San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane - Roma, Italy
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N 41° 54.114 E 012° 29.440
33T E 291856 N 4641929
The church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (Saint Charles at the Four Fountains), also called San Carlino, is a Roman Catholic church located at 23 Via del Quirinale in Rome, Italy.
Waymark Code: WM10X6H
Location: Lazio, Italy
Date Posted: 07/04/2019
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San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane is named after the four fountains at the corners of the intersection of the Via Quirinale (the former Via Pia or Strada Pia) and the Via del Quattro Fontane (the former Via Felice or Strada Felice), where the church stands.
The church was designed by the architect Francesco Borromini and it was his first independent commission. It is an iconic masterpiece of Baroque architecture, built as part of a complex of monastic buildings on the Quirinal Hill for the Spanish Trinitarians, an order dedicated to the freeing of Christian slaves. He received the commission in 1634, under the patronage of Cardinal Francesco Barberini, whose palace was across the road. The construction of the church took place during the period 1638-1641 and in 1646 it was dedicated to Saint Charles Borromeo. In 1665 Borromini began the façade, but committed suicide in 1667. His nephew, Bernardo Castelli Borromini, continued work using his uncle's plans, firstly building a permanent campanile in 1670 and then beginning the façade in 1674. This was finished structurally in 1677, and the last sculptural decorations were finally completed in 1682. The decorative scheme was never actually finished.
The concave-convex facade of San Carlo undulates in a non-classic way. Tall corinthian columns stand on plinths and bear the main entablatures; these define the main framework of two storeys and the tripartite bay division. Between the columns, smaller columns with their entablatures weave behind the main columns and in turn they frame niches, windows, a variety of sculptures as well as the main door, the central oval aedicule of the upper order and the oval framed medallion borne aloft by angels. The medallion once contained a 1677 fresco by a Pietro Giarguzzi of the Holy Trinity. Above the main entrance, cherubim herms frame the central figure of Saint Charles Borromeo by Antonio Raggi and to either side are statues of St. John of Matha and St. Felix of Valois, the founders of the Trinitarian Order.
The campanile stands over one of the Four Fontaines (the one representing the River Tiber) on the outside, and the spiral staircase down to the crypt on the inside. The juxtaposition between the façade and the chamfered corner here is perhaps the least satisfactory part of Borromini's design and the cornice of the façade interferes with the campanile. The latter is on an incurved square plan, and has two pairs of Doric columns on each face supporting an entablature with rosettes and triglyphs on the frieze. The soundholes are large rectangular voids between the inner pairs of columns. Above the entablature is a trapezoidal plinth, and finally an incurved truncated pyramidal spire in lead with a gilded ball finial.
The church interior is both extraordinary and complex. The three principal parts can be identified vertically as the lower order at ground level, the transition zone of the pendentives and the oval coffered dome with its oval lantern. Flanking the apse of the main altar is a pair of identical doorways. The right door leads to the convent through which the crypts below may be accessed. The door on the left leads to an external chapel known as Capella Barberini which contains a shrine to blessed Elisabeth Canori Mora.
Opening hours: Monday to Saturday: 10:00 to 13:00; Sunday: 12:00 to 13:00 (Mass at 11:00)
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