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Anchor 1 ▼ Interior

Anchor 1 ▼ ▲ ▶ ◀ Vault Artist: School of Bernini • The relief is Christ Entrusts His Flock to Peter

Anchor 1 St. Benedict Chapel Artist: Luigi Poletti Date: 1800s • After the fire, this chapel was redesigned by Poletti to recall the cella of a Greco-Roman temple. The grey columns are ancient columns from Veio. In the original basilica, this space was the entrance passage from the Via Ostiense ▶ ◀

Anchor 1 ▼ St. John Date: 1705-1711 Artist: Camillo Rusconi • The statue is St. John. The symbol of St. John is the eagle as the gospel of St. John is written from a divine perspective . • All of the statues in the pillars are of the 12 apostles of Jesus (except St. Paul). These 12 pillars follow Revelation 21:14 which speak of the 12 apostles as the 12 foundations of the new Jerusalem • The dove in the pediment is the heraldic device of the Pamphili. Pope Innocent X (1644-1655), a Pamphili, renovated the nave

Anchor 1 ▼ ▲ ▶ ◀ Baldachin Date: 1700s • The baldachin over the altar has four columns that are remnants of the old basilica called the Sessorian Palace which was the residence of St. Helen (246-330 ca)

Anchor 1 ▼ North Entrance

Anchor 1 ▼ Nave Date: 431-440 • The mosaics date mostly from Pope Sixtus III (432-440) • The mosaics on the right are Old Testament events of Moses and Joshua Artist: Giovanni Battista Ricci; Baldassarre Croce; others Date: 1593 • The 22 paintings are New Testament events mostly of Mary ▶ ◀

Anchor 1 ▼ Chapel of St. Cyriaca ▲ ◀

Anchor 1 ▼ Chapel of St. Helen Artist: Niccolo Circignani Date: 1590 ca • The center is Scene from the Life of St. Helen • The lunettes are Allegorical Representation of Virtues ▲ ▶ ◀

Anchor 1 ▶ ◀ Nave

Anchor 1 ▼ ▶ ◀ Cesi Chapel Artist: Luigi Gentile • The painting is St. Catherine of Alexandria Victorious over the Wheel

Anchor 1 ▼ St. Sebastian Altar

Anchor 1 ▼ ▲ ▶ ◀ Gabrielli Chapel Artist: Giovan Battista Franco (Semolei) Date: 1550 • The painting is Adoration of the Shepherds

Anchor 1 ▼ Tomb of Pope Innocent III

Anchor 1 ◀ Prebystery • In the front of the altar are buried, under the red porphyry marks, Cardinal Alessandro and Odoardo Farnese

Anchor 1 ▼ ▲ ◀ Chapel of St. Pius V Artist: Unknown Date: 1700s • The sculpture is Nativity

Anchor 1 ▼ ▶ ◀ Lante della Rovere Chapel • This chapel was dedicated to St. James the Greater by the Confraternity of Our Lady of the Annunciation and then given to Lucrezia Salviati in the 16th century. On acquiring the chapel in the 1800s the Lante della Rovere family renovated the chapel retaining only the altar structure and altar painting of St. James the Greater • Facing opposite of the chapel, on the interior of the right pillar, is Funeral Memorial of Maria Raggi (1647-1653) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Anchor 1 ▼ ◀ Chapel of St. Helen • The doorway leads to the Chapel of St. Helen • When St. Helen returned from Jerusalem with the cross she also brought soil from Calvary. This chapel is built on top of that soil. Thus the name of this church: Holy Cross in Jerusalem

Anchor 1 ▼ ▶ ◀ Excavations • A remains of few early Roman houses are visible • There is also a few Christian sarcophagi

Anchor 1 ▼ First Courtyard Artist: Tuscan school Date: 1588 • On the left is Birth of the Virgin • On the right is Presentation of Mary in the Temple • When the ceiling of the portico was reduced in 1632 it harmed the paintings ▶