Discover Galleria Spada

Last updated on October 3, 2026

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Checked against Galleria Spada — The Galleria Spada states that the perspective colonnade was built in 1653 by the architect Francesco Borromini, assisted in the scientific and mathematical calculations by the Augustinian father Giovanni Maria da Bitonto, The Galleria Spada describes its perspective as a short gallery perceived, through a series of skilful devices, as a long colonnade, and states that the warrior statue, although towering in the background, is in reality of much reduced dimensions — without publishing any measurement, The Galleria Spada reads Borromini's perspective as a moral reminder that the greatness of the things of this world is, in reality, only appearance (October 2026).
Checked against Wikipedia — Wikipedia gives Borromini's arcade at Palazzo Spada as creating the visual illusion of a gallery 37 metres long when it is 8 metres, with a sculpture that appears life-sized and is 60 cm high — figures the Galleria Spada itself does not publish, Palazzo Spada was built in 1540 for Cardinal Girolamo Capodiferro with the architect Bartolomeo Baronino, and was purchased by Cardinal Spada in 1632 (October 2026).

Architecture