1.
Lateran Palace
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The Lateran Palace, formally the Apostolic Palace of the Lateran, is an ancient palace of the Roman Empire and later the main papal residence in southeast Rome. Located on St. Johns Square in Lateran on the Caelian Hill, the edifice is adjacent to the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, the cathedral church of Rome. From the fourth century, the palace was the residence of the popes. The palace is now used by the Vatican Historical Museum, which illustrates the history of the Papal States. The palace also houses the offices of the Vicariate of Rome, as well as the apartments of the Cardinal vicar. Until 1970, the palace was home to the important collections of the Lateran Museum. Following the Lateran Treaty of 1929, the palace and adjoining basilica are extraterritorial properties of the Holy See, the site on which the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano sits was occupied during the early Roman Empire by the domus of the Plautii Laterani family. The Laterani served as administrators for several emperors, their ancestor Lucius Sextius Lateranus is said to have been the first plebeian to attain the rank of consul, one of the Laterani, Consul-designate Plautius Lateranus, became famous for being accused by Nero of conspiracy against the emperor. The accusation resulted in the confiscation and redistribution of his properties, the Domus Laterani fell into the hands of the emperor when Constantine I married his second wife Fausta, sister of Maxentius. Known by that time as the Domus Faustae or House of Fausta, the equites singulares had allegedly supported Maxentius against Constantine. He commissioned the construction of the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano the site, the domus was eventually given to the Bishop of Rome by Constantine. As Byzantium grew less able to help prevent Lombard incursions, the became more independent of the Empire. Author Erik Thunø notes that the incentive to refurbish the Lateran Palace was to create a residence from which the pope could exercise not only spiritual. The pope’s palace at the Lateran in Rome was extensively added to in the eighth century by Pope Hadrian I. Leo III, built an enormous Triclinium and it was one of the most famous halls of the ancient palace and was the state banqueting hall, lined with mosaics. Nothing remains of this, but in 1743 copies of the mosaics were made from drawings, the Triclinium and the sala del concilio, an oblong hall with apse mosaic and five ornate niches on each side, were built around 800 to serve as the heart of papal ceremonial. Architecturally they were reminiscent of Byzantine imperial buildings in Constantinople, in the tenth Century Sergius III restored it after a disastrous fire, and later it was greatly embellished by Innocent III. This was the period of its greatest magnificence, when Dante speaks of it as all human achievements
2.
Italian language
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By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
3.
Pope
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The pope is the Bishop of Rome and, therefore, the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church. The current pope is Francis, who was elected on 13 March 2013, the office of the pope is the papacy. The pope is considered one of the worlds most powerful people because of his diplomatic and he is also head of state of Vatican City, a sovereign city-state entirely enclaved within the Italian capital city of Rome. The papacy is one of the most enduring institutions in the world and has had a prominent part in world history, the popes in ancient times helped in the spread of Christianity and the resolution of various doctrinal disputes. In the Middle Ages, they played a role of importance in Western Europe. Currently, in addition to the expansion of the Christian faith and doctrine, the popes are involved in ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, charitable work, Popes, who originally had no temporal powers, in some periods of history accrued wide powers similar to those of temporal rulers. In recent centuries, popes were gradually forced to give up temporal power, the word pope derives from Greek πάππας meaning father. The earliest record of the use of title was in regard to the by then deceased Patriarch of Alexandria. Some historians have argued that the notion that Peter was the first bishop of Rome, the writings of the Church Father Irenaeus who wrote around AD180 reflect a belief that Peter founded and organised the Church at Rome. Moreover, Irenaeus was not the first to write of Peters presence in the early Roman Church, Clement of Rome wrote in a letter to the Corinthians, c. 96, about the persecution of Christians in Rome as the struggles in our time and presented to the Corinthians its heroes, first, the greatest and most just columns, the good apostles Peter and Paul. St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote shortly after Clement and in his letter from the city of Smyrna to the Romans he said he would not command them as Peter and Paul did. Given this and other evidence, many agree that Peter was martyred in Rome under Nero. Protestants contend that the New Testament offers no proof that Jesus established the papacy nor even that he established Peter as the first bishop of Rome, others, using Peters own words, argue that Christ intended himself as the foundation of the church and not Peter. First-century Christian communities would have had a group of presbyter-bishops functioning as leaders of their local churches, gradually, episcopacies were established in metropolitan areas. Antioch may have developed such a structure before Rome, some writers claim that the emergence of a single bishop in Rome probably did not occur until the middle of the 2nd century. In their view, Linus, Cletus and Clement were possibly prominent presbyter-bishops, documents of the 1st century and early 2nd century indicate that the Holy See had some kind of pre-eminence and prominence in the Church as a whole, though the detail of what this meant is unclear. It seems that at first the terms episcopos and presbyter were used interchangeably, the consensus among scholars has been that, at the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries, local congregations were led by bishops and presbyters whose offices were overlapping or indistinguishable
4.
Papal Apartments
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Since the 17th century the Papal Apartments have been the official residence of the Pope in his religious capacity. Prior to 1870, the Popes official residence in his temporal capacity was the Quirinal Palace, the Papal Apartments are referred to in Italian by several terms, including appartamento nobile and appartamento pontificio. There is a garden and staff quarters for the nuns who run the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household. It is from the window of his study that the pope greets. The private library has been described as a vast room with two windows overlooking Saint Peters Square. The popes private chapel has a piece of art, by I. H. Rosen, the pope usually lives at the Papal Apartments except for the months of July to September, when the Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo is the official summer residence. However, Pope Francis, after his election, declined to stay in the Papal Apartments in favor of his residence in the Domus Sanctae Marthae. Similarly, he stayed in an apartment instead of the Bishops Palace during his tenure as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, the Papal Apartments are customarily renovated according to each new popes preferences. The heating system was repaired and the kitchen was refurbished, reportedly with new ovens, ranges, the floors, which are 16th-century marble slabs and inlay, were restored. The medical studio was renovated and expanded to include dental facilities, wallpaper and other furnishings were put in throughout. The project was carried out by over 200 architects, engineers, benedict also moved personal possessions to the Papal Apartments, including an upright piano. On October 21,2016, it was reported that Castel Gandolfo was no longer operating as a papal palace, the palace was the final part of the Papal Apartments to open to the public over a two-year period
5.
St. Peter's Square
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St. Peters Square is a large plaza located directly in front of St. Peters Basilica in the Vatican City, the papal enclave inside Rome, directly west of the neighbourhood or rione of Borgo. Both the square and the basilica are named after Saint Peter, an apostle of Jesus, at the centre of the square is an ancient Egyptian obelisk, erected at the current site in 1586. Gian Lorenzo Bernini designed the square almost 100 years later, including the massive Tuscan colonnades, four columns deep, a granite fountain constructed by Bernini in 1675 matches another fountain designed by Carlo Maderno in 1613. Bernini had been working on the interior of St, there were many constraints from existing structures. The massed accretions of the Vatican Palace crowded the space to the right of the basilicas façade, the colossal Tuscan colonnades, four columns deep, frame the trapezoidal entrance to the basilica and the massive elliptical area which precedes it. The ovato tondos long axis, parallel to the basilicas façade, the elliptical center of the piazza, which contrasts with the trapezoidal entrance, encloses the visitor with the maternal arms of Mother Church in Berninis expression. On the south side, the colonnades define and formalize the space, on the north side, the colonnade masks an assortment of Vatican structures, the upper stories of the Vatican Palace rise above. The obelisk was erected at Heliopolis, Egypt, by an unknown pharaoh. The Emperor Augustus had the moved to the Julian Forum of Alexandria, where it stood until 37 AD, when Caligula ordered the forum demolished. He had it placed on the spina which ran along the center of the Circus of Nero, the Vatican Obelisk is the only obelisk in Rome that has not toppled since ancient Roman times. During the Middle Ages, the ball on top of the obelisk was believed to contain the ashes of Julius Caesar. Fontana later removed the ancient metal ball, now in a Rome museum, Christopher Hibbert writes that the ball was found to be solid. Though Bernini had no influence in the erection of the obelisk, he did use it as the centerpiece of his magnificent piazza, the paving is varied by radiating lines in travertine, to relieve what might otherwise be a sea of cobblestones. In 1817 circular stones were set to mark the tip of the shadow at noon as the sun entered each of the signs of the zodiac. Below is a view of St. Peters Square from the cupola which was taken in June,2007, St. Peters Square today can be reached from the Ponte SantAngelo along the grand approach of the Via della Conciliazione. The spina which once occupied this grand avenue leading to the square was demolished ceremonially by Benito Mussolini himself on October 23,1936 and was demolished by October 8,1937. St. Peters Basilica was now visible from the Castel SantAngelo. After the spina, almost all the south of the passetto were demolished between 1937 and 1950, obliterating one of the most important medieval and renaissance quarters of the city
6.
