 Introduction
History
Since it was located near many Byzantine structures, in 7th century the church was known as Santa Maria in Schola Graeca and a close street is still called della Greca. Byzantine monks escaping the iconoclastic persecutions in Greece arrived here around 782 CE bringing with them artistic skills that gave the church splendid decorations earning it the name “kosmidion”,which means “perfect order” or “ornament” and hence its present name Cosmedin.
The church was damaged during the Sack of Rome by the Normans in 1084, but was rebuilt and a Romanesque campanile was added, one of the most complex and best preserved examples of the type of structure. In 1718 the church was brought up to a Baroque style, mainly expressed by a new facade, by Giuseppe Sardi in 1718. The Baroque additions, however, were removed in the restoration of 1894-1899.
It was in Santa Maria in cosmedin that were elected the popes Gelasius II (who had been Cardinal Deacon of Titulus S. Mariae in Cosmedin), Celestine III, and the antipope Benedict XIII (Cardinal Deacon of this church).
Santa Maria in Cosmedin sits on the high altar of Hercules, part of whose structure has been investigated through excavations under the church. An altar to Hercules shows a Greek connection in the zone since very early times, so it's not all that strange to find that the church is maintained by a Greek order today.
Location
Address:Piazza della Bocca della Verita 18, I-00186 Rome, Italy.
Transit: Metro: Circo Massimo. Bus:15, 23, 57, 90, 90b, 94, 716.
What's to see
The Bocca della Verita is at left end of the portico that fronts the church. This is a circular slab of marble that has a face engraved on it with slits for eyes and a slot for its mouth. A legend developed that if a perjuror put his hand in the mouth and told a lie, the mouth would bite off the fingers of the perjuror's hand! (According to local legend, a former priest used to keep a scorpion in back to bite the fingers of anyone he felt was lying.) The original purpose of this disk is unclear. It's now commonly thought to have been a drain cover, either in medaieval times or in antiquity. A more likely explanation is that the face was used as part of a wall fountain in some rich villa on the Aventine Hill. Another hypothesis says that it was used to collect the faithful's donations to God, which were introduced through the open mouth.
Useful information
Open: Daily 9am-6pm
Accessibility: Full facilities for persons with disabilities.
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