{"id":15175,"date":"2011-11-02T04:00:43","date_gmt":"2011-11-02T11:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/?p=15175"},"modified":"2021-03-15T11:31:57","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T18:31:57","slug":"the-basilica-of-saint-mary-above-minerva-in-rome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/15175","title":{"rendered":"The Basilica of Saint Mary Above Minerva in Rome"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From the outside, the Basilica of Saint Mary Above Minerva in Rome, Italy is a rather plain looking building. The basilica belongs to the Dominicans who began building the present structure in 1280 AD and completed it in 1370 AD. Despite its name, the basilica is built merely near the temple to the Roman goddess Minerva, not over it.<\/p>\n<p>In the piazza in front of the basilica stands an obelisk on the back of an elephant. The obelisk was under renovation during my trip. An inscription on the pedestal says that in the same way that the obelisk is supported by an elephant, a robust mind is needed to achieve wisdom.<\/p>\n<p>Inside, the basilica is full of marvels. Michelangelo&#8217;s glorious sculpture of Christ the Redeemer is here, Saint Catherine of Siena is buried under the main altar, and noted painter Fra Angelico (Brother John from Fiesole) is buried here, his life and work commemorated in a stained glass window.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Santa-Maria-sopra-Minerva.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15176\" title=\"The Basilica of Saint Mary Above Minerva\" src=\"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Santa-Maria-sopra-Minerva.jpg\" alt=\"The Basilica of Saint Mary Above Minerva\" width=\"630\" height=\"420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Santa-Maria-sopra-Minerva.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Santa-Maria-sopra-Minerva-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Santa-Maria-sopra-Minerva-1024x682.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>The Basilica of Saint Mary Above Minerva<\/em><\/p>\n<p>SOURCE:\u00a0 The Basilica of Saint Mary Above Minerva (Rome, Lazio, Italy); photographed by Stephen J. Danko on 12 August 2011.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Christ-the-Redeemer.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15178\" title=\"Michelangelo's Sculpture of Christ the Redeemer\" src=\"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Christ-the-Redeemer.jpg\" alt=\"Michelangelo's Sculpture of Christ the Redeemer\" width=\"420\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Christ-the-Redeemer.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Christ-the-Redeemer-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Christ-the-Redeemer-682x1024.jpg 682w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Michelangelo&#8217;s Sculpture of Christ the Redeemer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>SOURCE:\u00a0 Michelangelo&#8217;s Sculpture of Christ the Redeemer (Rome, Lazio, Italy); photographed by Stephen J. Danko on 12 August 2011.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Main-Altar.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15177\" title=\"Main Altar of the Basilica of Saint Mary Above Minerva\" src=\"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Main-Altar.jpg\" alt=\"Main Altar of the Basilica of Saint Mary Above Minerva\" width=\"630\" height=\"420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Main-Altar.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Main-Altar-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Main-Altar-1024x682.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Main Altar of the Basilica of Saint Mary Above Minerva<\/em><\/p>\n<p>SOURCE:\u00a0 Main Altar of the Basilica of Saint Mary Above Minerva (Rome, Lazio, Italy); photographed by Stephen J. Danko on 12 August 2011.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Saint-Catherine-of-Siena.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15180\" title=\"Tomb of Saint Catherine of Siena\" src=\"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Saint-Catherine-of-Siena.jpg\" alt=\"Tomb of Saint Catherine of Siena\" width=\"630\" height=\"420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Saint-Catherine-of-Siena.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Saint-Catherine-of-Siena-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Saint-Catherine-of-Siena-1024x682.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Tomb of Saint Catherine of Siena<\/em><\/p>\n<p>SOURCE:\u00a0 Tomb of Saint Catherine of Siena (Rome, Lazio, Italy); photographed by Stephen J. Danko on 12 August 2011.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Fra-Angelico-Stained-Glass.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15179\" title=\"Stained Glass Window of Fra Angelico\" src=\"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Fra-Angelico-Stained-Glass.jpg\" alt=\"Stained Glass Window of Fra Angelico\" width=\"420\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Fra-Angelico-Stained-Glass.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Fra-Angelico-Stained-Glass-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Fra-Angelico-Stained-Glass-682x1024.jpg 682w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Stained Glass Window of Fra Angelico<\/em><\/p>\n<p>SOURCE:\u00a0 Stained Glass Window of Fra Angelico (Rome, Lazio, Italy); photographed by Stephen J. Danko on 12 August 2011.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Copyright \u00a9 2011 by Stephen J. Danko<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From the outside, the Basilica of Saint Mary Above Minerva in Rome, Italy is a rather plain looking building. The basilica belongs to the Dominicans who began building the present structure in 1280 AD and completed it in 1370 AD. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/15175\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27],"tags":[325,311,331],"class_list":["post-15175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-journal","tag-italy","tag-mediterranean-vacation","tag-rome"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pyBfX-3WL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15175"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22647,"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15175\/revisions\/22647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephendanko.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}