ROME 



785 



f incian ; the Villa Ludovisi, on the Pincian ; the 

 Villa Albani, outside the Porta Salara ; and the 

 Villa Medici, on the Pincian, now the Academic 

 Francaise, with a splendid collection of casts. The 

 gardens of the Villa Mattel, on the Crelian, com- 

 mand one of the best views in Rome. The pictur- 

 esque arches of the Aqua Claudia traverse the 

 gardens of the Villa Wolkonsky. 



Upsides the private collections Rome abounds in 

 libraries and museums. The Collegio Romano, 

 formerly a great Jesuit college, is now occupied 

 by a public library of modern books called the 

 Biblioteca Vittorio Emmanuele, by the Kircherian 

 Museum of Antiquities, and by a well-arranged 

 prehistoric and ethnological museum. The Palazzo 

 dei Conservator!, on the Capitol, contains many 

 of the best ancient statues. In the cloisters of 

 the Carthusian convent in the Thermae of Dio- 

 cletian are stored the antiquities brought to light 

 during the recent excavations. Others from the 

 excavations at Falerii are collected in the Villa 

 di Papa Giulio, outside the Porta del Popolo. 

 The Villa Medici contains a good collection of 

 casts from ancient statues. The Lateran Palace 

 contains an unrivalled collection of inscriptions 

 and sculptures from the Catacombs, and a few 

 good statues and mosaics. The Lateran is ex- 

 territorial, and the Museum is the property of the 

 popes. 



The chief papal collections are contained in the 

 galleries attached to the Vatican, probably the 

 largest palace in the world. In addition to the 

 private gardens and apartments of the pope, the 

 Vatican Palace comprises immense reception-halls 

 with a series of chapels, libraries, picture-galleries, 

 and vast museums of sculptures, antiquities, and 

 inscriptions, which can here be only enumerated in 

 the briefest manner. The Sistine Chapel, built in 

 1473 by Sixtus IV., is covered with magnificent 

 frescoes by Michelangelo and the great Floren- 

 tine masters. The Capella Nicolina, built by 

 Nicolas V., and the Pauline Chapel, built by Paul 

 III. in 1590, are also painted in fresco ; the first by 

 Fra Angelico, and the second by Michelangelo. 

 Raphaels Stanze and Loggie are halls and solars 

 covered with inimitable frescoes executed by 

 Raphael, Pemgino, Giulio Romano, and other 

 masters of their school. Beyond the Loggie is the 

 picture-gallery, containing the best collection of 

 oil-paintings in Rome. The world-famous Vatican 

 Library, with its priceless MSS., its collections of 

 early printed books, of Christian antiquities, 

 ancient maps and jewellery, is contained in 

 two immense halls. The vast sculpture-galleries, 

 with their unrivalled collections, comprise the 

 MIIMCO Chiaramonte, the Braccio Nuovo, and the 

 Mu-ii'n Pio-CIemente, which includes the Cortile 

 di Belvedere, containing the Laocoon, the Apollo 

 Belvedere, and the so-called Antinous, perhaps the 

 most beautiful statue in the world. The inscrip- 

 tions are contained in the Galleria Lapidaria, the 

 Ktruscan antiquities in the Museo Gregoriano, 

 lielow which is the Egyptian Museum. 



The churches, said to be upwards of 300 in num- 

 ber, are among the most conspicuous features of 

 modern Rome. Many of them are rather what we 

 should call mortuary or memorial churches, opened 

 only once a year on the festival of the saint to 

 whom they are dedicated. There are also the 

 churches of the great religious orders, twenty-eight 

 parish churches, and the titular churches of the 

 cardinals. The most noteworthy are the five 

 patriarchal churches, the seven pilgrimage 

 churches, and the eight basilican churches. Others 

 Are interesting either from their early date, their 

 historical associations, from the archfeological or 

 artistic treasures they contain, or from the frag- 

 ments of earlier structures which they enclose. 

 414 



First in rank are the five patriarchal churches. S. 

