BATHS OF DIOCLETIAN, AND CHURCH OF S. MARIA DEGLI ANGELI.
The magnificent bathing establishments, called Thermæ, to distinguish them from the ordinary baths, consisted of a long series of halls, chambers, and courts, all lying on the same level, so that the extent of surface required for laying out had to be artificially formed either by the removal or the elevation of the soil. The thermæ founded by Diocletian and Maximian, and completed by Constantius and Maximinus, constituted the largest edifice of this kind. At present, only the great hall, 350 feet by 80 feet, and 96 feet high, converted into a church by Michael Angelo, exists in a state of tolerable preservation. The original massive granite pillars, 40 feet high, and 5 feet in diameter, though so sunk into the ground (imitation pedestals have been put to them) that their full height is nowhere visible, are still standing; the antique vaulted roof has also been preserved entire. This circumstance is of great importance for the lighting up of this vast space—the masses of light falling upon it at so favourable an angle, that the mind receives the same pleasing impression at all hours of the day and at all seasons of the year.
Several considerable portions of the adjoining hall are still to be seen, but, being included within the buildings of the neighbouring schools and asylums, and partly converted into hay magazines, a clear and complete survey of them cannot easily be obtained.
The pictures in the church were brought from S. Peter's, and the court of the monastery, formed with one hundred columns, was designed by Michael Angelo. Salvator Rosa and Carlo Maratta were both buried here. The Government is forming a new museum in these buildings. On the right of the high altar is Domenichino's S. Sebastian. Opposite to it, Maratta's Baptism of our Lord. The Presentation in the Temple is by Romanelli; the Death of Ananias by Roncalli. In the transept are copies of Guido's Crucifixion of S. Peter, and Vanni's Fall of Simon Magus; S. Peter resuscitating Tabitha, by Mancini; S. Jerome and S. Francis, by Musciano; Assumption, by Bianchini; Resuscitation of Tabitha, by Costanzi; Fall of Simon Magus, by Battoni; S. Basil celebrating Mass before the Emperor Valens, by Subleyras.
On leaving the church, opposite are the remains of the Theatridium belonging to the baths, the space in front being the Stadium.