Trastevere

 Trastevere is one of the most "happening" neighborhoods in Rome but it also has some of the oldest and most beautiful and significant churches in all of Rome.  The name of the district comes from the Latin that means "beyond the Tiber".  

Basilica of St. Cecilia in Trastevere dedicated to the young Roman woman, Cecilia, who was martyred in the 3rd century.  Tradition holds that the first church built here was built over the house of the saint.  

Interior Courtyard of St. Cecilia

Statue by Stefano Maderno in front of the main altar depicting the martyrdom of St. Cecilia.  Her relics are in the crypt under the main altar.  Maderno made the sculpture after viewing the the body as he saw it when the tomb was opened in 1599.  The statue depicts the three axe strokes described in the 5th-century account of her martyrdom and is a testament to how the body was preserved incorrupt from the time of her death.  

Apse and main altar with baldachin


Many street corners in Rome have little shrines to the Blessed Mother built into the corners of the building.  The shrines were lit by candles and then gas and then electric lights as a way to illuminate the street corners.  Here is one in Trastevere.


The Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere is one of the oldest churches in Rome

Apse and main altar.  Note the unique mosaic in the apse picturing the Blessed Mother sharing a throne with Jesus.

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