Rome - Sant'Agnese

The church of Sant'Agnese, on the west side of the Piazza Navona, is dedicated to the Roman martyr St Agnes. It is built on the foundations of one side of the Stadium of Domitian, on the spot where, according to legend, the saint was about to be exposed naked to the populace when her hair suddenly and miraculously grew long to cover her nakedness. St Agnes is supposed to have been executed at the place where the church of Sant'Agnese fuori le Mura stands.

Sant'Agnese, which adjoins the Palazzo Pamphili, was founded by Pope Innocent X, a member of the Pamphili family, and built by a succession of architects - first Girolamo Rainaldi (1652), then Borromini (1653-57) and finally Carlo Rainaldi (1672). The facade, campanile and dome (heightened by Borromini) present a lively interplay of convex and concave forms, gables, canopies, windows, columns and piers. The interior shows the same sense of movement and yet of unity. The crypt contains Alessandro Algardi's portrayal of "The Miracle of St Agnes" (1653) and the remains of a Roman mosaic pavement.

Sant'Agnese provided a model which was followed in many churches of the Baroque and Rococo periods, both in Italy and in other countries.