 Giovanni in Laterano (see LATERAN), between 

 the Caelian and the Esquiline hills, ranks as the 

 first church in Christendom. It dates from the 

 time of Constantino. It was, till the rebuilding of 

 S. Peter's, the metropolitan cathedral of Rome and of 

 the western patriarchate. It retains its 5th-cen- 

 tury baptistery and the 13th-century cloisters, the 

 most beautiful in Rome. The Santa Scala, brought 

 by the Empress Helena from Jerusalem, has for 

 centuries been the chief object of veneration among 

 pilgrims. The church itself was burned down and 

 rebuilt in the 14th century, and has been repeatedly 

 altered and modernised. The adjoining palace of 

 the popes is now converted into a museum, chiefly 

 of Christian antiquities. The Basilica of St Peter 

 (S. Pietro in Vaticano), the largest church in 

 the world, was rebuilt in the 16th century from 

 the designs of Bramante, Michelangelo, and Ber- 

 nini. It was begun in 1506, and consecrated in 

 1626. It is in the form of a Latin cross, with a 

 vast central dome. The interior length is 615 feet, 

 the height of the nave 150 feet, and of the cross 

 which surmounts the dome 435 feet. S. Paolo 

 fuori le Mura, a vast 4th-century church, was 

 before the fire of 1823 the most interesting 

 church in Rome. It has been rebuilt in a style 

 of great magnificence. S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura, 

 occupying the site of a church founded by Con- 

 stantine, was rebuilt in 578, and remodelled in 

 the 13th century, but still retains the an.cient marble 

 and granite columns. The Basilica Liberiana, on 

 the Esquiline, is commonly called S. Maria Mag- 

 giore, being the largest of the eighty churches in 

 Rome dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It is one of 

 the oldest churches in Rome, the nave dating from 

 the 5th century. 



These five patriarchal churches, together with 

 S. Croce and 8. Sebastiano, constitute the seven 

 ancient pilgrimage churches. The five patriarchal 

 churches, together with S. Agnese, S. Croce, and 

 S. Clemente, are the eight basilican churches. S. 

 Agnese fuori le Mura was founded by Constantine, 

 and rebuilt in the 7th century. It contains many 

 early Christian inscriptions. S. Croce is a 5th- 

 ccntury basilica, and is said to have been erected 

 by the Empress Helena. S. Clemente is the most 

 archaic church in Rome. The upper church dates 

 from the 12th century ; the lower, which is entirely 

 underground, from the 4th ; and below it there are 

 far older substructions dating from the imperial 

 and republican periods. In addition to the eight 

 basilican churches, others already mentioned con- 

 serve the remains of earlier buildings. S. Maria in 

 Cosmedin, one of the most interesting churches in 

 Rome, preserves ten columns of the Temple of 

 Ceres, out of which it was constructed, and 

 twenty ancient columns taken from other build- 

 ings. It has also a beautiful tesselated pavement 

 of ancient marbles. S. Maria degli Aiigeli and S. 

 Bernardo were constructed out of the Thermal of 

 Diocletian, and S. Pietro in Carcere out of the 

 Mamertine prison. S. Giorgio in Velabro, a 4th- 

 century church, was rebuilt in the 7th century, 

 but preserves sixteen of the ancient columns. S. 

 Costanza, outside the Porta Pia, was erected by 

 Constantine, and contains interesting 4th-century 

 mosaics. The granite columns in S. Maria in 

 Araceli, on the Capitol, have been taken from 

 some earlier building. On the Cselian we have 88. 

 Giovanni e Paolo, founded in the 5th century and 

 rebuilt in the 12th; S. Stefano Rotondo, a 5th- 

 century church, containing the episcopal throne 

 of Gregory the Great ; and the interesting church 

 of S. Gregorio, built in 575 on the site of his 

 father's house. On the Aventine are S. Balbina 

 and S. Sabina, both of the 5th century. On 

 the Esqniline are S. Pudenziana, a very ancient 