Vatican City
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Vatican City, officially Vatican City State or the State of Vatican City, is a walled enclave within the city of Rome. With an area of approximately 44 hectares, and a population of 842, however, formally it is not sovereign, with sovereignty being held by the Holy See, the only entity of public international law that has diplomatic relations with almost every country in the world. It is an ecclesiastical or sacerdotal-monarchical state ruled by the Bishop of Rome – the Pope, the highest state functionaries are all Catholic clergy of various national origins. Vatican City is distinct from the Holy See, which dates back to early Christianity and is the episcopal see of 1.2 billion Latin. According to the terms of the treaty, the Holy See has full ownership, exclusive dominion, within Vatican City are religious and cultural sites such as St. Peters Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums. They feature some of the worlds most famous paintings and sculptures, the unique economy of Vatican City is supported financially by the sale of postage stamps and tourist mementos, fees for admission to museums, and the sale of publications. The name Vatican City was first used in the Lateran Treaty, signed on 11 February 1929, the name is taken from Vatican Hill, the geographic location of the state. Vatican is derived from the name of an Etruscan settlement, Vatica or Vaticum meaning garden, located in the area the Romans called vaticanus ager. The official Italian name of the city is Città del Vaticano or, more formally, Stato della Città del Vaticano, although the Holy See and the Catholic Church use Ecclesiastical Latin in official documents, the Vatican City officially uses Italian. The Latin name is Status Civitatis Vaticanæ, this is used in documents by not just the Holy See. The name Vatican was already in use in the time of the Roman Republic for an area on the west bank of the Tiber across from the city of Rome. Under the Roman Empire, many villas were constructed there, after Agrippina the Elder drained the area and laid out her gardens in the early 1st century AD. In AD40, her son, Emperor Caligula built in her gardens a circus for charioteers that was completed by Nero, the Circus Gaii et Neronis, usually called, simply. Even before the arrival of Christianity, it is supposed that this originally uninhabited part of Rome had long considered sacred. A shrine dedicated to the Phrygian goddess Cybele and her consort Attis remained active long after the Constantinian Basilica of St. Peter was built nearby, the particularly low quality of Vatican water, even after the reclamation of the area, was commented on by the poet Martial. The Vatican Obelisk was originally taken by Caligula from Heliopolis in Egypt to decorate the spina of his circus and is thus its last visible remnant and this area became the site of martyrdom of many Christians after the Great Fire of Rome in AD64. Ancient tradition holds that it was in this circus that Saint Peter was crucified upside-down, opposite the circus was a cemetery separated by the Via Cornelia. Peters in the first half of the 4th century, the Constantinian basilica was built in 326 over what was believed to be the tomb of Saint Peter, buried in that cemetery
7.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
8.
Roman Catholic
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The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church or the Universal Church, is the largest Christian church, with more than 1.28 billion members worldwide. As one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, it has played a prominent role in the history, headed by the Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope, the churchs doctrines are summarised in the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed. Its central administration is located in Vatican City, enclaved within Rome, the Catholic Church is notable within Western Christianity for its sacred tradition and seven sacraments. It teaches that it is the one church founded by Jesus Christ, that its bishops are the successors of Christs apostles. The Catholic Church maintains that the doctrine on faith and morals that it declares as definitive is infallible. The Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as such as mendicant orders and enclosed monastic orders. Among the sacraments, the one is the Eucharist, celebrated liturgically in the Mass. The church teaches that through consecration by a priest the sacrificial bread and wine become the body, the Catholic Church practises closed communion, with only baptised members in a state of grace ordinarily permitted to receive the Eucharist. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Catholic Church as Queen of Heaven and is honoured in numerous Marian devotions. The Catholic Church has influenced Western philosophy, science, art and culture, Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world, from the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticised for its doctrines on sexuality, its refusal to ordain women and its handling of sexual abuse cases. Catholic was first used to describe the church in the early 2nd century, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in the letter from Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans, written about 110 AD. In the Catechetical Discourses of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, the name Catholic Church was used to distinguish it from other groups that call themselves the church. The use of the adjective Roman to describe the Church as governed especially by the Bishop of Rome became more widespread after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and into the Early Middle Ages. Catholic Church is the name used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church follows an episcopal polity, led by bishops who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders who are given formal jurisdictions of governance within the church. Ultimately leading the entire Catholic Church is the Bishop of Rome, commonly called the pope, in parallel to the diocesan structure are a variety of religious institutes that function autonomously, often subject only to the authority of the pope, though sometimes subject to the local bishop. Most religious institutes only have male or female members but some have both, additionally, lay members aid many liturgical functions during worship services
9.
Pope Sixtus V
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Pope Sixtus V or Xystus V, born Felice Peretti di Montalto, was Bishop of Rome from 24 April 1585 to his death in 1590. As a youth, he joined the Franciscan order, where he displayed talents as a scholar and preacher, and enjoyed the patronage of Pius V, the cost of these works was met by heavy taxation that caused much suffering. His foreign policy was regarded as over-ambitious, and he excommunicated both Elizabeth I of England and Henry IV of France and he is recognized as a significant figure of the Counter-Reformation. Felice Peretti was born on 13 December 1521 at Grottammare, in the Papal States, to Pier Gentile, Felice later adopted Peretti as his family name in 1551, and was known as Cardinal Montalto. He himself claimed that he was nato di casa illustre — born of an illustrious house, according to Isidoro Gatti, the Peretti family came from Piceno, todays Marche, in Italy. According to another source, his father came from Montalto, a nearby village, there is a theory that he was of Dalmatian Slavic origin, and according to Sava Nakićenović, he hailed from the Svilanović family from Kruševice in the Bay of Kotor. The theory that his family originated in Kruševice is supported by the fact that the Pope used three pears for his coat of arms, according to this theory, Peretti may be an Italian rendition of the Slavic surname, as Peretti itself links to pears. About 1552 he was noticed by Cardinal Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, Protector of the Franciscan order, Cardinal Ghislieri and Cardinal Caraffa and he was sent to Venice as inquisitor general, but was so severe and conducted matters in such a high-handed manner that he became embroiled in quarrels. The government asked for his recall in 1560, the violent dislike he conceived for Boncampagni exerted a marked influence upon his subsequent actions. He hurried back to Rome upon the accession of Pius V, who made him vicar of his order. The first phase was enlarged after Peretti became pope and was able to clear buildings to open four new streets in 1585–6, the villa contained two residences, the Palazzo Sistino or di Termini and the casino, called the Palazzetto Montalto e Felice. Cardinal Montaltos other concern was with his studies, one of the fruits of which was an edition of the works of Ambrose. As pope he personally supervised the printing of an edition of Jeromes Vulgate – said to be as splendid a translation of the Bible into Latin as the King James version is into English. Though not neglecting to follow the course of affairs, Felice carefully avoided every occasion of offence and this discretion contributed not a little to his election to the papacy on 24 April 1585, with the title of Sixtus V. The story of his having feigned decrepitude in the conclave, in order to win votes, is pure invention, one of the things that commended his candidacy to certain cardinals may have been his physical vigour, which seemed to promise a long pontificate. The terrible condition in which Pope Gregory XIII had left the ecclesiastical states called for prompt, Sixtus proceeded with an almost ferocious severity against the prevailing lawlessness. Thousands of brigands were brought to justice, within a time the country was again quiet. It was claimed there were more heads on spikes across the Ponte SantAngelo than melons for sale in the marketplace
10.
Holy See
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The Holy See, also referred to as the See of Rome, is the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, the episcopal see of the Pope, and an independent sovereign entity. It serves as the point of reference for the Catholic Church everywhere. Today, it is responsible for the governance of all Catholics, organised in their Particular Churches, Patriarchates, as an independent sovereign entity, holding the Vatican City enclave in Rome as sovereign territory, it maintains diplomatic relations with other states. Diplomatically, the Holy See acts and speaks for the whole church and it is also recognised by other subjects of international law as a sovereign entity, headed by the Pope, with which diplomatic relations can be maintained. The creation of the Vatican City state was meant to ensure the diplomatic, in Greek, the adjective holy or sacred is constantly applied to all such sees as a matter of course. The word see comes from the Latin word sedes, meaning seat, while Saint Peters basilica in Vatican City is perhaps the church most associated with the Papacy, the actual cathedral of the Holy See is the church of Saint John Lateran within the city of Rome. The Pope governs the Catholic Church through the Roman Curia, the Secretariat of State, under the Cardinal Secretary of State, directs and coordinates the Curia. The incumbent, Archbishop Pietro Parolin, is the Sees equivalent of a prime minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Secretary of the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State, acts as the Holy Sees minister of foreign affairs. Parolin was named in his role by Pope Francis On 31 August 2013, mamberti was named in his role by Pope Benedict XVI in September 2006. The Secretariat of State is the body of the Curia that is situated within Vatican City. The others are in buildings in different parts of Rome that have rights similar to those of embassies. The Roman Rota handles normal judicial appeals, the most numerous being those that concern alleged nullity of marriage and it also oversees the work of other ecclesiastical tribunals at all levels. The most important of these is the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, the Prefecture of the Papal Household is responsible for the organization of the papal household, audiences, and ceremonies. The Holy See does not dissolve upon a Popes death or resignation and it instead operates under a different set of laws sede vacante. The government of the See, and therefore of the Catholic Church, canon law prohibits the College and the Camerlengo from introducing any innovations or novelties in the government of the Church during this period. In 2001, the Holy See had a revenue of 422.098 billion Italian lire, the Guardian newspaper described Mennini and his role in the following manner. Paolo Mennini, who is in effect the popes merchant banker, Mennini heads a special unit inside the Vatican called the extraordinary division of APSA – Amministrazione del Patrimonio della Sede Apostolica – which handles the patrimony of the Holy See. The Holy See has been recognized, both in practice and in the writing of modern legal scholars, as a subject of public international law, with rights
11.
