S. BARBARA DEI LIBRAI
Founded in
the eleventh century by the prefect Giovanni Crescenzio and his wife Rogata as
written on an inscription in the church
It was made
from a fornix of the Theater of Pompey
perhaps testified by its ancient name in Satro corrupted form from the
Latin word theatrum
It was consecrated
again in 1306
At the
beginning of the sixteenth century it was the national church of the English
people in Rome
It was
granted to the Confraternity of the Booksellers in 1601 and rebuilt in
1680 at the behest of the Florentine bookseller and printer Zenobio Masotti
(1606/88)
It was
restored in 1858 by Gaetano Bonoli
In 1969 it
was deconsecrated and used as a warehouse
It was
reopened in 1982 and restored in the years 1990/93
S. Barbara
was born in Turkey to a pagan father and a Christian mother. When she decided
to convert, in 306, the father reported her, and she was sentenced to death by
beheading
It was her
father himself who beheaded her, after a couple of days of torture. As soon as
she was decapitated, lightning struck the man, killing him
S. Barbara
is therefore patron saint of everything that has to do with fire and explosives
FAÇADE
1680 by Giuseppe Passeri
(1654/1714), pupil of Carlo Maratta
Restored in 1858
Statue “S. Barbara” by Ambrogio
Parisi
ENTRANCE
NAVE
In the
vault fresco “Glory of St. Barbara” by Luigi
Garzi (1638/1721) from Pistoia, a pupil of Andrea Sacchi and later
influenced by Carlo Maratta
“One can consider
Luigi Garzi as a not so well known artist, parallel to the action carried out
by Carlo Maratta, but with interesting differences and a more prolonged
participation in the eighteenth century. (...) He shows a Frenchified style,
original for his time, supported in particular by Poussin and more generally by
the contemporary works of transalpine cousins. The stately results of this art
style, however, is tempered by his cute miniatures details, anticipating
similar results already fully belonging to the eighteenth century” (Giancarlo
Sestieri)
On the
right triptych “Madonna and Child
with Sts. John the Baptist and the Archangel Michael” 1453 signed by Leonardo da Roma
MAIN NAVE
Four
frescoes on the walls:
On the
right “St. Teresa” and “St. Anthony of Padua”, on the left “St. Philip Neri”
and “St. Francis of Assisi” 1682 by Luigi Garzi
In the
vault “Four Evangelists”
and “Faith, Hope, Charity and Love of God” second half of 1800s by Domenico Monacelli (active in the nineteenth century)
“Wooden
cross” of the XIV century inserted, with an interesting Baroque style, in the
center of the fresco “Madonna and St. John at the foot of the Cross” by Luigi Garzi
Right wall “Nine
brothers presented to the Virgin Mary by the Sts. Barbara, Thomas Aquinas and
John of God” seventeenth-century painting maybe by the French Claude Mellan
(1598/1688)
“Apparition of Christ
to S. Barbara”
and oval in the vault of the presbytery “Eternal Father” by Luigi Garzi
Beautiful
seventeenth-century front panel of the altar made out of rare stones
On the left
“Tomb and bust of
Zenobio Masotti” the patron and builder of the church
Lunette “S. Barbara
decapitated by his father” by Domenico Monacelli
Altarpiece “Madonna
and Sts. Peter, Paul, Jerome, Thomas and John of God” maybe by Francesco Ragusa (1591/1665)
SPECCHI CHAPEL
Altarpiece “S. Saba” by G.B. Brughi
(1660/1730), pupil of Baciccio
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