CHURCH OF S. MARIA SOPRA MINERVA,
so named from being on the site of the Temple of Minerva dedicated by Pompey. It is one of the few Gothic churches in Rome.
The interior is highly decorated in the Gothic style. Second chapel on right, tomb of Princess Colonna. Fourth, the Chapel of the Annunciation. Fifth, Aldobrandini Chapel. The Caraffa Chapel contains a slab to a son of the late Bishop of Winchester, who joined the Roman Catholic Church, and died at Albano in 1857. The pictures of the Annunciation over the altar, the S. Thomas, and the Assumption are fine.
The roof represents four sibyls surrounded by angels, by Raffaelino del Garbo. The Altieri Chapel contains an altar-piece by C. Maratta. Next is the tomb of Guillaume Durand, with a very fine mosaic. Interesting to English visitors is the tomb of Cardinal Howard, Great Almoner of England, who died at Rome in 1694. The body of S. Catherine of Sienna reposes beneath the high altar. On the right is Obicci's statue of S. John; and on the left Michael Angelo's celebrated statue of the Saviour (the bronze drapery is an addition). In the sacristy is a chapel formed from the walls of the room in which S. Catherine died (1380). The festivals of S. Thomas Aquinas (March 7th) and of the Annunciation (March 25th) are celebrated here with great ceremony.
On the left of the high altar is the tomb of Fra Angelico, a monumental slab of the artist-monk, standing, with clasped hands, within an arch, in low relief.
HIC . JACET . VENELIS . PICTO . TR . JO . ORDIS . PREDICATO . 1455.
The monument was executed by Nicholas V., who is said to have written the inscription—
"Let me not gain praise because I was a second Apelles,
But because, O Christ, I gave all my gains to the poor.
Seeing some of my works are extant on earth, others in heaven,
The City of Flowers of Etruria reared me."
The Monastery attached was the headquarters of the Dominicans, and in it Galileo was tried "for asserting that the world revolved round the sun, in opposition to Holy Writ."
The Library is open every day from 7.30 to 11 A.M., and from 3 to 5 P.M.
On the façade are some curious inscriptions, referring to the height of the floods caused by the Tiber from 1422.