Vatican Museums
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The Vatican Museums are the museums of the Vatican City and are located within the citys boundaries. The museums contain roughly 70,000 works, of which 20,000 are on display, and currently employ 640 people who work in 40 different administrative, scholarly, Pope Julius II founded the museums in the early 16th century. The Sistine Chapel, with its ceiling decorated by Michelangelo and the Stanze di Raffaello decorated by Raphael, are on the route through the Vatican Museums. In 2013, they were visited by 6 million people, which combined makes it the 6th most visited art museum in the world, there are 54 galleries, or sale, in total, with the Sistine Chapel, notably, being the very last sala within the Museum. It is one of the largest museums in the world, in 2017, the Museums official website and social media presence was completely redone, in accord with current standards and appearances for modern websites. Pope Julius II sent Giuliano da Sangallo and Michelangelo Buonarroti, who were working at the Vatican, on their recommendation, the pope immediately purchased the sculpture from the vineyard owner. The pope put the sculpture of Laocoön and his sons on public display at the Vatican exactly one month after its discovery, the Museum Christianum was founded by Benedict XIV, and some of the Vatican collections formed the Lateran Museum, which Pius IX founded by decree in 1854. The Museums celebrated their 500th anniversary in October 2006 by permanently opening the excavations of a Vatican Hill necropolis to the public, on 1 January 2017 Barbara Jatta became the Director of the Vatican Museums, replacing Antonio Paolucci who had been director since 2007. The art gallery was housed in the Borgia Apartment until Pope Pius XI ordered construction of a proper building, the new building, designed by Luca Beltrami, was inaugurated on 27 October 1932. The museum has paintings including, Giottos Stefaneschi Triptych Olivuccio di Ciccarello, Opere di Misericordia Raphaels Madonna of Foligno, Oddi Altarpiece, the group of museums includes several sculpture museums surrounding the Cortile del Belvedere. The museum takes its name from two popes, Clement XIV and Pius VI, the pope who brought the museum to completion, Clement XIV came up with the idea of creating a new museum in Innocent VIIIs Belvedere palace and started the refurbishment work. Pope Clement XIV founded the Pio-Clementino museum in 1771, and originally it contained the Renaissance, the museum and collection were enlarged by Clements successor Pius VI. Today, the museum works of Greek and Roman sculpture. Some notable galleries are, Greek Cross Gallery, with the porphyri sarcophagi of Constance and Saint Helen, daughter and mother of Constantine the Great. Sala Rotonda, shaped like a miniature Pantheon, the room has impressive ancient mosaics on the floors, Gallery of the Statues, as its name implies, holds various important statues, including Sleeping Ariadne and the bust of Menander. It also contains the Barberini Candelabra, Gallery of the Busts, Many ancient busts are displayed. Cabinet of the Masks, The name comes from the mosaic on the floor of the gallery, found in Villa Adriana, along the walls, several famous statues are shown including the Three Graces. One wove the thread of life, second nurtured it, third cut it. The center piece is Belvedere Torso, revered by Michelangelo and other Renaissance men, sala degli Animali, So named because of the many ancient statues of animals
12.
Vatican Library
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The Vatican Apostolic Library, more commonly called the Vatican Library or simply the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally established in 1475, although it is older, it is one of the oldest libraries in the world. It has 75,000 codices from throughout history, as well as 1.1 million printed books, the Vatican Library is a research library for history, law, philosophy, science and theology. The Vatican Library is open to anyone who can document their qualifications, photocopies for private study of pages from books published between 1801 and 1990 can be requested in person or by mail. In March 2014, the Vatican Library began an initial project of digitising its collection of manuscripts. The Vatican Secret Archives were separated from the library at the beginning of the 17th century, scholars have traditionally divided the history of the library into five periods, Pre-Lateran, Lateran, Avignon, Pre-Vatican and Vatican. The Pre-Lateran period, comprising the initial days of the library, only a handful of volumes survive from this period, though some are very significant. However, in year, the Lateran Palace was burnt. The Avignon period was during the Avignon Papacy, when seven successive popes resided in Avignon and this period saw a great growth in book collection and record keeping by the popes in Avignon, between the death of Boniface and the 1370s when the Papacy returned to Rome. The Pre-Vatican period ranged from about 1370 to 1446, the library was scattered during this time, with parts in Rome, Avignon and elsewhere. In 1451, bibliophile Pope Nicholas V sought to establish a library at the Vatican. Pope Nicholas also expanded his collection by employing Italian and Byzantine scholars to translate the Greek classics into Latin for his library, the knowledgeable Pope already encouraged the inclusion of pagan classics. Nicolas was important in saving many of the Greek works and writings during this period that he had collected while traveling. In 1455, the collection had grown to 1200 books, of which 400 were in Greek language. Nicholas death in 1455 prevented the completion of his vision of a library, but it was finished in 1475 by his successor Pope Sixtus IV. During the papacy of Sixtus IV, acquisitions were made in theology, philosophy, the number of manuscripts is variously counted as 3,500 in 1475 or 2,527 in 1481, when librarian Bartolomeo Platina produced a signed listing. At the time it was the largest collection of books in the Western world, during his reign, Pope Julius II commissioned the expansion of the building. Around 1587, Pope Sixtus V commissioned the architect Domenico Fontana to construct a new building for the library and it was after this the library became known as the Vatican Library
13.
