Emperor Otto III founded the church in 998 over the ruins of a temple, and it was first dedicated to Adalbert of Prague. Pope Paschal II renovated it in 1113 and again in 1180. A flood badly damaged it in 1557. Cardinal Trescio commissioned the rebuilding, and Orazio Torriani designed the 1624 reconstruction and its Baroque facade. The article says it was reconstructed in 1624 in the text but completed in 1644 in the infobox.
The church is 148 feet (45 m) long and 72 feet (22 m) wide. Inside are fourteen ancient Roman columns and a porphyry sarcophagus holding relics under the main altar. A marble wellhead bears figures of the Savior, Adalbert, Bartholomew and Otto III.
It is a minor basilica. A memorial to modern martyrs, dedicated in 2000, is cared for by the Community of Sant'Egidio.
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