The only example of medieval gothic church in Rome
The Dominican Santa Maria Sopra Minerva (13th-century) is the only extant example of original Gothic church building in Rome and it is literally packed with treasures. It is located right next to the Pantheon behind Bernini’s elephant obelisk statue.
The Carafa chapel in the far right corner contains frescoes by Filippino Lippi (1489) and below the main altar lie the relics of the famous Saint Catherine of Siena, while the tombs of two Medici popes, Leo X and Clement VII, are in the apse.
The Dominican cardinal Oliviero Carafa devoted such admiration and devotion to the great dominican Saint Thomas Aquinas, that he built and decorated in his honour this splendid chapel by the famous Filippino Lippi, on the advice of Lorenzo the Magnificent.
To the left is one of Michelangelo’s unfinished works, the statue of The Risen Christ also known as Christ the Redeemer or Christ Carrying the Cross. The head, neck, and arms have been completed by the master but the hips, buttocks, sandals and drapery have clearly been completed by other hands.
Leaning against the last pillar of the left nave, stands the funerary monument of the venerable sister Maria Raggi, youth work of the great baroque artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
Visitor can also admire two big organs that are located above the two transepts.
Piazza della Minerva 42, Roma, Lazio, Italia Piazza della Minerva, 42 (Pantheon) 7am-1pm, 3:30pm-7pm (weekends open at 8am)
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