This important Roman church was built in 1626 to honor the father of the Jesuit ministry. The substitute illusionistic dome is a fabulous fake, painted on a flat ceiling, since the planned cupola was never built.
A wonderful and important characteristic of St. Ignazio is that it is a superb example of Baroque illusionism. When money ran out before a dome could be built, the clever Jesuit artist Andrea Pozzo (1681-1701) painted a fake dome over the altar. The trompe d' oeil perspective is the biggest surprise in Rome as the uninitiated standing underneath never guess that the ceiling is really flat.
Sant’Ignazio di Loyola
Piazza di Sant’Ignazio
Pantheon Area
00186 Rome (RM)
p.+(06)-679-4406
f. +(06)-679-0922
The elegant Baroque curves of the architecture that surrounds the church creates one of the prettiest squares in Rome. Piazza di Sant’Ignazio
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