Santi Luca e Martina

Santi Luca e Martina is a church in Rome. It is valid because of the facade as groundbreaking and as " an outstanding example of the important Roman High Baroque ". It contains a lower church and the grave Pietro da Cortona and is the most important building in Rome.

Location

The church is located in X. Roman rione Campitelli lies on the northern side of the Roman Forum, next to the Curia Iulia.

Architectural History

About the former Secretarium Senatus, a church was built in the 5th or 6th century by St. Was dedicated to Martina. The Artists Guild Accademia di San Luca was founded in 1577, it later belonged to, inter alia, Michelangelo on. 1588 Pope Sixtus V gave the guild the old church as a guild church in 1588; since then came as the second patron of St.. Luke added. The Academy until 1933 had its headquarters in the demolished for the construction of the Via dei Fori Imperiali outbuildings of the church. 1634 Pietro da Cortona was the chairman of this Academy. He received permission to use the lower church to his funeral in this function. During the construction itself the relics of St were. Martina found, after Cardinal Francesco Barberini a complete new building, designed da Cortona decided. This was started from 1640 and was substantially completed in 1650.

Basic structure

The church is built in the shape of a Greek cross as a central structure with a dome over the crossing. The four apses are decorated almost semicircular.

Appearance

The design of the church interior follows the design of the outer visible surface, they correspond. Basically, the exterior is first divided into three segments: the basement, the floor and the top part of the outside view, so the dome drum and the dome itself round running cornices separate the bullets.

Most important element of the external design is the facade, because here a slight convex curvature of the face side was chosen as an element of the facade design for the first time in Rome. The facade is following the interior, two stories, on the sides are each Doppelpilaster. Follow (as well as the other pillars and design elements ) in the basement of ionic, Corinthian in the lower floor of procedure. Although the two facade projectiles follow a common basic concept, the differences are described as chiastically to notice yet. During half-columns are set in the middle part of the facade on the lower floor, the resulting pre-defined structure of the upper floor is replaced by pilasters. Conversely, it is with the portal zone. In the basement only edged edged, take their place in the upstairs light pillars, take flanking the loggia. Overall, however, the allusion to the shape of the apses already in the façade, this is no longer a separate, rigid abgrenzender component but mediates between the components. The gable finally contains a very plastic box designed coat of arms with the papal insignia of the tiara and the crossed keys, but was not running obviously.

The dome drum is created basically octagonal. The corresponding eight windows are given distinctive triangular pediment, pilasters are inserted between them strong. The radiation emanating from the ( unusually strong fighters cased ) pilasters outline structure continues in the form of strips that cross the dome up to the lantern; Also this structure has its counterpart in the interior.

Affairs

The church is first dominated in the interior of the massive Vierungspfeilern, centrally formed from full columns with the apses down next to it pilasters. As in the outside, the basement is continuous in the Ionic order. Although created as a central building, resulting in the interior but towards a certain elongated effect to the main altar. This effect is achieved by the fact that the transverse arm subordinate compared to the longitudinal arm is displayed this by the fact that the vestibules are not completely circular, but in the area of the peaks flattened. In the apses full columns are again set, two each on the left and right of the vertices. In the vault area is also incorporated for the first time in Rome, the combination of elements and coffered executed between ribs, " which previously belonged to two completely independent from each other vault types." The cassette structure is borrowed from the Pantheon, the ribs of the structure of St. Peter's Basilica. Francesco Borromini and Gianlorenzo Bernini considered this innovation later and developed each other.

The church is indeed richly decorated with stucco ( approximately in the range of pendentives ), by the total absence of colored elements such as painting, the High Baroque architecture in rare clarity emerges.

Interior decoration

Interior

On the main altar there is an executed in marble recumbent statue of St.. Martina. It was written by Niccolò Menghini from 1635, the quality of the work is that of a Gianlorenzo Bernini are not inferior.

In the church is the tomb of Girolamo Rainaldi.

Lower Church

In from da Cortona newly established sub- church are some fine monuments, including the well -crafted from da Cortona bronze altar that contains the polls St. Martina himself and the Holy Epiphanius and Concordius. The relief was created by Cosimo Fancelli, a three-member group terracotta comes from Alessandro Algardi. Also here two ancient columns are still remarkable. In the lower church is still a plaque for da Cortona, his grave (he died in 1669) but is ahead of the portal in the upper church.

Trivia

Gianlorenzo Bernini saw the emergence of the Church, in particular the person da Cortona and its handling costs somewhat pointedly: " The Cortonese is otherwise an able artist. Only one thing is annoying to him, until it is, the thing costs 5 to 600 dollars, but once it is on the verge, it comes down to 2-3000 dollars. The Cardinal Barberini has made bad experiences with him on this point, first at the altar of Santa Martina and then at the same church. There were namely instead of the planned 50,000 Taler about 2 to 3 million needed to build them ready. "

Access

The church is open on Saturdays from April to September 9 to 20 clock from October to March 9 to 18 clock.