Discover Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva

Santa Maria sopra Minerva is a minor basilica and one of the major Dominican churches in Rome. The name comes from the first Christian structure on the site having been built directly over — sopra — the ruins of a temple to the Egyptian goddess Isis, which was mistakenly ascribed to Minerva.

It stands in Piazza della Minerva, one block east of the Pantheon, in the rione of Pigna within the ancient Campus Martius.

It is the only surviving example of original Gothic church architecture in Rome. Many other medieval churches here were refurbished during the Baroque era, replacing their Gothic structure and decoration; the Minerva was not. Behind a restrained Renaissance façade, the Gothic interior has arched vaulting painted blue with gilded stars and trimmed with brilliant red ribbing — the result of a nineteenth-century Neo-Gothic restoration.

The church and its adjoining convent served at various times as the Dominican Order's headquarters, now re-established at Santa Sabina.

Rome has exactly one Gothic church, and this is it. Many medieval churches in the city were refurbished during the Baroque era, their Gothic structure and decoration replaced; the Minerva is the only extant example of original Gothic church building in Rome. The Dominicans began it in 1280 on the model of their own Santa Maria Novella in Florence, to plans probably by Fra Sisto Fiorentino and Fra Ristoro da Campi.

The façade tells you nothing. Carlo Maderno enlarged the apse and created the present front in 1600, a restrained Renaissance composition with a pilastered tripartite division. From the piazza this reads as one more plain church wall, which is why the interior is such a surprise.

And the interior is not quite what it looks like either. The arched vaulting painted blue with gilded stars and trimmed with brilliant red ribbing is the signature of the place — and it is nineteenth-century work. Between 1848 and 1855 Girolamo Bianchedi directed a restoration that removed most of the Baroque additions and covered the blank walls with Neo-Gothic frescoes, giving the interior the appearance it has today. It is a Victorian-era recovery of a Gothic idea rather than medieval paint, and it is none the worse for it.

Look at the façade on the way out. Marks cut into it record various flood levels of the Tiber in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries — the river's reach written on the building by the people who survived it.

It was built on a mistake, and the mistake is in the name. The first Christian structure here went up directly over the ruins of a temple to the Egyptian goddess Isis, which had been wrongly ascribed to Minerva. In Roman times three temples stood in this area: the Minervium built by Gnaeus Pompey about 50 BCE, the Iseum, and the Serapeum for Serapis. Recent investigation suggests the small round Minervium actually stood further east, on the Piazza of the Collegio Romano.

The ground kept producing Egypt. An Egyptian obelisk was found buried in the Dominicans' garden in 1665, and several other small obelisks turned up near the church at different times — the Obelisci Isei Campensis, probably brought to Rome in the first century and grouped in pairs at the entrances of the temple of Isis. There are further Roman survivals in the crypt.

Then a Florentine church was built in Rome. The ruined temple probably lasted until Pope Zachary (741–752) Christianised the site; his structure has disappeared. The Dominicans took possession in 1275 and began the present Gothic church in 1280, modelling it on Santa Maria Novella in Florence, their own house. The side aisles were completed in the fourteenth century with funds from Boniface VIII and the faithful.

And then it was un-Baroqued. Maderno's campaign of 1600 added Baroque decoration and the Renaissance façade. Two and a half centuries later, Bianchedi's restoration of 1848–1855 took most of that decoration back out again and replaced it with Neo-Gothic frescoes. The building has therefore been Gothic, then Baroque, then Gothic again — the second time on purpose.

Is it free? Yes. It is an active Dominican basilica and there is no admission charge.

What are the opening hours? Not published in any usable form. The basilica's own site shows them only as an undated image, and Turismo Roma lists mass times with a warning that times change and that you should contact the basilica. Telephone 333 7468785.

When is mass? 18:00 Monday to Saturday; 11:00 and 18:00 on Sundays and holidays.

Is this really the only Gothic church in Rome? Yes — the only extant example of original Gothic church architecture in the city. Other medieval churches here were refurbished in the Baroque era and lost theirs.

Is the blue star-vault medieval? No. It dates from a Neo-Gothic restoration directed by Girolamo Bianchedi between 1848 and 1855, which also stripped out most of the Baroque additions.

What is the elephant outside? The Pulcino della Minerva, designed by Bernini and executed by Ercole Ferrata in 1667, carrying the shortest of Rome's eleven Egyptian obelisks.

Why is it called "sopra Minerva"? Because the first church here was built over the ruins of a temple that was ascribed to Minerva. It was actually a temple to the Egyptian goddess Isis.

Did Galileo really abjure here? In a room of the Minerva convent, on 22 June 1633, before the Roman Inquisition — which held its Secret Congregation meetings in this complex.

Who is buried here? Saint Catherine of Siena, Fra Angelico, and the Medici popes Leo X and Clement VII under monuments designed by Baccio Bandinelli.