Sistine Chapel
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The Sistine Chapel is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope, in Vatican City. Originally known as the Cappella Magna, the chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, since that time, the chapel has served as a place of both religious and functionary papal activity. Today it is the site of the Papal conclave, the process by which a new pope is selected, the fame of the Sistine Chapel lies mainly in the frescos that decorate the interior, and most particularly the Sistine Chapel ceiling and The Last Judgment by Michelangelo. In a different climate after the Sack of Rome, he returned, the fame of Michelangelos paintings has drawn multitudes of visitors to the chapel ever since they were revealed five hundred years ago. At the time of Pope Sixtus IV in the late 15th century, there were 50 occasions during the year on which it was prescribed by the Papal Calendar that the whole Papal Chapel should meet. Of these 50 occasions,35 were masses, of which 8 were held in Basilicas, in general St. Peters and these included the Christmas Day and Easter masses, at which the Pope himself was the celebrant. The other 27 masses could be held in a smaller, less public space, the Cappella Maggiore derived its name, the Greater Chapel, from the fact that there was another chapel also in use by the Pope and his retinue for daily worship. At the time of Pope Sixtus IV, this was the Chapel of Pope Nicholas V, the Cappella Maggiore is recorded as existing in 1368. The proportions of the present chapel appear to follow those of the original. The first mass in the Sistine Chapel was celebrated on 15 August 1483, the Sistine Chapel has maintained its function to the present day, and continues to host the important services of the Papal Calendar, unless the Pope is travelling. There is a permanent choir, the Sistine Chapel Choir, for whom much original music has been written, one of the functions of the Sistine Chapel is as a venue for the election of each successive pope in a conclave of the College of Cardinals. On the occasion of a conclave, a chimney is installed in the roof of the chapel, if white smoke appears, created by burning the ballots of the election, a new Pope has been elected. The conclave also provided for the cardinals a space in which they can hear mass, and in which they can eat, sleep, and pass time attended by servants. From 1455, conclaves have been held in the Vatican, until the Great Schism, canopies for each cardinal-elector were once used during conclaves—a sign of equal dignity. After the new Pope accepts his election, he would give his new name, at this time, until reforms instituted by Saint Pius X, the canopies were of different colours to designate which Cardinals had been appointed by which Pope. Its exterior is unadorned by architectural or decorative details, as is common in many Italian churches of the Medieval, subsidence and cracking of masonry such as must also have affected the Cappella Maggiore has necessitated the building of very large buttresses to brace the exterior walls. The accretion of other buildings has further altered the appearance of the Chapel. The building is divided into three stories of which the lowest is a tall basement level with several utilitarian windows
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Raphael Rooms
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The four Raphael Rooms form a suite of reception rooms in the palace, the public part of the papal apartments in the Palace of the Vatican. They are famous for their frescoes, painted by Raphael and his workshop, together with Michelangelos ceiling frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, they are the grand fresco sequences that mark the High Renaissance in Rome. The Stanze, as they are called, were originally intended as a suite of apartments for Pope Julius II. He commissioned Raphael, then a young artist from Urbino. It was possibly Julius intent to outshine the apartments of his predecessor Pope Alexander VI and they are on the third floor, overlooking the south side of the Belvedere Courtyard. After the death of Julius in 1513, with two rooms frescoed, Pope Leo X continued the program, following Raphaels death in 1520, his assistants Gianfrancesco Penni, Giulio Romano and Raffaellino del Colle finished the project with the frescoes in the Sala di Costantino. The scheme of the works is as follows, The largest of the rooms is the Sala di Costantino. Its paintings were not begun until Pope Julius and, indeed Raphael himself, had died, the room is dedicated to the victory of Christianity over paganism. Its frescoes represent this struggle from the life of the Roman Emperor Constantine, because they are not by the master himself, the frescos are less famous than works in the neighboring rooms. Continuing a long tradition of flattery, Raphaels assistants gave the features of the current pontiff, Clement VII, the fresco of The Vision of the Cross depicts the legendary story of a great cross appearing to Constantine as he marched to confront his rival Maxentius. The vision in the sky is painted with the words in Greek Εν τούτω νίκα written next to it, the Battle of Milvian Bridge shows the battle that took place on October 28,312, following Constantines vision. The next room, going from East to West, is the Stanza di Eliodoro, painted between 1511 and 1514, it takes its name from one of the paintings. The theme of this private chamber – probably an audience room – was the protection granted by Christ to the Church. The four paintings are, The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple, The Mass at Bolsena, The Meeting of Pope Leo I and Attila, Raphaels style changed here from the Stanza della Segnatura. Instead of the images of the Popes library, he had dramatic narratives to portray. The composition is more dramatic than Raphaels earlier frescoes in the Stanza della Segnatura. Although the focal point is the figure of the priest at prayer, Heliodorus. At the left Julius II, carried by the Swiss Guard in a chair and his inclusion here refers to his battles to prevent secular leaders from usurping papal territories
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Borgia Apartments
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The Borgia Apartments are a suite of rooms in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, adapted for personal use by Pope Alexander VI. In the late 15th century, he commissioned the Italian painter Bernardino di Betto, when the Borgia family fell out of favor after the 1503 death of Pope Alexander VI, the apartments were little used for centuries. Only in 1889 did Pope Leo XIII have the restored and opened for public viewing. The works in the apartment are now considered part of the Vatican Library, most of the rooms are now used for the Vatican Collection of Modern Religious Art, inaugurated by Pope Paul VI in 1973. The upper part of the walls and vaults are not only covered with paintings but are further enriched with delicate stucco work in relief. The main subjects of the five completed by Pinturicchio are. Index of Vatican City-related articles The Vatican, spirit and art of Christian Rome, a book from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries, which contains material on these rooms
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Sala Regia (Vatican)
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The Sala Regia is a state hall in the Apostolic Palace, in Vatican City. Although not intended as such, this room is really an antechamber to the Sistine Chapel. To the left of the entrance formerly stood the papal throne, the hall was begun under Pope Paul III by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and was completed in 1573. The elegant barrel vault is graced by the very impressive plaster decorations of Perino del Vaga, the stucco ornaments over the doors are by Daniele da Volterra. The walls were decorated by Livio Agresti, Giorgio Vasari and Taddeo Zuccari, the hall was originally used for the reception of princes and royal ambassadors, hence its name. Index of Vatican City-related articles Attribution This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles
17.
Cappella Paolina
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The Cappella Paolina is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, Vatican City. It is separated from the Sistine Chapel by the Sala Regia and it is not on any of the regular tourist itineries. They did not conform to the conventions of the time. Despite the importance of the chapel and the significance of their subjects, the chapel was commissioned in 1538 by the order of Pope Paul III and completed in 1540 under the design and supervision of Antonio da Sangallo the Younger. The Cappella Paolina served as both the Chapel of the Sacrament and the Chapel of the Conclave, Paul III dedicated the chapel to the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul, a festival to which he displayed particular devotion. This is shown by a letter dated October 12,1541 from Cardinal Alexander, Paul III’s nephew, to Bishop Marco Vigerio which discusses the paintings to be carried out in the “New Chapel. ”Other paintings in the chapel are by Lorenzo Sabbatini and Federico Zuccari. The statues in the background are by P. Bresciano, the cardinals then withdraw to the Sistine Chapel. In the Cappella Paolina are sung daily the conclave Solemn Masses De Spiritu Sancto, in 1549 and 1550, the Cappella Paolina was used for the papal conclave itself, the Sistine Chapel having been set aside and divided into 19 cells for use by infirm cardinals. The conclave elected Pope Julius III, however, due to restoration work that had begun in 2002, the chapel was unavailable for the 2005 conclave so the Hall of Blessings instead was used for this purpose. The restoration work was finished in 2009 and during the 2013 conclave the cardinal-electors assembled in the Pauline Chapel to begin their procession into the Sistine Chapel. The Pauline Chapel was also the venue where the officials, support staff. In 2004, the Vatican announced plans to restore the frescoes in Cappella Paolina, work was completed in 2009, revealing bright colors and hues that had been dulled by centuries of dirt and grime. In 2010, the Vatican website released a virtual reality rendered version of the Cappella Paolina and it presents the chapel in part 3D rendering and part high-resolution photography, unquestionably made after the 2009 restoration. Two other chapels with the name are in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore and in the Quirinal Palace. Index of Vatican City-related articles Freedburg, Sidney J. Painting in Italy, 1500–1600,1993, Yale, ISBN0300055870 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles, ed. article name needed. The Vatican, spirit and art of Christian Rome, a book from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries, which contains material on Cappella Paolina
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Scala Regia (Vatican)
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Scala Regia is a flight of steps in the Vatican City and is part of the formal entrance to the Vatican. It was built by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger in the early 16th century, to connect the Apostolic Palace to St. Peters Basilica, the site for the stairs, a comparatively narrow sliver of land between church and palace, is awkwardly shaped with irregular converging walls. Bernini used a number of theatrical, baroque effects in order to exalt this entry point into Vatican. The staircase proper takes the form of a colonnade that necessarily becomes narrower at the end of the vista. Above the arch at the beginning of this vista is the coat of arms of Alexander VII, finally at the base of the stairs, he placed his equestrian statue of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. It is meant to display the event, before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge when at Saxa Rubra north of Rome along the Tiber, Constantine sees a vision of the cross with the words In Hoc Signo Vinces. The phrase appears prominently placed as a motto on a ribbon unfurled with a cross to its left, beneath a window over the Scala Regia. In Berninis statue of Constantine, he is awed and his horse rears, pope Clement IX later installed a sculpture of Charlemagne in the opposite portico of St. Peters Basilica as a pendant to that of Constantine. Index of Vatican City-related articles Pevsner, Nikolaus
