The Jesuit Tour of Rome

Gesú, the cealing painted by Baciccia

This experience is a walk through the “Jesuit district” of Rome to get in touch with the fascinating history of the Order, but it is also an art of illusion experience as we will admire masterpieces of the Baroque Age created to capture our eyes and make us see a new reality. Get ready because vaults will move, paintings will seem to brake into the buildings, curves will seem to be corners and flat surfaces will appear rounded and high. This will be the illusion of the anamorphic painting technique created by the great master Andrea Pozzo more than 3 centuries ago. And what makes all of this even more fascinating is that this art is created for a religious purpose, as part of a brand-new method of evangelization, the Jesuit method. Thus, it will be a visit about Religion, War, Political Power, military background, mysteries, but also social justice, ecumenical dialogue and the importance of spirituality and arts as tools for evangelical missions. 

We will start our visit admiring Andrea Pozzo’s most famous work, the vault and the fake cupola inside the church of St Ignazio. The impression will be powerful, but to understand his skills and the true meaning of this anamorphosis technique we will continue discovering the corridor he painted in St Ignazio’s rooms.

The rooms are located 5 min. walking distance from our meeting point right into the House of the Order, beside it we will find and enter into the main church of the Jesuits: the Gesù. After a brief visit of the church we will end watching the surprising Machina Barocca show. Above the tomb of Ignatius, surrounded by art and music, we will experience the spectacular appearance of the massive silver statue of the Saint floating straight to Heaven.

Catholic art has never been so entertaining…

 

Duration: 2/3 hours

Available every day (except Sundays) at 3.30 PM

Pope Franciscus coat of arms. The sun with IHS in the middle is a Jesuit symbol

Introductive information:

The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu, S.J. and S.I. or SJ, SI) is the largest Roman Catholic religious order of regular clerks . Members are called Jesuits, Soldiers of Christ, and Foot soldiers of the Pope, because of the founder, Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1441-1556), who was a knight before becoming a priest.
They concentrated themselves on three activities. First, they founded schools throughout Europe. Jesuit teachers were rigorously trained in both classical studies and theology. The Jesuits' second mission was, as soldiers of the Pope, to convert non-Christians to Catholicism, so they trained? and sent out missionaries. Their third goal was to stop Protestantism from spreading. The zeal of the Jesuits overcame the drift toward Protestantism in Europe.

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© Christiaan Santini