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Home > Italy Travel Guide > Chiesa di Santa Maria in Cosmedin

Chiesa di Santa Maria in Cosmedin

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Introduction
History
Location

ATTRACTIONS

What's to see

USEFUL INFORMATION

Useful information
Links

Introduction

Most people come not for great art treasures, but to see the the famous Bocca Della Verita “Mouth of Truth” a large disk under the portico, rumored to consume the hands of liars. But this small church is one of the finest examples of medieval church architecture in Rome.

History

Begun in 6th century during the reign of Pope Adrian I over the remains of the Templum Herculis Pompeiani in the Forum Boarium and of the Statio annonae, one of the food distribution centres of ancient Rome (another is to be found at theatre of Balbus). A deaconry was a place where charity distributions were given to the poor, and it looks likely that such an institution would have been built near the Roman annona..

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

On the south side of the Piazza Bocca della Verita overlooking the Tempio di Fortuna Virile, the Arco di Giano and the church of San Giorgio in Velabro.
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 noble harmony of the church's proportions begins with the seven-story campanile which is the tallest medieval belfry in Rome, and is continued in the wide two-story porch with its projecting canopy. The interior of the church features a number of medaieval interests including a lovely marble choir, an intricate Cosmatesque pavement, a bishop's throne with its two lions' heads and the ornamental disc behind it, and a gothic canopy over the main altar (signed by Deodato di Cosma, the Younger). The three naves of the church are separated by pilasters and ancient Roman columns some of whose capitals are original, some made in the middle ages when the church was built. Paintings from 8th-12th centuries, in three layers, are preserved in the upper part of the nave and in triumphal arch. The Schola cantorum is from the 13th century, while the main altar is a red granite piece from 1123. The Easter candelabrum is also from the 13th century. In the crypt are early Christian tombs and the foundations of a pagan temple.

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

Telephone: 39 6 678 1419
Open: Daily 9am-6pm
Accessibility: Full facilities for persons with disabilities.

Links

Coming soon.

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