Rome - Sant'Ignazio

Must-see attractions nearby: Colosseum Pantheon Trevi Fountain Vatican City Roman Forum Palatine Hill National Museum / Baths Museum

The square in which the church stands, with something of the air of a stage set, and its imposing facade are very much in the Baroque spirit, the interior even more so. The spacious wide nave (equally suitable for preaching purposes and for conducting the service from one central spot), the linked side chapels and the sumptuous decoration and furnishings, with their use of precious materials and elaborate ornamental patterns, were all calculated to draw the faithful back to the Church (this was the period of the Counter-Reformation). The harmony of the interior does not suffer from the fact that the central dome originally planned was not built; in its place and on the ceiling Andrea Pozzo created a trompe l'oeil painting celebrating the triumph of Sant'Ignatius, his entry into paradise and the four missionary regions of the world, in which the painted representation of Heaven appears to break up the illusionist architecture and the sham dome. (A marble disc in the floor marks the spot from which the illusion is most effective.) In Sant'Ignazio architecture, sculpture and painting merge into one another; the eye of the believer was to be caught and held by art, his heart to be opened to the teaching of the Church.

In the south transept is the tomb of St Aloysius (Luigi Gonzaga, 1568-91), in the north transept that of St John Berchmans, both Jesuit saints.