Giornale 5: Santa Maria del Popolo

     As I was flipping through the photos I took of Santa Maria del Popolo I noticed a common theme.  Death.  It seems to be a theme in all the churches, and almost all of my photos.  Skulls, bones and similar symbols cover the churches of Rome. 

     There is one particular image in Santa Maria del Popolo that I took a bunch of pictures of and couldn’t stop looking at.  It is a sculpture of a cloaked skeleton crossing his arms.  He is imprisoned behind bars toward the exit of the church.  Even though he is just a skeleton, and a statue, and NOT ALIVE, I could have sworn he was smiling at me.  His bony hands lay across his chest in the most relaxed position.  The creepiest parts of this sculpture were the iron bars in front of the skeleton itself.  They were not like prison bars, but more like decorative design.   The spaces between the bars were big, but the statue still seemed trapped. 

     This wasn’t the first time I had gotten a chill from a church or statue.  There were several other skulls around Rome, and also in this particular church that were definitely watching me.  This is getting creepier and creepier as I go on, and I do apologize, but for some reason this, with the exception of one other church (San Sabina), was the only church I was slightly uncomfortable in.  I kept getting hit with just the slightest breeze, and each time, I would look to see if someone had opened or shut the door but they didn’t.  It was just freaky.

     There was also a Bernini statue of a lion in the church that I loved.  My inner Leo couldn’t help but connect with the roaring king of the jungle.  This wasn’t the first Bernini lion I fell in love with (see Giornale 4.)  This was also one of many elaborate statues standing in the church, which surprised me. 

     I was taken by surprise at how much artwork was actually in this small church.  I also use small loosely here because the space itself was by no means tiny, just small in comparison to the many humongous churches of Rome.  It felt like this church was devoted to art, not necessarily to God.  This finally clicked when I remembered what one of guest speakers, Alessandra, had said about it.  She said it was the ‘artist’s church’ of Rome.  This is where all the artists in Rome come to pray.  Then it all made sense.  A church is not only a place to pray and worship, but also a place to learn.  I would certainly love to draw or paint many of the artwork and statues I saw in Santa Maria del Popolo.  Too bad my artistic skills lie elsewhere.