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Pope Symmachus
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Pope Symmachus was Pope from 22 November 498 to his death in 514. His tenure was marked by a serious schism over who was elected pope by the citizens of Rome. Symmachus was baptized in Rome, where he became Archdeacon of the Roman Church under Pope Anastasius II, Symmachus was elected pope on 22 November 498 in the Constantinian basilica. Both factions agreed to allow the Gothic King Theodoric the Great to arbitrate and he ruled that the one who was elected first and whose supporters were the most numerous should be recognized as pope. This was a political decision. An investigation favored Symmachus and his election was recognized as proper, Symmachus proceeded to call a synod, to be held at Rome on 1 March 499, which was attended by 72 bishops and all of the Roman clergy. Afterwards he was assigned the diocesis of Nuceria in Campania, in 501, the Senator Rufius Postumius Festus, a supporter of Laurentius, accused Symmachus of various crimes. The initial charge was that Symmachus celebrated Easter on the wrong date, the king Theodoric summoned him to Ariminum to respond to the charge. The pope arrived only to discover a number of charges, including unchastity. Symmachus panicked, fleeing from Ariminum in the middle of the night only one companion. His flight proved to be a miscalculation, as it was regarded as an admission of guilt, Laurentius was brought back to Rome by his supporters, but a sizeable group of the clergy, including most of the most senior clerics, withdrew from communion with him. A visiting bishop, Peter of Altinum, was appointed by Theodoric to celebrate Easter 502 and assume the administration of the See, pending the decision of a synod to be convened following Easter. Presided over by the other Italian metropolitans, Peter II of Ravenna, Laurentius of Milan, and Marcellianus of Aquileia, although the majority of the assembled bishops agreed with this, the Apostolic Visitor could not be made to withdaw without Theodorics permission, this was not forthcoming. In response to this deadlock, rioting by the citizens of Rome increased, causing a number of bishops to flee Rome, King Theodoric refused their request to move the Synod, ordering them instead to reconvene on 1 September. On 27 August the King wrote to the Bishops that he was sending two of the Majores Domus nostrae, Gudila and Bedeulphus, to see to it that the Synod assembled in safety, upon reconvening, matters were no less acrimonious. Symmachus retreated to St. Peters and refused to come out, the Life of Symmachus, however, presents these killings as part of the street-fighting between the supporters of Senators Festus and Probinus on the one side, and Senator Faustus on the other. The attacks were directed particularly against clerics, including Dignissimus a priest of S. Pietro in Vinculis, giovanni e Paolo, though the rhetoric of the passage extends the violence to anyone who was a supporter of Symmachus, man or woman, cleric or layperson. It was unsafe for a cleric to walk about in Rome at night, at this point, the synod petitioned king Theodoric once again, asking permission to dissolve the meeting and return home
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Old St. Peter's Basilica
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Old St. Peters Basilica was the building that stood, from the 4th to 16th centuries, on the spot where the new St. Peters Basilica stands today in Vatican City. Construction of the basilica, built over the site of the Circus of Nero. The name old St. Peters Basilica has been used since the construction of the current basilica to distinguish the two buildings, construction began by orders of the Roman Emperor Constantine I between 318 and 322, and took about 30 years to complete. Over the next centuries, the church gradually gained importance. Papal coronations were held at the basilica, and in 800, in 846, Saracens sacked and damaged the basilica. The raiders seem to have known about Romes extraordinary treasures, some holy – and impressive – basilicas, such as St. Peters Basilica, were outside the Aurelian walls, and thus easy targets. They were filled to overflowing with rich liturgical vessels and with jeweled reliquaries housing all of the relics recently amassed, as a result, the raiders pillaged the holy shrine. In response Pope Leo IV built the Leonine wall and rebuilt the parts of St. Peters that had been damaged, in 1099, Urban II convened a council including St Anselm. Among other topics, it repeated the bans on lay investiture, by the 15th century the church was falling into ruin. Discussions on repairing parts of the structure commenced upon the return from Avignon. The whole stretch of wall has been pierced by too many openings, as a result, the continual force of the wind has already displaced the wall more than six feet from the vertical, I have no doubt that eventually some. Slight movement will make it collapse, at first Pope Julius II had every intention of preserving the old building, but his attention soon turned toward tearing it down and building a new structure. Many people of the time were shocked by the proposal, as the building represented papal continuity going back to Peter, the original altar was to be preserved in the new structure that housed it. Constantine went to pains to build the basilica on the site of Saint Peters grave. The Vatican Hill, on the west bank of the Tiber River, was leveled. Notably, since the site was outside the boundaries of the ancient city, the exterior however, unlike earlier pagan temples, was not lavishly decorated. The church was capable of housing from 3,000 to 4,000 worshipers at one time and it consisted of five aisles, a wide central nave and two smaller aisles to each side, which were each divided by 21 marble columns, taken from earlier pagan buildings. It was over 350 feet long, built in the shape of a Latin cross, and had a roof which was timbered on the interior
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Pope Eugene III
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Pope Eugene III, born Bernardo da Pisa, was Pope from 15 February 1145 to his death in 1153. He was the first Cistercian to become Pope, in response to the fall of Edessa to the Muslims in 1144, Eugene proclaimed the Second Crusade. The crusade failed to recapture Edessa, which was the first of many failures by the Christians in the crusades to recapture lands won in the First Crusade and he was beatified on 28 December 1872 by Pope Pius IX on the account of his sanctity. Little is known about his origins and family except that he was son of a certain Godius, in 1106 he was a canon of the cathedral chapter in Pisa and from 1115 is attested as subdeacon. 1133–1138 he acted as vicedominus of the archdiocese of Pisa, between May 1134 and February 1137 he was ordained into the priesthood by Pope Innocent II, who resided at that time in Pisa. Under the influence of Bernard of Clairvaux he entered the Cistercian Order in the monastery of Clairvaux in 1138, a year later he returned to Italy as leader of the Cistercian community in Scandriglia. In Autumn 1140, Pope Innocent II named him abbot of the monastery of S. Anastasio alle Tre Fontane outside Rome, Bernardo was elected pope in February 1145 and took the pontifical name of Eugene III. The choice did not have the approval of Bernard, however, but after the choice was made, he took advantage of the qualities in Eugene III which he objected to, so as to virtually rule in his name. During nearly the whole of his pontificate, Eugene III was unable to reside in Rome, but as he would not agree to a treacherous compact against Tivoli, he was compelled to leave the city in March 1146. He stayed for some time at Viterbo, and then at Siena, at a great diet held at Speyer in 1146, Holy Roman Emperor Conrad III and many of his nobles were also incited to dedicate themselves to the crusade by the eloquence of Bernard. Eugene III held synods in northern Europe at Paris, Rheims and he also considered and approved the works of Hildegard of Bingen. In June 1148, Eugene III returned to Italy and took up his residence at Viterbo and he fled to Prince Ptolemys fortress in Tusculum on 8 April 1149 and remained there, where he met the returning Crusader king Louis VII of France and his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine. He stayed there until 7 November, at the end of November 1149, through the aid of the King of Sicily, he was again able to enter Rome, but the jealousy of the republicans soon compelled him to retire. The Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa had promised to aid him against his revolted subjects, though the citizens of Rome were jealous of the efforts of Eugene III to assert his temporal authority, they were always ready to recognize him as their spiritual lord. Besides that, they deeply reverenced his personal character, accordingly, he was buried in the Vatican with every mark of respect, and his tomb soon acquired an extraordinary fame for miraculous cures. The people of Rome were quick to recognize Eugene III as a figure who was meek. His tomb acquired considerable fame due to the miracle purported to have occurred there, Pope Pius IX beatified him in 1872. Knights Templar Original text from the 9th edition of an unnamed encyclopedia, Original referred to him as Eugene – modified to match spelling on Popes list
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Pope Innocent III
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Pope Innocent III reigned from 8 January 1198 to his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni, Pope Innocent was one of the most powerful and influential popes. He exerted an influence over the Christian states of Europe. Pope Innocent was central in supporting the Catholic Churchs reforms of ecclesiastical affairs through his decretals and this resulted in a considerable refinement of Western canon law. Pope Innocent is notable for using interdict and other censures to compel princes to obey his decisions, Innocent called for Christian crusades against Muslim Spain and the Holy Land, as well as the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars in southern France. One of Pope Innocents critical decisions was organizing the Fourth Crusade, originally intended to attack Jerusalem through Egypt, a series of unforeseen circumstances led the crusaders to Constantinople, where they ultimately sacked the city in 1204. Lotario de Conti was born in Gavignano, near Anagni and his father was Count Trasimund of Segni and was a member of a famous house, Conti, which produced nine Popes, including Gregory IX, Alexander IV and Innocent XIII. Lotario was the nephew of Pope Clement III, his mother, as Pope, Lotario was to play a major role in the shaping of canon law through conciliar canons and decretal letters. He subscribed the papal bulls between 7 December 1190 and 4 November 1197, as a cardinal, Lotario wrote De miseria humanae conditionis. The work was popular for centuries, surviving in more than 700 manuscripts. Although he never returned to the work he intended to write, On the Dignity of Human Nature. Celestine III died on 8 January 1198 and he was only thirty-seven years old at the time. He took the name Innocent III, maybe as a reference to his predecessor Innocent II, as pope, Innocent III began with a very wide sense of his responsibility and of his authority. The Muslim recapture of Jerusalem in 1187 was to him a divine judgment on the moral lapses of Christian princes and he was also determined to protect what he called the liberty of the Church from inroads by secular princes. The patrimonium was routinely threatened by Hohenstaufen German kings who, as Roman emperors, the early death of Henry VI left his 4-year-old son Frederick II as king. Henry VI’s widow Constance of Sicily ruled over Sicily for her son before he reached the age of majority. She was as eager to remove German power from the kingdom of Sicily as was Innocent III, before her death in 1198, she named Innocent as guardian of the young Frederick until he reached his maturity. In exchange, Innocent was also able to recover papal rights in Sicily that had been surrendered decades earlier to King William I of Sicily by Pope Adrian IV, the Pope invested the young Frederick II as King of Sicily in November 1198
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Avignon Papacy
