- 0 Talk
-
San Giovanni Bosco in via Tuscolana
| San Giovanni Bosco in via Tuscolana | |
|---|---|
| | |
| English name: | St John Bosco in the Tusculan Way |
| Dedication: | John Bosco |
| Denomination: | Roman Catholic |
| Built: | 1959 |
| Contact data | |
| Address: | Viale dei Salesiani 9 |
San Giovanni Bosco in Via Tuscolana is a modern parish and titular church, and also a minor basilica. It is at Viale dei Salesiani 9, which is in the district named Don Bosco after it north of the Via Tuscolana. Pictures of the church on Wikimedia Commons. [1]
The cardinalate title is as given, but the church itself is usually referred to as San Giovanni Bosco. It is in the care of the Salesians, whose founder St John Bosco was. The present titular is Robert Sarah.
Contents |
Exterior
Edit
The church was designed by Gaetano Rapisardi, and the building was completed in 1959. It has a spectacular Modernist design, with Classical hints, and is one of the most outstanding modern churches in Rome. The plan is a simple rectangle, and the elevation is a rectangular box with a flat roof on which is set two domes, a very large one (40 metres across) over the nave and a much smaller one over the altar. The exterior walls consist of travertine limestone cladding set in a concrete box frame (the roofline beams for this are visible).
Entrance façadeEdit
The entrance façade is decorated with eight regularly spaced rectangular pilasters in shallow relief, with two at the outer edges. They do not reach the roofline, but break off without capitals. Between the central pair is a very large rectangular portal, and on the lintel of this is a dedicatory inscription. Over this in turn is a relief sculpture of the Apotheosis of St John Bosco by Arturo Dazzi, and the curved top of this reaches almost to the roofline. The portal is completely filled by a pair of enormous chased bronze doors, 10 metres high, displaying angels by Eugenio de Courten and recessed to leave an open porch. Either side of the central pair of pilasters are two very high arched portals, actually higher than the central rectangular one but not reaching to the top of the central relief sculpture. These have smaller bronze doors in their entrances, also recessed but with false lintels in the same plane as the façade. Above these are large windows reaching to the curves of the arches. These doors are chased with reliefs by Attilio Selva, one of Christ the Redeemer and the other of John the Baptist. In the zones between the remaining pilasters are four rectangular apertures containing statues of saints and popes. The archangels Gabriel and Raphael are by Ercole Drei, St Francis de Sales is by Giovanni Amoroso, St Joseph Cafasso is by Antonio Venditti and Popes Pius IX and Pius XI are by Francesco Nagni.
DomesEdit
The domes are hemispherical, of anodized copper, and are on cylindrical drums. The drum of the main one has two rows of recessed rectangular windows separated by stone frames, these rows themselves being separated by a very thin string course. Above them is a balcony with tall thin rectangular openings, behind which are more windows. As a result of this balcony, the dome itself has a smaller diameter than the drum. On top of it is a bronze sculpture of four angels by Alessandro Monteleone. The drum of the smaller dome merely has vertical slit windows.
Exterior walls and campanilesEdit
The side walls of the church are decorated with twelve rectangular pilasters in the same style as the façade, rising from a slightly projecting dado which runs along the ground. These pilasters create eleven vertical zones, which have three styles of window arrangement. Zones one, five and eleven have a large arched one over a large square one over a horizontal slit one in the dado. Zone ten has a second square one instead of the arched one. The other zones have a little vertical rectangular one, and a row of four little ones in the dado.
The exterior wall behind the altar is actually of subsidiary offices and rooms which are part of the edifice but not of the sacred spaces. Hence, the fenestration here is of the sort appropriate to an apartment block.
There is a twin pair of rectangular campaniles on top of the outer corners either side of the altar. Each has six vertical pilasters, connected by horizontal beams to form six open boxes, two in each of three storeys. The cap has segmental pediments, two on the long sides and one on the short ones.
InteriorEdit
The interior decoration was only finished in 1964. There is a nave with aisles, and a flat ceiling into which the openings to the domes look as if they have been cut. The aisle pillars, and two other ones either side of the altar, hold up this ceiling without any capitals or imposts. They are square in cross-section, and are clad in veined red marble arranged in symmetrically patterned slices. The aisles are lit by thirty-two chandeliers patterned to floral and angelic motifs, and using golden glass from the factory at Murano near Venice.
PresbyteriumEdit
The original arrangement of the main altar was by Luigi Venturini, although it was re-ordered in 1992 by Constantino Ruggeri in response to changed liturgical expectations. The altar and lectern are solid blocks of Carrara marble, the former weighing ten tons and having a carving of a hill on the front representing Calvary. It also has some deliberate fissures symbolizing the Breaking of the Bread. Behind the altar, the tabernacle, crucifix and the bronze sunburst sculpture above are all by Pericle Fazzini. The enormous mosaic behind these, measuring ten square metres, depicts the Apotheosis of St John Bosco and is by Giovanni Brancaccio. This is flanked by eight bas-reliefs, four vertically on each side, by various artists but to the same style.
Interior of the domesEdit
There are two mosaics on the lowest parts of the dome drums, under the stained glass windows. These are by Augusto Ranocchi. The one in the small dome depicts various Christian symbols, while the large one depicts episodes in the life of St John Bosco. The stained glass in the domes is of very high quality; in the large dome are Biblical scenes by Marcello Avenali and Lorenzo Bigotti, whereas that in the small one depicts the Seven Sacraments and Corporal Works of Mercy by Bruno Saetti.
ElsewhereEdit
There are twelve side altars, six on each side in the aisles. These amount to an exhibition of Italian religious art of the 20th century, by many artists. The stained glass windows in the walls are by Rolando Monti, Luigi Montanarini and Virgilio Guzzi. The bronze Stations of the Cross on the aisle pillars are by Venanzo Crocetti.
In conclusion, this church must be in the top five of those to be visited by anyone interested in modern religious art at Rome.
