Le Chiese delle Cittá: Sant’Agnese fuori la Mura

There are many truths about Rome. For instance, all roads lead there. Also, it is the center of the Catholic Church and so was the source of many saints. Because these Roman saints are so important to the religious life of Rome, there are a few churches named after each. One of these saints was St. Agnes (or Sant’Agnese). There is a very famous church off the Piazza Navona named Sant’Agnese (look it up. It’s between the Pantheon and the Vatican), however this is not going to be the subject of this particular post. Maybe next time. No, I will be writing today about another Sant’Agnese.

Up until this point, since I have been in Rome I have been focusing on Baroque churches. The exception of course is the Pantheon, but the Pantheon is a very unique case. Sant’Agnese was not built as a Roman Temple nor is it Baroque. It is an early Christian basilica-styles church. It is in fact the first one that I have featured.

A couple words about the Roman basilica type. I think most of us are familiar with churches that have a main nave (central gathering space) and on either side is an aisle or side chapels or both. All churches that have this form have their roots in the Roman basilica type. The Roman basilica was a public gathering place that often held law courts. They would usually have a large central space with an apse at the short end of the hall. On either side would be rows of columns which broke up the remaining space into aisles. When building the first churches, Roman Christians looked for a building type that would hold a lot of people, was internal and would have a strong hierarchical processional aspect. The basilica fit this very well. From this we get the form of many of our traditional churches.

Sant’Agnese is one of these early Christian churches. It was built in the VII C. on the site of an old basilica built by Constantine over a series of catacombs. It is said that Sant’Agnese herself is buried there. Like some other Roman churches, the main entrance to the church opens onto a garden which is off the street front. In fact, the only way you can see it from the street is from the back where the apse is visible as well as the campanile. Since the church was built into a hill, it looks rather short from the street. This is an illusion. It is really just embedded into the hillside.

The entrance we used was off to the side. It lead down a sloped hallway to the vestibule of the church itself. On the wall are ancient inscriptions probably from the catacombs.

When I walked in, my first thought was “Finally! Something not Baroque!” Well, that may have been my third thought, but I was still happy.

The interior is divided into three parts vertically-speaking. If you recall, I spoke of the arcade, triforium, and clerestory in my first installment. Well, those are specifically Gothic elements, but they have their basis in early Christian architecture. Even the Roman basilicas had clerestories!

Well, Sant’Agnese like some early Christian churches has three levels: an arcade, a gallery and a clerestory. This is similar to the Gothic, but there are some differences. After all, the Gothic was just continuing a tradition started by the early Christians in their basilica churches. The arcade as well as the gallery in Sant’Agnese consist of Roman arches. In this way, it is reminiscent of a palazzo courtyard. The clerestory is the smallest level and has the only windows directly opening onto the nave. Because of this, the direct light comes from above. My professor might call this a “metaphysical” move. He would also call the use of columns in the arcade a metaphysical move to dematerialize the building.

Although there are arches in both the gallery and arcade, the ceiling itself is not vaulted. It has an intricately coffered surface which is mostly red and gold with statuary and other carvings. This is in keeping with most early Christian churches which had flat ceilings. The ceiling ends in a triumphal arch motif with a large Roman arch that opens into the sanctuary.

All around the church are mosaics and paintings of different types, but they all culminate in the sanctuary. On the surface of the triumphal arch is a large mosaic and also, as is typical, in the apse itself.  The sanctuary also holds a nice baldacchino with about ten different types of marble. Speaking of which, this is a huge theme throughout the church. The columns are different types of marble and the apse, triumphal arch, baldacchino and almost every other element has a different type of marble. The colors are of course muted, but it is actually a very colorful church disregarding the coloring from the paintings and mosaics.

Well, that’s about all. Let it be known that I prefer Early Christian to Baroque.

Regardless, any requests will be considered for investigation.

Ciao for now.