Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza
Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza, Baroque church in Corso del Rinascimento, Rome, Italy
Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza is a Baroque church with an extraordinary six-sided floor plan whose walls alternate between curving inward and outward. The dome ends in a distinctive spiral lantern that rises above the roof of the surrounding building complex.
Francesco Borromini designed this church between 1643 and 1660 as a spatial solution for the courtyard of an older university. The project stood in direct competition with the contemporary works of Gian Lorenzo Bernini in the city.
The church stood at the heart of a learning complex where students studied arts and sciences. Today, the spaces still reflect this connection between knowledge and faith that is visible in the building itself.
The church sits inside a university complex, so access is normally limited to going through an inner courtyard. It is best to visit on Sunday morning when services are held and the doors are open.
The fundamental geometric form combines two overlapping triangles that together create a six-pointed star. This symbol is traditionally linked to divine wisdom, which perfectly suits its original purpose as a chapel for a university.
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: December 6, 2025 16:00
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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