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The Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1377 during which seven successive popes resided in Avignon rather than in Rome. The situation arose from the conflict between the Papacy and the French crown, Clement declined to move to Rome, remaining in France, and in 1309, he moved his court to the papal enclave at Avignon, where it remained for the next 67 years. The absence from Rome is sometimes referred to as the Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy, a total of seven popes reigned at Avignon, all were French, and they increasingly fell under the influence of the French Crown. Finally, on September 13,1376, Gregory XI abandoned Avignon and moved his court to Rome, officially ending the Avignon Papacy. Despite this return, following Gregorys death on March 27,1378 and this started a second line of Avignon popes, now regarded as illegitimate and known as antipopes. The second and final Avignon antipope, Benedict XIII, lost most of his support in 1398, including that of France, following five years of siege by the French, he fled to Perpignan on March 11,1403. The schism ended in 1417 at the Council of Constance, after two popes had reigned in opposition to the Papacy in Rome. Parties within the Roman Church were divided in their allegiance among the claimants to the office of pope. The Council of Constance finally resolved the controversy in 1417 when the election of Pope Martin V was accepted by all. Avignon and the enclave to the east remained part of the Papal States until the French Revolution. The Papacy in the Late Middle Ages played a major role in addition to its spiritual role. The conflict between the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor was fundamentally a dispute over which of them was the leader of Christendom in secular matters. In the early 14th century, the papacy was well past the prime of its secular rule – its importance had peaked in the 12th and 13th centuries, one exception was Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, who was twice excommunicated by the Pope during a Crusade. Frederick II ignored this and was successful in the Holy Land. This state of affairs culminated in the declaration of papal supremacy, Unam sanctam. In that papal bull, Pope Boniface VIII decreed that it is necessary to salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman pontiff. This was directed primarily to King Phillip IV of France who responded by saying, in 1303 AD, Pope Boniface VIII followed up with a bull that would excommunicate the king of France and put the interdict over France, and depose the entire clergy of France. Before this was finalized, Italian allies of the King of France broke into the papal residence, nicholas Boccasini was elected as his successor and took the name Pope Benedict XI
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Santa Maria in Trastevere
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The Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, English, Our Lady in Trastevere) is a titular minor basilica in the Trastevere district of Rome, and one of the oldest churches of Rome. The basic floor plan and wall structure of the date back to the 340s. The first sanctuary was built in 221 and 227 by Pope Callixtus I, the church has large areas of important mosaics from the late 13th century by Pietro Cavallini. It is certainly one of the oldest churches in the city, a Christian house-church was founded here about 220 by Pope Saint Callixtus I on the site of the Taberna meritoria, a refuge for retired soldiers. In 340, when Pope Julius I rebuilt the titulus Callixti on a scale, it became the titulus Iulii in commemoration of his patronage. The church underwent two restorations in the fifth and eighth centuries and in 1140-43 it was re-erected on its old foundations under Pope Innocent II, Innocent II razed the church along with the recently completed tomb of the Antipope Anacletus II, his former rival. Innocent II arranged for his own burial on the formerly occupied by the tomb. The richly carved Ionic capitals reused along its nave were taken either from the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla or the nearby Temple of Isis on the Janiculum. When scholarship during the 19th century identified the faces in their carved decoration as Isis, Serapis and Harpocrates, the inscriptions found in Santa Maria in Trastevere, a valuable resource illustrating the history of the Basilica, were collected and published by Vincenzo Forcella. The present nave preserves its original plan and stands on the earlier foundations. The 22 granite columns with Ionic and Corinthian capitals that separate the nave from the aisles came from the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla, as did the lintel of the entrance door. Inside the church are a number of late 13th-century mosaics by Pietro Cavallini on the subject of the Life of the Virgin centering on a Coronation of the Virgin in the apse, domenichinos octagonal ceiling painting, Assumption of the Virgin fits in the coffered ceiling setting that he designed. The fifth chapel to the left is the Avila Chapel designed by Antonio Gherardi and this, and his Chapel of S. Cecilia in San Carlo ai Catinari are two of the most architecturally inventive chapels of the late-17th century in Rome. The lower order of the chapel is fairly dark and employs Borromini-like forms, in the dome, there is an opening or oculus from which four putti emerge to carry a central tempietto, all of which frames a light-filled chamber above, illuminated by windows not visible from below. The church keeps a relic of Saint Apollonia, her head, among those buried in the church are the relics of Pope Callixtus I, Pope Innocent II, Antipope Anacletus II, Cardinal Philippe of Alençon and Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio. The Romanesque campanile is from the 12th century, near the top, a niche protects a mosaic of the Madonna and Child. The mosaics on the façade are believed to be from the 12th century and they depict the Madonna enthroned and suckling the Child, flanked by 10 women holding lamps. This image on the façade showing Mary nursing Jesus is an example of a popular late-medieval
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Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
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The Basilica is located at 34 Piazza dellEsquilino, some five blocks southwest of Stazione Termini. Pursuant to the Lateran Treaty of 1929 between the Holy See and Italy, the Basilica is within Italian territory and not the territory of the Vatican City State and they prayed that she might make known to them how they were to dispose of their property in her honour. On 5 August, at the height of the Roman summer, in obedience to a vision of the Virgin Mary which they had the same night, the couple built a basilica in honour of Mary on the very spot which was covered with snow. From the fact that no mention whatever is made of this alleged miracle until a few hundred years later and it would seem that the legend has no historical basis. The legend is first reported only after AD1000 and it may be implied in what the Liber Pontificalis, of the early 13th century, says of Pope Liberius, He built the basilica of his own name near the Macellum of Livia. Its prevalence in the 15th century is shown in the painting of the Miracle of the Snow by Masolino da Panicale. The feast was originally called Dedicatio Sanctae Mariae, and was celebrated only in Rome until inserted for the first time into the General Roman Calendar, with ad Nives added to its name, in 1568. A congregation appointed by Pope Benedict XIV in 1741 proposed that the reading of the legend be struck from the Office, no action was taken on the proposal until 1969, when the reading of the legend was removed and the feast was called In dedicatione Basilicae S. Mariae. The legend is commemorated by dropping white rose petals from the dome during the celebration of the Mass. The earliest building on the site was the Liberian Basilica or Santa Maria Liberiana, Liberiana is still included in some versions of the basilicas formal name, and Liberian Basilica may be used as a contemporary as well as historical name. This building was replaced under Pope Sixtus III by the present structure dedicated to Mary. No Catholic church can be honoured with the title of basilica unless by apostolic grant or from immemorial custom, St. Mary Major is one of the only four that hold the title of major basilica. The other three are the Basilicas of St. John in the Lateran, St. Peters, along with all of the other four Major Basilicas, St. Mary Major is also styled a Papal basilica. St. Mary Major was associated with the Patriarchate of Antioch, Philip Neri on 25 February 1552. It is agreed that the present church was built under Pope Sixtus III, the dedicatory inscription on the triumphal arch, Sixtus Episcopus plebi Dei, is an indication of that Popes role in the construction. The church retains the core of its structure, despite several additional construction projects. Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the first churches built in honour of the Virgin Mary, was erected in the aftermath of the Council of Ephesus of 431. Pope Sixtus III built it to commemorate this decision and these fines enabled the papacy to carry out through the 5th century an ambitious building program, including Santa Maria Maggiore
26.
Pope Nicholas V
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Pope Nicholas V, born Tommaso Parentucelli, was Pope from 6 March 1447 until his death. Pope Eugene made him a cardinal in 1446 after successful trips to Italy and Germany, and he took his name Nicholas in memory of his obligations to Niccolò Albergati. The Pontificate of Nicholas saw the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks, by the Concordat of Vienna he secured the recognition of papal rights over bishoprics and benefices. He also brought about the submission of the last of the antipopes, Felix V, a key figure in the Roman Renaissance, Nicholas sought to make Rome the home of literature and art. He strengthened fortifications, restored aqueducts, and rebuilt many churches, the glories of the Leonine City, the Vatican, and the Basilica of St. Peter must be considered part of his legacy. His mother, Andreola Bosi of Fivizzano, married Bartolomeo Parentucelli, a physician who practiced medicine in Sarzana, the Lunigiana region had long been fought over by competing Tuscan, Ligurian and Milanese forces. His father died while he was young, Parentucelli later became a tutor, in Florence, to the families of the Strozzi and Albizzi, where he met the leading humanist scholars. He studied at Bologna and Florence, gaining a degree in theology in 1422 and he was able to collect books, for which he had an intellectuals passion, wherever he went. Some of them survive with his marginal annotations and he attended the Council of Florence and in 1444, when his patron died, he was appointed Bishop of Bologna in his place. Civic disorders at Bologna were prolonged, so Pope Eugene IV soon named him as one of the legates sent to Frankfurt. He was to assist in negotiating an understanding between the Papal States and the Holy Roman Empire, regarding undercutting or at least containing the reforming decrees of the Council of Basel. His successful diplomacy gained him the reward, on his return to Rome, at the papal conclave of 1447 he was elected Pope in succession to Eugene IV on 6 March. He took the name Nicholas in honour of his early benefactor, the eight scant years of his pontificate were important in the political, scientific, and literary history of the world. In March 1452 he crowned Frederick III as Holy Roman Emperor in St. Peters, within the city of Rome, Nicholas introduced the fresh spirit of the Renaissance. His plans were of embellishing the city with new monuments worthy of the capital of the Christian world and his first care was practical, to reinforce the citys fortifications, cleaning and even paving some main streets and restoring the water supply. The end of ancient Rome is sometimes dated from the destruction of its magnificent array of aqueducts by 6th-century invaders, in the Middle Ages Romans depended for water on wells and cisterns, and the poor dipped their water from the yellow Tiber. The Aqua Virgo aqueduct, originally constructed by Agrippa, was restored by Nicholas and emptied into a basin that Leon Battista Alberti designed. But the works on which Nicholas especially set his heart were the rebuilding of the Vatican, the Borgo district, and St Peters Basilica, under the generous patronage of Nicholas, humanism made rapid strides as well
27.
