wondering if there were any cats in Rome, since I commented so extensively on the feline species in each of my other places of travel... Or if the reason I hadn't gotten around to mentioning them was that Carissa was no longer globe-trotting with me =) In fact, Andrew has a nice photo of a dog that we spotted along the Tiber; this fellow was out for the night life along with his owner(s). And we saw another dog taking a spin on a moped while his owner completed her grocery shopping. Well, what I meant to say was that the two of them were occupying the motorcycle, the dog along for the ride and a woman operating the bike in order to run her errands! Time to move on.

What I've included above is an archaeological excavation in the middle of the Largo di Torre Argentina, also known as the "Area Sacra." The broken columns belong to several early Roman temples, rediscovered as the city was attempting construction in the 1920s. It is also an official cat sanctuary for the strays and wild things of Rome.

Andrew and I stumbled upon the Largo di Torre Argentina as we were walking around after our first dinner, I think. We were caught by the spotlights inside the tangle of ruins, and I hurriedly flipped through my Lonely Planet to figure out where we were and what we were looking at. We did see an awful lot of cats hanging around once we started to pay attention. But we also discovered some kind of musical performance taking place among the ancient temples. A large woman was pacing back/forth with a microphone and serenading the furry inhabitants (although this seemed to be a recording session rather than a public performance or cat sanctuary fundraiser). Entertaining, to say the least. There was always something going on at night! Perhaps more to see, and more pleasant (temperature-wise and w/ respect to the crowds) than exploring Rome during the daytime.

Backtracking...

Vine mosaic, Capella di Sta. Rufina

Baptistery of the Lateran from the outside

The apse mosaics of S. Clemente reminded me of the 5th-century mosaic tucked away in a side chapel of the Lateran baptistery. Again, I quite like the scrolling vines =) and wanted to make sure I included them.

Andrew and I got to the Basilica of S. Giovanni in Laterano by bus after visiting the catacombs, and before we went back to the Colosseum to make entry by the time the ticket office closed. Although S. Giovanni is the oldest Christian church in Rome, the first to be commissioned under Constantine, it has been drastically affected by continued architectural mucking about. Some of this was necessary, as the church was destroyed several times by fires. Still, I wasn't so impressed. The Baptistery, just to the southeast of the church, was also built by Constantine and significantly re-shaped by Sixtus III (5th-century pope). Sixtus gave the Baptistery its octagonal shape, which you can see echoed in the porphyry columns which surround the font on the inside. The symbolism of the number eight has to do with ideas of rebirth and resurrection. Since God created the world in 7 days, the 8th day indicates paradise on the other side of perfection, or something like that... stepping from the day of God's rest into his eternal presence.

Interior of the Lateran Baptistery

Andrew and I would also visit the neighborhood of Trastevere before he left. Trastevere, across the river, felt somewhat less touristy than city center. Its streets were more narrow and confined than the boulevards we usually followed. I had to document the smallest house in Rome, supposedly medieval (as listed in the Lonely Planet guidebook). Not sure why it gets its own icon and burning lamp on the front of the house! But the alleyway and overhanging vines were a pleasant diversion.

While I was looking at more churches, Andrew took some time to explore on his own for local color (sorry I can't let you do the same). We met up again after an hour or so and walked up a crazy hill (the Janiculum) to the Piazzale Aurelio where we'd made reservations for dinner. This was our farewell dinner and an excuse for eating one really expensive meal in Rome. The restaurant, Antico Arco, was modern and artsy on the interior. Excellent service and very good food (even though the lights kept going out for the first half hour or so... they were working on the electric). It was a nice treat.

Below are the two churches in Trastevere that I got to explore. First, Sta. Maria in Trastevere, another early basilica dedicated to the Virgin. Like S. Clemente, the church was rebuilt in the 12th century and its mosaics also date to this period. The frieze on the exterior places the Wise and Foolish Virgins to either side of the Virgin and Child enthroned. Inside, a well-known Byzantine icon, the Madonna of Clemency is kept in the Altemps Chapel to the left of the apse. At least, it used to be on display there, and is now substituted by a photograph. The original is supposed to be in some room next door; I kept sneaking around trying to find it, without any success!

More successful was my opportunity to see some of the early/proto-Renaissance work by Pietro Cavallini. There is a mosaic cycle of his just below the apse in Sta. Maria depicting the life of the Virgin. And in the nun's choir of the Basilica of Sta. Cecilia, fragments of the Last Judgment are on view. Because these had been boarded up for years, the colors are richly preserved. The raised area of the choir allows you to see Cavallini's apostles almost face-to-face (rather than staring up at the western end from the church floor). I had to ring the bell to the Benedictine convent next door in order to gain access to the frescoes, and was escorted to the choir by one of the women inside.

