San Lorenzo in Miranda, Baroque church in Roman Forum, Italy
San Lorenzo in Miranda is a church built inside the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, whose ten grey stone Corinthian columns stand before a tan brick wall with recessed windows. The frieze reads "DIVO ANTONINO ET DIVAE FAVSTINAE EX S C". The facade rises in a scrolled pediment above a small central window. Inside, a single nave has three chapels per side, with Pietro da Cortona's Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence (1646) over the main altar and Domenichino's Virgin and Child with Saints (1626) in the first chapel on the left.
The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina was built in 141 AD. The church may have existed as early as the 7th century, but is first documented in the 11th century. In 1429 Pope Martin V granted it to the Universitas Aromatariorum, and in 1536 lateral chapels were removed to restore the temple's original forms for Charles V's visit. Orazio Torriani remodeled it in 1602 with a single nave and six side chapels.
The Guild of Pharmacists and Herbalists received this church from Pope Martin V in 1429 and made it a center for pharmaceutical knowledge and practice.
The church stands inside the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, but it is private property of the Nobile Collegio Chimico Farmaceutico and normally closed to visitors; entry requires a special request to the college administration. Public worship is held only on a few dates, notably 10 August for Saint Lawrence and 8 March, the anniversary of the 1429 papal grant. The imperial ground level means the old Forum-side stair no longer serves as an entrance.
The Museum of Pharmaceutical Art within the complex displays ancient pharmacy tools and traditional medicinal vessels from different periods. This collection documents how medicine and healing knowledge were practiced and preserved at this location across centuries.
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