Prefect
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Prefect is a magisterial title of varying definition, but which, basically, refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefects office, department, or area of control is called a prefecture, the words prefect and prefecture are also used, more or less conventionally, to render analogous words in other languages, especially Romance languages. They did have authority in their prefecture such as controlling prisons. The Praetorian prefect began as the commander of a generals guard company in the field. From the Emperor Diocletians tetrarchy they became the administrators of the four Praetorian prefectures, Praefectus urbi, or praefectus urbanus, city prefect, in charge of the administration of Rome. Praefectus vigilum, commander of the Vigiles, Praefectus aerarii, nobles appointed guardians of the state treasury. Praefectus aerarii militaris, prefect of the military treasury Praefectus annonae, Praefectus alae, commander of a cavalry unit. Praefectus cohortis, commander of a cohort, Praefectus fabrum, officer in charge of fabri, i. e. well-trained engineers and artisans. Praefectus legionis agens vice legati, equestrian acting legionary commander, Praefectus orae maritimae, official in charge with the control and defense of an important sector of sea coast. Praefectus socium, Roman officer appointed to a function in an ala sociorum. For some auxiliary troops, specific titles could even refer to their peoples, less important provinces though were entrusted to prefects, military men who would otherwise only govern parts of larger provinces. The most famous example is Pontius Pilate, who governed Judaea at a time when it was administered as an annex of Syria, septimius Severus, after conquering Mesopotamia, introduced the same system there too. Praefectus urbi, a prefect of the era who guarded the city during the annual sacrifice of the Latin. His former title was custos urbi, especially in Medieval Latin, præfectus was used to refer to various officers—administrative, military, judicial, etc. —usually alongside a more precise term in the vernacular. The term is used by the Roman Catholic Church, which based much of its canon law terminology on Roman law, the Roman Curia has the nine Prefects of all the Congregations as well as the two of the Papal Household and of the Economic Affairs of the Holy See. The title also attaches to the heads of some Pontifical Council, who are titled president. For example, the president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue is also the prefect of the Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims, traditionally these Curial officials are Cardinals, hence often called Cardinal-Prefect or Cardinal-President. There was a custom that those who were not cardinals when they were appointed were titled Pro-Prefect or Pro-President, then these officials would be appointed prefect or president after their elevation to the Sacred College
28.
Papal States
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The Papal States, officially the State of the Church, were territories in the Italian Peninsula under the sovereign direct rule of the pope, from the 8th century until 1870. They were among the states of Italy from roughly the 8th century until the Italian Peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. At their zenith, they covered most of the modern Italian regions of Lazio, Marche, Umbria and Romagna and these holdings were considered to be a manifestation of the temporal power of the pope, as opposed to his ecclesiastical primacy. By 1861, much of the Papal States territory had been conquered by the Kingdom of Italy, only Lazio, including Rome, remained under the Popes temporal control. In 1870, the pope lost Lazio and Rome and had no physical territory at all, Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini ended the crisis between unified Italy and the Vatican by signing the Lateran Treaty, granting the Vatican City State sovereignty. The Papal States were also known as the Papal State, the territories were also referred to variously as the State of the Church, the Pontifical States, the Ecclesiastical States, or the Roman States. For its first 300 years the Catholic Church was persecuted and unrecognized and this system began to change during the reign of the emperor Constantine I, who made Christianity legal within the Roman Empire, and restoring to it any properties that had been confiscated. The Lateran Palace was the first significant new donation to the Church, other donations followed, primarily in mainland Italy but also in the provinces of the Roman Empire. But the Church held all of these lands as a private landowner, the seeds of the Papal States as a sovereign political entity were planted in the 6th century. Beginning In 535, the Byzantine Empire, under emperor Justinian I, launched a reconquest of Italy that took decades and devastated Italys political, just as these wars wound down, the Lombards entered the peninsula from the north and conquered much of the countryside. While the popes remained Byzantine subjects, in practice the Duchy of Rome, nevertheless, the pope and the exarch still worked together to control the rising power of the Lombards in Italy. As Byzantine power weakened, though, the took a ever larger role in defending Rome from the Lombards. In practice, the papal efforts served to focus Lombard aggrandizement on the exarch, a climactic moment in the founding of the Papal States was the agreement over boundaries embodied in the Lombard king Liutprands Donation of Sutri to Pope Gregory II. When the Exarchate of Ravenna finally fell to the Lombards in 751, the popes renewed earlier attempts to secure the support of the Franks. In 751, Pope Zachary had Pepin the Younger crowned king in place of the powerless Merovingian figurehead king Childeric III, zacharys successor, Pope Stephen II, later granted Pepin the title Patrician of the Romans. Pepin led a Frankish army into Italy in 754 and 756, Pepin defeated the Lombards – taking control of northern Italy – and made a gift of the properties formerly constituting the Exarchate of Ravenna to the pope. The cooperation between the papacy and the Carolingian dynasty climaxed in 800, when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Emperor, the precise nature of the relationship between the popes and emperors – and between the Papal States and the Empire – is disputed. Events in the 9th century postponed the conflict, the Holy Roman Empire in its Frankish form collapsed as it was subdivided among Charlemagnes grandchildren
29.
Pope Leo XIII
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Pope Leo XIII reigned as Pope from 20 February 1878 to his death. He was the oldest pope, and had the third longest pontificate, behind that of Pius IX and he is the most recent pontiff to date to take the pontifical name of Leo upon being elected to the pontificate. He is well known for his intellectualism and his attempts to define the position of the Catholic Church with regard to modern thinking. In his famous 1891 encyclical Rerum novarum, Pope Leo outlined the rights of workers to a wage, safe working conditions. He influenced Roman Catholic Mariology and promoted both the rosary and the scapular, Leo XIII issued a record of eleven Papal encyclicals on the rosary earning him the title as the Rosary Pope. In addition, he approved two new Marian scapulars and was the first pope to fully embrace the concept of Mary as Mediatrix and he was the first pope to never have held any control over the Papal States, after they had been dissolved by 1870. He was briefly buried in the grottos of Saint Peters Basilica before his remains were transferred to the Basilica of Saint John Lateran. Born in Carpineto Romano, near Rome, he was the sixth of the seven sons of Count Ludovico Pecci and his brothers included Giuseppe and Giovanni Battista Pecci. Until 1818 he lived at home with his family, in which counted as the highest grace on earth, as through her. Together with his brother Giuseppe, he studied in the Jesuit College in Viterbo and he enjoyed the Latin language and was known to write his own Latin poems at the age of eleven. In 1824 he and his older brother Giuseppe were called to Rome where their mother was dying, Count Pecci wanted his children near him after the loss of his wife, and so they stayed with him in Rome, attending the Jesuit Collegium Romanum. In 1828, Giuseppe entered the Jesuit order, while Vincenzo decided in favour of secular clergy and he studied at the Academia dei Nobili, mainly diplomacy and law. In 1834 he gave a student presentation, attended by several cardinals, for his presentation he received awards for academic excellence, and gained the attention of Vatican officials. Cardinal Secretary of State Luigi Lambruschini introduced him to Vatican congregations, during a cholera epidemic in Rome he ably assisted Cardinal Sala in his duties as overseer of all the city hospitals. Pope Gregory XVI appointed Pecci on 14 February 1837, as personal prelate even before he was ordained priest on 31 December 1837, by the Vicar of Rome and he celebrated his first mass together with his priest brother Giuseppe. He received his doctorate in theology in 1836 and doctorates of civil, shortly thereafter, Gregory XVI appointed Pecci as legate to Benevento. The smallest of papal provinces, Benevento included about 20,000 people, the main problems facing Pecci were a decaying local economy, insecurity because of widespread bandits, and pervasive Mafia or Camorra structures, who often were allied with aristocratic families. Pecci arrested the most powerful aristocrat in Benevento, and his troops captured others, with the public order restored, he turned to the economy and a reform of the tax system to stimulate trade with neighboring provinces
30.
