A Very Stairy Day

Though we had the chance to sleep in compared to yesterday, waking up today was miserable and we all could have easily slept in much longer than 7:45 AM. When I did wake up, my back was in so much pain; I must have slept really weird. It felt like my spine was in my lungs. Since there was so much to do, I kept moving forward. We had a jam-packed day ahead of us and we were ready to rumble--almost. I got downstairs with enough time to grab breakfast in a napkin and get a move on. Right when we were about to go on the metro, we found out a member of our party was stuck because they forgot their metro card at the hotel. RIP. Once we made it to our stop, we got a bus to take us to the other side of town. It was a packed bus but we made it in one piece. After a walk through alley-way streets, we made it to the Church of Saint Cecilia. Here's some of the views from our walk.

Okay, so who is Saint Cecilia? She is the patron saint of music. Back during the times of the Romans, she took a vow of virginity but her parents forced her to marry a Pagan man. During the night of their wedding, she told him that she would not consummate their marriage and that if he were to push her on the matter, he would be punished by an angel of the Lord. Pagan Boi turned out to be a homie and I think he even eventually was converted. Unfortunately, it was at this time that Christians were Not CoolTM in the eyes of those in charge, so both Pagan Boi and Cecilia were martyred. They tried a bunch of times to kill Cecilia but The Good LordTM would not have it. Eventually, though, she did pass away. She was laid to rest in the catacombs we saw last week. A few centuries later, a pope was in the search for the remains of saints including Saint Cecilia. The legend claims that when they found her, she was perfectly preserved. They moved her to this chapel. Fast forward a few more centuries, in 1596, some people were doing some excavations and they opened the sarcophagus of Saint Cecilia--once again, she was perfectly preserved in a very specific pose. The artist Maderno swooped in and studied her body to create this beautiful sculpture.

The mosaic in the apse is original Byzantine; so it's a focus on the message rather than realism. Symbolism is everything. The vase in front of the building is from the ancient Romans. Underneath is the crypt where she is now laid to rest. It is covered with beautiful 20th century mosaics. 

The sculpture of her is an early Baroque gem. Her hands make a gesture which may symbolize the Holy Trinity. Steve told me later that he was pretty sure that Maderno was bad at making faces so maybe that's why her face wasn't included. Who's to say?

In the nunnery next to the church was an incredible fresco from the 13th century. It's about the Last Judgement but it's in bad condition. What's kind of cool is that Italy has their Last Judgement scenes shown on the inside of buildings. In Northern Europe, this scene is shown on the outside. The fresco is by artist Cavollini who included a type of realism which was unprecedented for the time (he and Giotto were from the future, TBH). Technically we weren't supposed to take photos but I have a pal on the inside.

Our next stop was to check out the Tempieto by Bramante. This piece of architecture is considered the greatest achievement of High Renaissance Architecture. The King of Spain was really swimming in money at the time because of Columbus' finds (he's a trash bag but I don't want to talk about it). This building commemorates Saint Peter's martyrdom (supposedly he was martyred at this location). Bramante uses symmetry, geometry, and math to create harmony. He got a lot of inspiration fro Classic Roman and Greek architecture. Since it's not a church, it's meant to be seen from outside the building.

The walk to and from the Tempieto involved A LotTM of stairs. At least we got some great views. This part of town had plenty of graffiti.

The next place we checked was the Church of Saint Mary at Trastevere. Back in like, 38 BCE, a fountain of oil appeared before this building which was confirmed the grace of God. The mosaic in the apse of the building was the most splendid we've seen so far. When the light caught the gold, it just shined. In Byzantine art, gold represents a more mystical, heavenly dimension. The columns in the building all came from different places.

Once we wrapped up at the Church of Saint Mary, we headed over to Saint Peter's in the Vatican. The square was designed by our pal Bernini (we'll cover him later). He designed the square so it looked like the arms of the church scooping up the members. Here's a view of the square from the very top. Fun Fact, that entrance was not supposed to be there, but it never was finished. 

After talking about the square, we headed inside the church and saw a number of incredible pieces. First of all, while we never really talked about the ceiling, this ceiling was insane! Just beauty in every inch.

This is Bernini's Saint Longinus. This is what is considered the Centurian soldier who said at the time of Christ's crucifixion who said, "Surely this must be the Son of God." It's an early work by Bernini, so this style was completely unprecedented. He looks electrified. 

This gorgeous canopy and altar piece is another Bernini. I don't think I'd like to be his friend because geniuses are kind of frustrating. Honestly, Baroque art is incredible. It looks like it is moving and breathing. What a gift.

This is Michelangelo's Pieta. Compared to the Baroque, Renaissance works of art are passive peaceful. It is the only work that Michelangelo ever signed and this beautiful sculpture made him world famous. Become some doofus took a hammer to it in the 70's, it's now under intense security. Apparently the doofus claimed to be the son of God or something. 

Baroque art is my life. I've never really cared about Raphael. But when I saw Raphael's Transfiguration, I was absolutely breathless (which may be a result of my back pain). It is massive. Because of the feelings I had when I saw it, that's all I can say. It was just incredible.

A number of us went up to the top of the dome and WOW it is high up! It's way too many stairs and most of us were tired the rest of the day. As we walked up the stairs, the halls got narrower and slanted. Crazy town.

On our way out, we got a pic of the Pope's Swiss Guards. Very Cool.

After dinner, we got cannolis!