Santa Maria sopra Minerva
— — the only Gothic ceiling in Rome.
Not only on a wall.
“A blue vaulted Gothic ceiling above a Renaissance floor, two blocks behind the Pantheon. The basilica took its name from a Roman temple of Minerva the site was once thought to cover. Inside: Michelangelo's Christ holding the Cross, Filippino Lippi's Carafa Chapel, the body of Catherine of Siena under the high altar. Outside in the piazza, Bernini's small marble elephant carries an Egyptian obelisk on its back. — from the studio
Santa Maria sopra Minerva, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Santa Maria sopra Minerva stands on Piazza della Minerva, two streets behind the Pantheon in central Rome. Founded by the Dominican Order in 1280 on the site of an earlier oratory, it is the only major church in Rome built in a true Gothic interior style, with ribbed vaults painted a deep starred blue restored in the nineteenth century. The current facade dates from the sixteenth century. The basilica holds the tomb of Saint Catherine of Siena, who died nearby in 1380, and the burial places of the painter Fra Angelico and three popes including Leo X.
Inside the basilica stands Michelangelo's marble Christ the Redeemer, carved between 1519 and 1521 and known as the Risen Christ. The Carafa Chapel in the right transept holds Filippino Lippi's frescoes of the Annunciation and the Assumption, painted from 1488 to 1493 for Cardinal Oliviero Carafa. Bernini's Pulcino della Minerva, the small marble elephant supporting a sixth-century BC Egyptian obelisk, has stood in the piazza since 1667. The obelisk itself came from a nearby Iseum, the sanctuary of Isis that gave the church its older name confusion.
The basilica is open daily, generally morning and late afternoon, with reduced hours during liturgical services; entry is free. Modest dress is expected, shoulders and knees covered. The Pantheon is a two-minute walk west across Via dei Cestari. Largo di Torre Argentina, with its excavated Republican-era temples and resident cats, lies four minutes south. Lunchtime can be quiet inside the church; the surrounding streets fill in the evening with restaurants. The piazza outside, with Bernini's elephant, is best photographed in late afternoon light.