Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore

The grand basilica of St. Mary Major is a wonderland of mosaics in a crummy neighborhood of Rome, Italy

This is the greatest—and by far best preserved—of Rome's four ancient basilican churches.

It marks the city skyline with Rome's tallest bell tower, a graceful 14th-century addition.

The facade mosaics

The main facade is a baroque mask that uses arcades and loggias to partially hide the fantastically mosaicked earlier facade from 1294–1308. Often, you can climb a set of stairs inside the atrium to view these incredible mosaics from up close.

The most interesting of these mosaic scenes recounts the legend that this basilica was founded in the 350s by Pope Liberius, who had a vision of the Madonna one night in August telling him to raise the church on the spot and along the outlines that would be demarcated by a miraculous snowfall the next morning.

Every August 15 they hold a special Mass here with the snowfall beautifully reenacted using pale flower petals that drift down from several removed ceiling panels.

Inside Santa Maria Maggiore

Entering the basilica itself is like stepping back in time, so well is its basic design and decor preserved from the 6th century.

The gargantuan space is some 284 feet long, a dark echoey environment suited to religious pilgrimages.

The glowing coffered ceiling was the work of Giuliano da Sangallo. The brilliant gold leaf adorning it is said to be made from very first gold brought back from the Americas by Christopher Columbus (a gift from Spain's King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to the pope).

The floor was inlaid with marble chips in geometric patterns by the the great Cosmati clan around 1150, while the mosaics lining the nave and covering the triumphal arch before the altar are glittering testaments to the skill of 5th-century craftsmen.

The apse's Coronation of the Virgin mosaics (pictured at the top of the page) were designed by Iacopo Torriti in the 1290s.

The most striking later additions are the two magnificent and enormous late Renaissance and baroque chapels that flank the altar to form a transept (the Sistina Chapel on the left is particularly sumptuous).

Tips & links

Share this page

Search ReidsItaly.com