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Home > Italy Travel Guide > Rome Travel Guide > Church of Sant'Ignazio di Loyola (Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola)

Church of Sant'Ignazio di Loyola

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Introduction
Location
History

ATTRACTIONS

Exterior
The Interior

Introduction

The second Jesuit church in Rome, it was built in 1626 and dedicated to Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order, who had just been canonized. The church is on the Latin cross plan, with an apse and numerous side chapels: decoration include stuccoes, precious marbles and gilt areas. A masterpiece of Baroque decoration it conserves a frescoed vault of exceptional beauty, which was painted by the mathematician Father Andrea Pozzo at the end of the 17th century, following a rare and perfect plan of perspective which gives the visitor the impression of an optical illusion.

Location

8/a Via del Caravita / Piazza di Sant'Ignazio

History

After the death and canonization of St Ignatius of Loyola, it was deemed fitting to build a church dedicated to him. It was built between 1626 and 1650 by Orazio Grassi S.J., funded by Ludovici The design is by Carlo Maderno and other artists, and was carried out by the Jesuite Orazio Grassi. Cardinal Ludovisi, a nephew of Pope Gregory XV. The latter also canonized St Ignatius and approved of the construction of this church. The Jesuits serve the church.
The current titular deacon of the church is H.E. Roberto Cardinal Tucci, S.J., who was appointed on February 21, 2001.

Exterior

The piazza in front of the church, with two palaces from 1727-1728 by Filippo Raguzzini framing it on the other side, is a good example of 18th century urban planning.

The facade was designed by Allessandro Algardi. It has two storey with Corinthian columns, pilaster strips, cornices, frontispiece, side volutes and a large window, crowned by a tympanon. The chiaroscuro effect is strong and successful.

The Interior

The church is best known for its trompe l'?il frescoes spanning the ceiling by Andrea Pozzo. These fresco paintings of the nave vault is the greatest work of Andrea Pozzo, painted in 1685, a false dome in the nave, on a canvas that is 17 metres wide. The original intention was to build a dome, but this was too expensive. It is also said that the residents of the neighborhood where Sant'Ignazio was built didn't want a rather large dome blocking their sun, and therefore a pictorial illusion was provided. To get the best possible effect of the illusion, stand at the spot marked by a bronze plaque in the floor of the nave. Pozzo also painted the Glory of Ignatius, with St Ignatius being welcomed by Christ and the Blessed Virgin as he enters Paradise. The figures around him represent the four continents. The effect of perspective creates the illusion of looking up at the sky through open colonnades.

Scenes from the life of St Ignatius in the apse are also by Pozzo. They depict the defence of Pamplona, where St Ignatius was wounded in the leg, an event that led to his conversion; and the divine assurance that the saint received in the chapel at La Storta. They house the relics of St. Luigi Gonzaga and of St. John Berchmans. The stuccoed frieze with Angels, running over the arcades of the nave, is by Alessandro Algardi. There are also scenes from the life of St Francis Xavier and St Francis Borgia.

Other artworks in the church include the marble relief depicting a three dimensional Saint Aloyzius Gonzaga in Glory (1698-99) by the French Pierre Legros and a huge statue of St. Ignatius, in stucco, by Camillo Rusconi (1728). The church houses also the tombs of Pope Gregory XV also by LeGros, completed in the late seventeenth century (over 60 years after Gregory's death), and of Cardinal Bellarmine.

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