Sant'Andrea al Quirinale

Sant'Andrea al Quirinale is the church of the Jesuit seminary on the Quirinal Hill in Rome.

It was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Giovanni de' Rossi over two decades (1658-1678). The site previously hosted a 16th century church, San Andrea a Montecavallo. The new building was commissioned by Pope Alexander VII and Cardinal Camillo Pamphilj. It is considered one of the finest examples of Roman Baroque architecture, embedding art into the structure in an often seamless combination. Bernini considered it his only perfect work. In his late years, his son recalled, he spent hours sitting in the church and looking at the polychrome marbles, the gilded and bleached stuccoes, and the play of light in the interior.

Oval in shape, with the entrance and high altar on the short axis of the ellipse, Sant'Andrea has a semicircular porch decorated with the arms of its Pamphilj patron. The stucco decoration was designed by Bernini and executed by Antonio Raggi and others between 1661 and 1666, with putti and cherubim beneath the windows. A "Martyrdom of Saint Andrew" (1668) by Borgognone stands on the high altar.

The first chapel houses three canvas by Baciccio: "Death of San Francesco Saverio" and two other canvases (1705). The second chapel has three canvases by Giacinto Brandi: a "Deposition", a "Flagellation", and a "Road to Calvary" (1682). In the second chapel on the left is a "Madonna with child and Saint Stanislao Kostka" (1687) by Carlo Maratta with a ceiling fresco of "Glory of the Saints" by Giovanni Odazzi. In the first chapel is a "Madonna and child and Saints" by Ludovico Mazzanti, with a ceiling with "Glory of the Angels" by Giuseppe Chiari.

Carlo Emanuele IV, King of Sardinia and Piedmont is buried in one of the side chapels. St. Stanislaus Kostka is also enshrined here. Currently, Odilo Cardinal Scherer holds the title of Cardinal Priest of the "Titulus San Andrea in Quirinali".

There are two other major Sant'Andrea churches in Rome:
*Sant'Andrea delle Fratte
*Sant'Andrea della Valle

References

*Federico Gizzi, "Le chiese barocche di Roma", Newton Compton, 1994.

External links

*http://www.nerone.cc/nerone/lectures/sandrea.htm
*http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/andrea/andrea.html
*http://www.williams.edu/art/architectureVR/santAndreaAlQuirinale/
*http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Sant_Andrea_al_Quirinale.html
*http://roma.katolsk.no/andreaquirinale.htm
* [http://www.romecity.it/Santandrea.htm Romecity entry]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Rome+Italy&ll=41.900624,12.489374&spn=0.004946,0.012618&t=k&hl=en| Satellite photo] . This shows the oval dome of Sant'Andrea in the center of the photo, southeast of the long side-wing of the Quirinal Palace, which envelops the formal gardens. Northeast of this church, at the south corner of the next intersection (Quirinale and Quattro Fontana) is the small dome of Borromini's San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane.