The church stands on the Arx, the northern peak of the Capitoline Hill, on the site of a Byzantine abbey mentioned in 574. It first followed the Greek rite, and a papal bull gave it to the Franciscans in 1249 and 1250, when it took on its Romanesque-Gothic character. The article names no architect for the basilica.
It measures 260 by 148 feet (80 by 45 m). Roman columns, all different and taken from antique monuments, divide the nave from the aisles. The floor is inlaid Cosmatesque work, and the gilded, painted coffered ceiling was finished in 1575. The article calls the facade's Gothic window the only authentically Gothic detail.
A monumental staircase of 124 steps was designed by Simone Andreozzi in 1348. The church was deconsecrated and used as a stable in 1797.
Comments