Our first foray, apart from the neighborhood, was to Termini for some shopping (it's a shopping center as well as train station), and then the couple blocks over to St. Mary Maggiore, one of the four papal churches...fifth century, noted for its fifth century mosaics glorifying Mary--the Council of Ephesus, where Mary was declared Mother of God, was fresh in the church fathers' memories--and also explicating the relationship between the old and new testaments. Alas, the sun was not quite right. Some of the principal mosaics are high up in the nave, the south side too dark, the north side too bright; or v. v.; plus we forgot to bring the binoculars. So we'll have to go back, after the Easter crush. Nonetheless...
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| Helpful plan of the church |
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It's interesting how different the four papal churches are, three
of them being of roughly the same age and architecture (Roman
basilica)(St. Paul's is my favorite); here it's partly the age, but
also the age and importance of the mosaics |
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| Apse |
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| The great triumphal arch |
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Down in the crypt, the principal relic, splinters of Jesus' crib, or
perhaps the whole crib; or some crib splinters |
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On the giant half-dome; crowning Mary Queen of Heaven; very old
and influential depiction; note the Byzantine-style angels |
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| Elevation and mosaics |
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| Looking toward the stern |
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| Worrisome crack in one of the chapels |
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| The piazza, from the porch |
1 comment:
Holy Mary, Mother of God. Baptists wouldn't like that!
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