The story of Sta. Cecilia is a grisly one. She was a patrician woman of the 3rd century (Her home became the site of the church in Trastevere). Upon discovery of her conversion to Christianity, she was shut up in the calidarium of her own baths in order to be scalded to death. It didn't work, so she was then beheaded. Her body was buried in the Catacombs of St. Calixtus until it was brought to the basilica in 820. It was 1599 when her incorrupt relics were re-discovered and her status as a particularly Roman saint established. She's also the patron saint of music. The statue below (not my own photo) by Stefano Maderno represents Cecilia as she was found in 1599 upon the opening of her tomb. It's a chilling sculpture actually. It gives me goosebumps. The original is housed in the basilica in Trastevere; we saw a copy in the catacombs the day before.

Sta. Maria in Trastevere

Detail of Madonna Enthroned
from the exterior mosaics of Sta. Maria in Trastevere

Basilica of Sta. Cecilia in Trastevere

Saint Cecilia (1600) by Stefano Maderno
Web Gallery of Art, http://www.wga.hu

San Clemente

Exterior of S. Clemente

San Clemente ended up being one of my favorite churches in Rome; perhaps because it was among the unexpected discoveries, something new in the eternal city! The church is situated along Via di San Giovanni in Laterano, close to the Piazza del Coloseo. Andrew and I had already walked this route, a long downhill slope below the Esquiline. I would end up retracing many of my steps through Rome, which I didn't mind. I was surprised by how walkable it really was.

S. Clemente is "one of the best-preserved and oldest of Rome's medieval basilicas," according to the Guide bleu and which probably explains why I liked it so much. The upper church was built at the beginning of the 12th century. I found the mosaics in the apse especially lovely. Swirling acanthus leaves surround the cross, Mary and John the Evangelist stand on either side of Christ, while the rivers of Paradise exude from the base of the cross and quench the thirst of two stags below (Ps. 42: 1). The disciples get to be represented as doves (perched on the cross) as well as sheep.

The upper church also has a full set of furniture items, so that it doesn't have the empty, cavernous feel of some of the churches I visited. A baldachin rises on delicate columns above the altar and a marble screen is stretched across the sanctuary. There is also a choir area above the confessio, a bishop's throne, and two ambones along with reading-desk and candelabrum.

View of the apse and baldachin

Ambo and choir area

What made San Clemente so interesting was its many layers. Below the 12th-century church are the excavated remains of the 4th-century basilica. (This had been destroyed in 1084 during the sack of Rome by Robert Guiscard, thus necessitating the new church above). A couple surviving frescoes can be seen, mostly 9th and early 11th century; but there is one Madonna from the 5th or 6th century, byzantinizing in style. I was also surprised by some of the modern icons and dedications on the tomb of St. Cyril, apostle to the Slavs. His tomb is in the left aisle of the lower church.

The excavations kept going down, below even the 4th century church... The damp passageways led to a 1st-century level and a Roman house. Part of the reason for the moisture is explained by the sound of running water. A spring and its gushing water are channeled through Republican-era drains. And the excavated rooms of a pronaos and triclinium provide evidence for a Mithraic temple of the late 2nd or early 3rd century that was once attached to the house.

Oh! Another of the surprises in S. Clemente was the fresco cycle in the Branda chapel of the upper church. Scenes from the life of St. Catherine of Alexandria are painted on the side walls, with the Crucifixion at back and an Annunciation above the arch of the entrance. The frescoes are attributed to Mausolino in the early 15th century, perhaps in association with Masaccio. Of course, after having been at the Sinai monastery, it was all the more fun to find a cycle of St. Catherine's life in Rome.

Sta. Maria Maggiore

Santa Maria Maggiore is one of the major pilgrimage churches of Rome and among the four patriarchal basilicas (which include St. Peter's, S. Giovanni in Laterano, and S. Paolo Fuori-le-Mura). I got to all of the patriarchal basilicas if not all of the 'Seven Churches of Rome.' I saved most of the pilgrimage churches and medieval mosaics for the two/three days after Andrew left... but even with my limited time-frame, I think I got pilgrim fatigue =) There is just so much to see. My list to do "next time" is as long as the list of what I managed to accomplish in this first visit.

18th-century facade of Sta. Maria Maggiore

At Sta. Maria Maggiore, I took my time to browse the basilica and even purchased the audio guide (4 euros). Most of the information didn't have anything to do with the 5th-century basilica. Like many of Rome's churches, Sta. Maria Maggiore has received architectural updates and additions time after time. The interior, however, maintains its early form.

The mosaics on the triumphal arch and those running along the architrave on both sides of the nave are amazingly well-preserved, 5th-century works of art. The frieze depicts a series of OT biblical scenes, most of which are typologically related to the coming of Christ in the New Testament. It was almost impossible to pick them out from where I was standing (note to self; bring binoculars next time). One of the mosaics I did recognize was the Crossing of the Red Sea, which I'd seen in reproductions.

