Rome - Gesu Church

The Gesù in Rome is the principal church of the Jesuits. The initiative for its construction came from Ignatius Loyola, founder in 1540 of the Society of Jesus, an order which spread quickly throughout the Roman Catholic countries of Europe and organized the Counter-Reformation. Adjoining the church is a house (now a Jesuit college) in which Ignatius was living at the time of the church's foundation. Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, whose heraldic lilies recur frequently in the decoration of the interior, commissioned Vignola to design and build the church, which was completed by members of the Society. The basic innovation of the design was to set a dome over the crossing of the nave and transepts of a basilican church, a type familiar in Roman, early Christian and medieval models. The Gesù was much imitated by later churches, not only in the general plan but also in details and the form of the façade.