Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza
Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza, Baroque church in Corso del Rinascimento, Rome, Italy
The church features a hexagonal layout with alternating convex and concave walls leading to a spiral cupola topped by a distinctive spiral lantern.
Francesco Borromini constructed the church between 1643 and 1660 during his architectural competition with Gian Lorenzo Bernini in Rome.
The church interior displays geometric patterns that merge religious symbolism with mathematical precision through triangles and circular segments in the dome.
Visitors can enter Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza for free on Sunday mornings between 9:00 and 12:00, accessing through the courtyard of Palazzo della Sapienza.
The floor plan forms a six-pointed star created by two overlapping triangles, representing the seal of Solomon and divine wisdom.
Location: Rome
Inception: 1643
Founders: Urban VIII
Architects: Francesco Borromini
Architectural style: baroque architecture, Baroque
Accessibility: Wheelchair inaccessible
Website: http://vicariatusurbis.org/Ente.asp?ID=950
GPS coordinates: 41.89822,12.47473
Latest update: May 26, 2025 21:23
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.
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