At the prompting of a security guard (I think his role was to make sure no female visitors were wearing sleeveless tops or shorts in the basilica), I deposited another of my euros in the automated light machines so that I could take better photos of the apse. Actually, he volunteered to put the coin in the machine when I signaled from the front of the church. That way I was already in place! The mosaics of the triumphal arch focus on scenes from the infancy of Christ. In the upper left is a tableau showing Mary as Queen of Heaven with attending angels. Sta. Maria Maggiore was the first church dedicated to the Virgin following the Council of Ephesus, which declared her Theotokos, or Mother of God (a good Byzantine ephithet).

Mosaics in the triumphal arch (5th C)

View of the nave, looking east

The reason that Sta. Maria Maggiore is such an important pilgrimage church has to do with the miracle that was the basis of its foundation. According to legend, the Virgin Mary appeared in a dream c. 358 to Pope Liberius and separately to a certain patrician who would provide the necessary funding; she ordered them to build a church for her on the spot that they would find covered with snow the next morning. The following day, they discovered fresh snow on the Esquiline hill. Thing was, the snowfall occurred in August. The old name for the basilica was Santa Maria della Neve ("of the snow"), which I kind of like better than Maggiore.

The relief sculpture below captures the miracle within the decorative program of the Borghese Chapel inside the church. The center of the altarpiece is a Byzantine icon of the Madonna and Child.

Pope Liberius tracing the outline for the foundation of the church
in its miraculous snowfall.

Borghese Chapel and altar

This final picture is simply a detail that turned out nicely; a bronze figure of St. John the Baptist, probably Baroque, in front of a marble relief of the Assumption by Pietro Bernini (father of Gian Lorenzo Bernini). The Bernini family tomb is located in the church of Sta. Maria Maggiore, something I didn't know before I got there. John the Baptist, as subject of my Master's Thesis, still holds sentimental value for me.

Sculpture in the Baptistery of Sta. Maria Maggiore

Bits of the Baroque

My entries have been focused on the Ancient and Early Christian periods of Rome... but as the 'Eternal City,' its other historical layers can't be completely ignored. Especially when wandering through Rome's streets and piazzas. There are Renaissance buildings and Baroque facades and fountains on nearly every corner.

I tried taking pictures of Bernini's Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi in the Piazza Navona at night; it was magnificently lit, with milling crowds around it and water tumbling over the figures of each river god (the Nile, Ganges, Danube, and Plata). Nothing turned out that was worth keeping! On the other hand, Andrew and I got to the famous Trevi Fountain on his last full day in Rome. And it paled in comparison. I think the crucial difference may simply have been time of day; the city comes alive at night.

Because of the odd hours for churches and museums (everything closes for a long siesta between approximately 12/12.30 and 2.30/3), there were some things that I only saw in the evening. Or places that I had to return to more than once to go inside. Below are two of my favorite Baroque artists and/or works of art that we got to see mid-week.




Tucked away in one of the side chapels of Sta. Maria del Popolo are two Caravaggio paintings, "The Crucifixion of St. Peter" and "Conversion of St. Paul." Ever since studying "Supper at Emmaus" in the London National Gallery, Caravaggio has been one of my favorite artists. It was wonderful to see both these works in person! Andrew and I took our time, looking back and forth and trying new angles. You can kind-of tell from the photos that we didn't have a direct viewpoint for either canvas. The paintings are located on the side walls of the chapel, facing each other.

But as I started to complain about not being able to see them properly, I realized with a shock that this setting was exactly what Caravaggio had to work with and contributes to the expressive power of each image. Survey courses always emphasize the bold diagonals of Baroque painting... the diagonals of Peter's executioners supporting his cross and those of Paul's prone figure were directly in line with my angle of vision as I stood in the chapel. It was a helpful moment of epiphany, and just one more reason to admire Caravaggio.

Facade of S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane

This, then, is the little church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, built by Francesco Borromini for the community of Trinitarians (a new Spanish religious order). The facade was begun much later than the interior (1665 as opposed to 1638-9), and finished under Borromini's nephew, I think. Since it is such a tiny little church, I think Borromini was successful in actually making Baroque architecture endearing... The interior is quite intimate, with a light-filled oval dome and adjoining courtyard of similarly tight geometry.

Of course, a good reason to start with my description of Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers are the four fountains on each corner of the intersection just outside of S. Carlito. My photo shows either the Tiber or the Arno, native Italian rivers (personifications of Fidelity and Strength grace the opposite fountains).

Dome, interior of S. Carlo

One of the 'Quattro Fontane'