| St.
Agnese in Agone (Piazza Navona) |
 According
to popular tradition, this church stands on the site of a
brothel where St. Agnes, stripped naked, was saved from
dishonor by the miraculous growth of her hair. The
present church was commissioned by Innocent X Pamphilj
to adjoin his familial palace on Piazza Navona. Work was
begun by the father/son architectural team of the
Rainaldi in 1652, however; by June of 1653, Innocent had
replaced them with his favorite architect: Borromini, who
is responsible for the unusual concave facade. Built, as
all structures of Piazza Navona are, upon the foundations
of the Stadium of Domitian (inaugurated AD 86), St.
Agnese has an intricate Greek-cross plan in which a
remarkable effect of spaciousness is provided by the
cupola. |
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| The
Four Rivers Fountain (Piazza Navona) |
 Located at the
center of Piazza Navona, the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi is
one of the most famous works by Bernini. Built for
Innocent X Pamphilj to embellish his family compound
while providing a beautiful vessel for the people of Rome
to receive the recently restored waters of the Acqua
Vergine, the intricately carved pyramidal travertine rock
formation supports an Egyptian obelisk taken from the
Circus of Maxentius. The four allegorical figures
represent the four great known rivers of the world: the
Danube, Ganges, Nile and the Rio della Plate from each of
the major continents: Europe, Asia, Africa and America.
The popular story told to illustrate the rivalry between
Bernini and Borromini, that the Plate is holding up his
arm to protect himself from the potentially unstable
belfry of St. Agnese is certainly apocryphal as the
fountain was completed in 1651, two years before
Borromini began work on the church. |
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| Piazza
Navona |
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