medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Tuesday, June 30, 2009, at 8:54 am, christopher crockett wrote:
> i seem to remember something about "whispering spots" in the Pantheon
> (formerly a "church")
Since 13. May 609 a church without quotation marks, now officially the basilica collegiata di Santa Maria ad Martyres. This being the fourteen hundredth anniversary year of that church's consecration, the plenary indulgence granted for visiting it on certain feastdays while fulfilling certain specified conditions has been extended to every day until 31. October 2009 (for the specified conditions, see: <http://tinyurl.com/mc634v>).
Unofficially, it's also known as Santa Maria Rotonda. Herewith some views of it so labeled, in a collection of views of "7th Century Churches" in Rome:
http://www.pilgrimstorome.org.uk/gallery/index.php?/category/85
Of course there have been and are other churches called Santa Maria Rotonda (vel sim.), e.g. this former one at Tivoli (RM) in Lazio (originally an Augustan temple of uncertain dedication; in recent centuries often called, because of its form, a temple of Vesta):
http://tinyurl.com/n3h8tu
http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/photo745296.htm
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2918536360040696869ZNIXia
or this one in Albano Laziale (RM) in Lazio, a former nympheum that has served as a Christian church since at least 1060 (at center the building is circular):
http://tinyurl.com/mum79k
or this former one in Catania (part of a Roman baths complex):
http://tinyurl.com/le6xdo
http://www.flickr.com/photos/87824614@N00/3490925946/sizes/o/
or this former one at Ravenna (the burial place of pope Victor II, it was deconsecrated in 1719 and people have gone back to calling it the mausoleum of someone else):
http://www.travelplan.it/img/ravenna01.jpg
or this one at Villanova d'Albenga (SV) in Liguria (officially a chiesa di Santa Maria del Soccorso):
http://tinyurl.com/madlzq
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31328706@N08/3213164156/sizes/l/
or this originally sixteenth-century one at Castelseprio (VA) in Lombardy:
http://tinyurl.com/nnjsop
Not that a church so called must be round. Vienna's early baroque Sancta Maria Rotunda is cruciform. Did it have a round predecessor?
So perhaps it's better to stick with Santa Maria ad Martyres.
Best,
John Dillon
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|