San Bernardo alle Terme

San Bernardo alle Terme is a basilica church in Rome.

The church was built in 1598 in one of the tower-shape "spheristerium" (ball games arena) of the external perimeter of the Baths of Diocletian. It was initially given to a French Cistercian group, the Feuillants, through the intercession of Caterina Sforza di Santafiora. Later, after Feuillants disgregation during the French Revolution, the edifice and the annexed monastery were ceded to the Congregation of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, to whom the church is entitled.

The German painter Johann Friedrich Overbeck, founder of the Nazarene art movement, is interred here. The Cardinal Priest of the "Titulus S. Bernardi ad Thermas" is Varkey Vithayathil.

Art and architecture

The structure of San Bernardo alle Terme is similar to the Pantheon, since it is cylindrical, with a dome and an "oculus". The edifice has a diameter of 22 meters. The dome decoration, made of octagonal coffers, reminds one of the Basilica of Maxentius. The interior is graced by eight statues of saints, each housed in wall niches, the work (c. 1600) of Camillo Mariani. These are a good example of the so-called International Mannerism. The Chapel of St Francis is an addition to the ancient rotunda.

References

* "Le chiese barocche di Roma", Federico Gizzi, Newton Compton, Rome, 1994

External links

* [http://roma.katolsk.no/bernardoterme.htm "San Bernardo alle Terme"] , by Nyborg.