Sant'Agnese in Agone facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids Sant'Agnese in Agone
Church of Saint Agnes at the Circus Agonalis
Sant'Agnese in Piazza Navona
Chiesa di Sant'Agnese in Agone
Sant'Agnese from Piazza Navona
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Location	Via di Santa Maria dell'Anima 30/A,, Rome
Country	Italy
Language(s)	Italian
Denomination	Catholic
Tradition	Roman Rite
History
Status	titular church
Founded	early 12th century
Dedication	Agnes of Rome
Consecrated	28 January 1123
Architecture
Architect(s)	Girolamo Rainaldi, Carlo Rainaldi, Borromini, Bernini
Style	Baroque
Completed	1859
Administration
Diocese	Rome

The Sant'Agnese in Agone church, also known as Sant'Agnese in Piazza Navona, is a beautiful 17th-century church in Rome, Italy. It's built in the Baroque style, which means it has lots of fancy details and dramatic designs. The church faces the famous Piazza Navona, a large public square in the heart of Rome. This square was once an ancient Roman stadium where Saint Agnes, a Christian saint, was martyred. Building the church started in 1652 with architects Girolamo Rainaldi and his son Carlo Rainaldi. Later, another important architect, Francesco Borromini, also worked on it.

This church is a special kind of church called a titular deaconry. This means it has a cardinal connected to it. Besides regular church services, Sant'Agnese in Agone also hosts classical music concerts. You can hear sacred Baroque music, chamber music, and even operas there.

Building the Church: A Story of Architects
Inside the Church: Art and Beauty
The Name and a Famous Story
Images for kids
See also

Building the Church: A Story of Architects

View into the dome with frescoes; the entrance is on the right

The idea for this church came from Pope Innocent X. His family palace, the Palazzo Pamphili, is right next to the church. He wanted the church to be like a private chapel for his family. There was even an opening in the dome so the family could attend services from their palace!

Early Designs and Changes

The first plans for the church were made in 1652 by Girolamo Rainaldi and his son Carlo Rainaldi. They wanted the church to have a central, round shape, like a Greek cross. They also changed the main entrance to face Piazza Navona. Pope Innocent X was making this piazza a grand showplace for his family.

The first idea was to build the new church right over an older church, which would become the crypt (an underground room). This would have made the new church much higher than the piazza. However, this plan was dropped once construction began.

Problems and New Ideas

People criticized the early designs, especially the steps leading down to the piazza, which seemed to stick out too much. So, Carlo Rainaldi changed the design. He made the front of the church curve inwards (a concave shape). This way, the steps wouldn't seem so big. He also planned for two towers on either side of the central dome. This idea of a curved front with twin towers was very new and influenced many churches built later in Northern Europe.

In 1653, the Rainaldis were replaced by Francesco Borromini. He had to work with the existing layout but made his own changes. Inside, he placed columns in a unique way, making the base of the dome look wider. For the front of the church facing Piazza Navona, Borromini designed curved steps that would lead down to the piazza. These steps would curve outwards, creating an oval space in front of the main door. His design for the front included eight columns and a special broken pediment (a triangular top part) over the entrance. He also designed the side towers to be one story tall, with fancy columns and curved sections above.

Changes After Pope Innocent X

Pope Innocent X died in 1655. By then, the lower part of the church's front was finished. His nephew, Camillo Pamphili, wasn't very interested in the church. This made Borromini sad, and he eventually left the project in 1657.

Carlo Rainaldi was brought back as the architect. He made more changes to Borromini's design. He added another story to the side towers and made their top parts simpler. After Camillo Pamphili died, his wife, Olimpia Aldobrandini, asked Bernini to take over. Bernini was responsible for the simpler pediment above the main entrance and the strong decorative band inside the church.

In 1668, Camillo Borghese took charge of the church. He brought Carlo Rainaldi back again and hired Ciro Ferri to paint the frescoes inside the dome. More decorations were added, including large sculptures and colorful marble. Many of these later additions were probably not what Borromini had planned.

Inside the Church: Art and Beauty

The skull of Saint Agnes

The main altar with a relief of The Holy Family

The inside of the dome is covered with a beautiful fresco called Apotheosis of Saint Agnes. This painting was started by Ciro Ferri in 1670 and finished by Sebastiano Corbellini in 1689 after Ferri's death. The curved sections below the dome, called pendentives, were painted with the Cardinal Virtues by Giovanni Battista Gaulli. He was a student of Bernini. In the church's sacristy (a room for priests), there's a painting by Paolo Gismondi showing the Glory of Saint Agnes.

The church's interior is almost circular, shaped like a Greek cross. All around the inside, you'll find amazing Baroque sculptures made of marble. These sculptures are dedicated to different saints who were martyred. There are four altars built into the pillars, each with a relief sculpture set in a curved niche.

Here are some of the famous artworks you can see:

The Two Holy Families (1676) by Domenico Guidi: This is on the main altar. It shows the Holy Family.
Death of Saint Alexius by Giovanni Francesco Rossi: This relief is above the first altar on the right.
Martyrdom of Saint Emerentiana by Ercole Ferrata: This is on the second altar on the right.
Martyrdom of Saint Eustace by Melchiorre Cafà: You can find this on the first altar on the left.
Death of Saint Cecilia by Antonio Raggi: This is on the second altar on the left.
Saint Agnes on the Pyre by Ercole Ferrata: This is in the second altar of the transept (the cross-shaped part of the church) on the right.
Saint Sebastian (around 1717–1719) by Pier Paolo Campi: This statue is on the second altar of the transept on the left. It also has two marble angels by Pierre Le Gros the Younger.
Tomb Monument of Pope Innocent X (1729) by Giovanni Battista Maini: This monument is above the main entrance.
The stucco decorations in the curved tops of the niches, showing angels with symbols of the saints, were made by Ferrata's workshop.

Inside the church, there is also a special shrine for Saint Agnes. It holds her skull and a marble relief by Alessandro Algardi.

The Name and a Famous Story

The name Sant'Agnese in Agone might sound like "agony," but it's not related to the suffering of the martyr Saint Agnes. In agone was the old name for Piazza Navona. It comes from a Greek word meaning "in the site of the competitions." This is because Piazza Navona was built on the site of an ancient Roman stadium used for footraces. Over time, "in agone" changed into "Navona" in everyday language. However, some streets nearby still keep the original name.

Bernini's famous Fountain of the Four Rivers is right in front of the church. There's a popular story that Bernini sculpted the figure of the "Nile" covering his eyes. People say he did this because he thought the church's front, designed by his rival Borromini, might fall down! But this is just a fun legend. Bernini's fountain was actually built a few years before Borromini's part of the church's front was finished.

Borromini and Bernini were big rivals for architectural jobs. For example, during Pope Innocent X's time, there was a group formed to study problems with the foundations of the bell towers Bernini built on the front of Saint Peter's Basilica. Borromini was one of the many people who strongly criticized Bernini's work. In the end, the bell towers were torn down, which was a big blow to Bernini's reputation as an architect.