This basilica is one of the seven pilgrimage churches of
Rome and of the numerous churches dedicated to the deacon Laurence of Spanish origin. In
the middle of the 3rd century, in epoch of intensive persecutions of Christians, was a
depositary of the property of the Church, when Sixtus II
and his collaborator were condemned to death, and distributed all this to the poor people.
He died martyr and obtained great admire and devotion after his death. This explains the
number of the churches dedicated to him and importance of his cult close to the place of
his sepulchre, happened in Agro Verano, in the cemetery of matron Cyriaca. |
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Basilica consists of two churches places end to end. In
the 3rd century Constantine built a crypt with the relics of St Laurence, which later grew
into a covered cemetery basilica of San Lorenzo which was 100m long and 36m wide;
Pelagius II built a new church in 579. In 1216
Honorius III demolished the apse of the 6th century church
and built onto it another church, with a different orientation. The churches were
skillfully restored in 1864-1870 by V.Vespignani.
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- San Lorenzo was the only church in Rome to suffer serious
damage during the WWII, when it was nearly destroyed in an American air raid on July 19,
1943: it took five years to rebuild the church (architect Alberto Terenzio) and in 1948 it
was reopened.
- The simple Romanesque campanile dates from the 12th
century and has five levels of little arches divided from pilasters. The reconstructed
13th century narthex of six antique Ionic columns has a carved cornice and a mosaic
frieze. Inside of the portico are two unusual tombs, a tablet (1948) commemorating
repairs ordered by Pius XII after war damage, and a
monument to Alcide De Gasperi', Italian statesman, by G.Manzu'; the frescoes of the end of the 13th
century depict the lives of Saints Laurence and Stephen. The facade with three big windows
was completely reconstructed after the damage of 1943, and lost the 19th century
decorations.
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The basilican 13th century interior has a
chancel and no transept. Twenty two Ionic columns of granite (probably part of the comes
from the previous basilica of Constantine) support an architrave, and the floor is paved
with a 13th century Cosmatesque mosaic. The greatest part of the paintings by
C.Fracassini executed in the middle of the
19th century on the walls of the nave were lost. Near the entrance is the tomb of
Cardinal Fieschi, a large Roman sarcophagus converted to its present use in 1256, it
was rebuilt from the original fragments after the bombardment. |
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- In the nave are two magnificent ambones of the
14th century and a Paschal Candlestick decorated with mosaics.
- The presbytery is the point of a major artistic interest
of the church. The baldacchino in the choir composed of two levels of the porphyry
columns; it is signed by Giovanni, Pietro, Angelo and Sasso, sons of the mastermason Paolo
(1148, restored in the 19th century). The throne of bishop (1254) is richly decorated with
little mosaic columns, pieces of porphyry and serpentine. Inside the triumphal arch is a
6th century mosaic of Christ with saints, and Pelagius offering the church,
reset during the Byzantine revival. The raised chancel incorporates the 6th century
church, which is on a slightly different axis. The Corinthian columns support and
entablature of antique fragments and, above, an arcaded gallery.
- In the end of the left aisle there is a stairs with the
two burial monuments on both side by P.da Cortona
and F.Duquesnoy, which leads to the
underground chapel of St Cyriaca (the access to the Catacombs of St Cyriaca where the body
of St Laurence is said to have been placed after his death in 258).
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- The level of the earliest basilica has some of the
original pillars. The whole ancient portico was transformed in the mausoleum of
Pius IX, built with the neo-Byzantine decorations by Cattaneo
in 1881 and Ludovico Seitz.
- The original rectangular cloister dates from 1187-1191 and
on its walls is an important collection of ancient epigraphs and marble pieces.
In the center of the square in front of the basilica is a
columns erected in 1865, substituting the smaller one erected by Clement XI, as a monument commemorating conclusion of the
great works of restoration of basilica and of arrangement of this square. On the top of
the column is a bronze statue of Laurence, by Stefano Galletti. Together with the statue
the column is 24m high and is the second in Rome by height after Colonna dell'Immacolata.
The convent of the basilica is occupied by Capuchins
starting from the middle of the past century.
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© Copyright 1999-2004 Riccardo Cigola
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