HOLY APOSTLES

Holy Apostles - click to enlarge

The Basilica of the Holy Apostles dates from the Byzantine period, but in 1348 collapsed under an earthquake, a few things were saved including the lion we see today in the porch, the work of Vassaletto, one of the most famous "Roman marble masters" of the XIII century.

For nearly a century, the church remained partially destroyed, until was elected Pope Martin V Colonna, who considered the contiguity with the family mansion, rebuilt the church. From this period dates the apse fresco , a masterpiece by Melozzo da Forli, which, detached, it is now divided between the Vatican Museums and the Palazzo del Quirinale.

Holy Apostles - click to enlarge
Melozzo da Forlì, apse fresco

Pope Clement XI Albani, at the dawn of 1700, deeply restored the church entrusting with the direction of the work Carlo Fontana, the most famous architect of the time (he descended from that Domenico Fontana, who came to Rome from Ticino and become the trust architect of Pope Sisto V Peretti).

A further restoration was carried out by Giuseppe Valadier, who was responsible for the neoclassical façade.

In the internal it towers in the apse the altarpiece, the largest of Rome, painted around 1715 by Domenico Maria Muratori (1661-1742), representing the martyrdom of Saints Filippo and Giacomo Minore.

Holy Apostles - click to enlarge
Domenico Maria Muratori, altarpiece

To the left of the altar Andrea Bregno (1418 – 1506) carved the tomb of the favorite nephew of Pope Sixtus IV Della Rovere, Cardinal Pietro Riario, who died in 1474 at age 28.

In the vault of the Presbytery, the Fall of the Rebel Angels is the work of John Odazzi (1663 -1731), a pupil of Baciccia.

Along the left wall of the nave, in the chapel of San Bonaventura, Antoniazzo Romano (1430 – 1510),disciple of Melozzo da Forli, painted a beautiful Madonna.

Holy Apostles - click to enlarge
John Odazzi, Fall of the Rebel Angels	Antoniazzo Romano, Madonna

In the vault of the nave the grandiose fresco depicting "The Triumph of the Franciscan Order" is the work of Baciccia (1639 – 1709).

Holy Apostles - click to enlarge
Baciccia, The Triumph of the Franciscan Order

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