Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Minor basilica on Capitoline Hill, Rome, Italy.
The basilica features twenty-two ancient Roman columns separating three naves, with a wooden ceiling decorated with paintings of the Battle of Lepanto.
Built upon a Byzantine abbey from 574, the church transformed from Greek rite administration to Franciscan control in 1250 under papal authority.
The church contains the tomb of Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, and multiple artistic works including frescoes by Pinturicchio depicting Saint Bernardino.
The basilica opens daily from 7:30 AM to 7:00 PM without entrance fees, located near the Victor Emmanuel II Monument and Capitoline Museums.
The 124-step marble staircase, constructed in 1348 to mark the end of a plague, remains a central feature of the basilica entrance.
Location: Rome
Inception: 13 century
Official opening: 12 century
Architectural style: Romanesque architecture, Gothic architecture
Length: 80 m
Width: 45 m
Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible
Opening Hours: 09:00-18:30
GPS coordinates: 41.89389,12.48333
Latest update: May 26, 2025 21:47
Rome contains over 900 churches that demonstrate two thousand years of sacred architecture, from Roman antiquity to the Baroque period. These buildings reveal the evolution of construction techniques and artistic expressions over the centuries. St. Peter's Basilica covers 20,000 square meters and features a dome designed by Michelangelo. The Pantheon retains its Roman dome with a 43-meter (141 feet) diameter, the largest ever constructed in unreinforced concrete. Major basilicas such as Santa Maria Maggiore showcase Byzantine mosaics from the 5th century beneath a Renaissance ceiling with gilded coffers. Saint Clement's Basilica in the Lateran overlays three levels of construction from the 1st to the 12th centuries, illustrating Rome's urban stratification. Santa Maria in Trastevere, one of the city's oldest churches, presents medieval gilded mosaics, while Saint Peter's in Chains houses Michelangelo's Moses. These monuments help understand how Rome shaped European religious architecture for over fifteen centuries.
Altare della Patria
75 m
Capitoline Wolf
74 m
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
119 m
Capitoline Museums
104 m
Mamertine Prison
111 m
Palazzo Senatorio
100 m
Palazzo dei Conservatori
108 m
Insula Romana
89 m
Arx
0 m
Marforio
30 m
Temple of Juno Moneta
14 m
Palazzo Nuovo
36 m
Cordonata Capitolina
93 m
Museo Centrale del Risorgimento
49 m
Equestrian Statue of Victor Emmanuel II
101 m
Basilica Argentaria
92 m
Temple of Veiovis
123 m
Bufalini Chapel
38 m
Porta Fontinalis
81 m
Clivus Argentarius
101 m
San Biagio de Mercato
97 m
Monument to Cola di Rienzo
86 m
Mamertine Prison
120 m
Portrait of Goffredo Mameli
77 m
Central Museum of the Risorgimento
42 m
Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius
103 m
Fitolacca arborea
67 m
Ippocastano
109 mReviews
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