Pope Urban VII
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Pope Urban VII, born Giovanni Battista Castagna, was Pope from 15 to 27 September 1590. His twelve-day papacy was the shortest in history, Giovanni Battista Castagna was born in Rome in 1521 to a noble family as the son of Cosimo Castagna and Costanza Ricci Giacobazzi. He was of Genoese origin, although born in Rome, Castagna studied in universities all across Italy and obtained a doctorate in civil law and canon law when he finished his studies at the University of Bologna. He served as a lawyer and entered the Roman Curia during the pontificate of Pope Julius III as the Referendary of the Apostolic Signatura. He then received episcopal consecration a month after at the home of Cardinal Girolamo Veralli and he served as the Governor of Fano from 1555 to 1559 and later served as the Governor of Perugia and Umbria from 1559 to 1560. Castagna would later participate in the Council of Trent from 1562 to 1563 and he was appointed as the Apostolic Nuncio to Spain in 1565 and served there until 1572, resigning his post from his archdiocese a year later. He also served as the Governor of Bologna from 1576 to 1577, among other positions, he was the Apostolic Nuncio to Venice from 1573 to 1577 and served also as the Papal Legate to Flanders and Cologne from 1578 to 1580. Pope Gregory XIII elevated him to the cardinalate on 12 December 1583, after the death of Pope Sixtus V a conclave was convoked to elect a successor. Castagna was elected as pope on 15 September 1590 and his election was brought due to the backing of the Spanish factions. He selected the name of Urban VII. Urban VII was known for his charity to the poor and he subsidized Roman bakers so they could sell bread under cost, and restricted the spending on luxury items for members of his court. He also subsidized public works throughout the Papal States. Urban VII was strictly against nepotism and he forbade it within the Roman Curia, Urban VII died on 27 September 1590, shortly before midnight, of malaria in Rome. He was buried in the Vatican, the funeral oration was delivered by Pompeo Ugonio. His remains were transferred to the church of S. Maria sopra Minerva on 21 September 1606. His estate was valued at 30,000 scudi and it was bequeathed to the Archconfraternity of the Annunciation to use as dowries for poor young girls, Papal conclave, September 1590 Ott, Michael. Media related to Urbanus VII at Wikimedia Commons
31.
Pope Innocent XI
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Pope Innocent XI, born Benedetto Odescalchi, was Pope from 21 September 1676 to his death in 1689. He is known in Budapest as the Saviour of Hungary, much of his reign was concerned with tension with Louis XIV of France. A conservative, he lowered taxes in the Papal States during his pontificate, because of this surplus he repudiated excessive nepotism within the church. Innocent XI was frugal in matters of governing the Papal States, once he was elected to the papacy, he applied himself to moral and administrative reform of the Roman Curia. He abolished sinecures and pushed for greater simplicity in preaching as well as greater reverence in worship—requesting this of both the clergy and faithful. Benedetto Odescalchi was born at Como on 16 May 1611, the son of a Como nobleman, Livio Odescalchi and his siblings were Carlo, Lucrezia, Giulio Maria, Constantino, Nicola and Paolo. He also had several descendants of note through his sister, her grandson Cardinal Baldassare Erba-Odescalchi, Cardinal Benedetto Erba Odescalchi. The Odescalchi, a family of nobility, were determined entrepreneurs. In 1619, Benedettos brother founded a bank with his three uncles in Genoa which quickly grew into a successful money-lending business, after completing his studies in grammar and letters, the 15-year-old Benedetto moved to Genoa to take part in the family business as an apprentice. Lucrative economic transactions were established with clients in the major Italian and European cities, such as Nuremberg, Milan, Kraków, in 1626 Benedettos father died, and he began schooling in the humane sciences taught by the Jesuits at his local college, before transferring to Genoa. In 1630 he narrowly survived an outbreak of plague, which killed his mother, some time between 1632 and 1636, Benedetto decided to move to Rome and then Naples in order to study civil law. He subsequently became legate to Ferrara, when he was sent to Ferrara in order to assist the people stricken with a severe famine, the Pope introduced him to the people of Ferrara as the father of the poor. In 1650, Odescalchi became bishop of Novara, in which capacity he spent all the revenues of his see to relieve the poor, with the permission of the pope he resigned as bishop of Novara in favor of his brother Giulio in 1656 and went to Rome. While there he took a prominent part in the consultations of the congregations of which he was a member. Odescalchi was a papal candidate after the death of Pope Clement IX in 1669. After Pope Clement X died, Louis XIV of France again intended to use his influence against Odescalchis election. On 21 September 1676, Odescalchi was chosen to be Clement Xs successor and he chose this name in honour of Pope Innocent X, who made him a cardinal in 1645. He was formally crowned as pontiff on 4 October 1676 by the protodeacon, immediately upon his accession, Innocent XI turned all his efforts towards reducing the expenses of the Curia
32.
Pope Clement VIII
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Not to be confused with Antipope Clement VIII. Pope Clement VIII, born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was Pope from 2 February 1592 to his death in 1605, born into prominent Florentine family, he initially came to prominence as a canon lawyer before being made a Cardinal-Priest in 1585. In 1592 he was elected Pope and took the name of Clement and he also successfully adjudicated in a bitter dispute between the Dominicans and the Jesuits on the issue of efficacious grace and free will. In 1600 he presided over a jubilee which saw a number of pilgrimages to Rome. He showed little pity for his opponents, presiding over the trial and execution of Giordano Bruno. He may have been the first pope to drink coffee, Clement VIII died at the age of 69 in 1605 and his remains now rest in the Santa Maria Maggiore. He was from a Florentine family, and followed his father as a lawyer, becoming an Auditor of the Roman Rota. He was only ordained as a priest at the age of 45 and he was an effective, if sometimes ruthless, administrator. He was made Cardinal-Priest of S. Pancrazio in 1585 by Pope Gregory XIII, Pope Sixtus V named him major penitentiary in January 1586 and in 1588 sent him as legate in Poland. He placed himself under the direction of the reformer Philip Neri, Aldobrandini won the gratitude of the Habsburgs by his successful diplomatic efforts in Poland to obtain the release of the imprisoned Archduke Maximilian, the defeated claimant to the Polish throne. After the death of Pope Innocent IX, another stormy conclave ensued, cardinal Aldobrandinis election on 30 January 1592, was received as a portent of more balanced and liberal Papal policy in European affairs. He took the non-politicised name Clement VIII, in 1611 and again in 1625 a decree prohibited any discussion of the matter, although it was often informally avoided by the publication of commentaries on Thomas Aquinas. During the jubilee of 1600, three million pilgrims visited the holy places, the Synod of Brest was held 1595 in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, by which a great part of the Ruthenian clergy and people were reunited to Rome. Clement VIII canonised Hyacinth, Julian of Cuenca, and Raymond of Peñafort, henry embraced Catholicism on 25 July 1593. Facilitated by the Pope, a treaty of alliance was signed in Prague by Emperor Rudolf II, aron Vodă of Moldavia and Michael the Brave of Wallachia joined the alliance later that year. Clement VIII himself lent the Emperor valuable assistance in men and money, Clement VIII was as vigorous as Pope Sixtus V in crushing banditry in the papal provinces of Umbria and the Marche and in punishing the lawlessness of the Roman nobility. Upon his ascension to the throne in 1592, he immediately had several noble troublemakers put to death. The latter case prompted many requests of clemency – rejected by the Pope, clements strict ways also concerned philosophical and religious matters
33.
Pope Pius XI
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Pope Pius XI, born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, reigned as Pope from 6 February 1922 to his death in 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 and he took as his papal motto, Pax Christi in Regno Christi, translated The Peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ. During his pontificate, the hostility with the Italian government over the status of the papacy. He was unable to stop the persecution of the Church and the killing of clergy in Mexico, Spain and he canonized important saints, including Thomas More, Petrus Canisius, Konrad von Parzham, Andrew Bobola and Don Bosco. Pius XI created the feast of Christ the King in response to anti-clericalism and he took a strong interest in fostering the participation of lay people throughout the Catholic Church, especially in the Catholic Action movement. The end of his pontificate was dominated by speaking out against Hitler and Mussolini and defending the Catholic Church from intrusions into Catholic life and he died on 10 February 1939 in the Apostolic Palace and is buried in the Papal Grotto of Saint Peters Basilica. In the course of excavating space for his tomb, two levels of burial grounds were uncovered which revealed bones now venerated as the bones of St. Peter. Achille Ratti was born in Desio, in the province of Milan, in 1857 and he was ordained a priest in 1879 and embarked on an academic career within the Church. He obtained three doctorates at the Gregorian University in Rome, and then from 1882 to 1888 was a professor at the seminary in Padua and his scholarly specialty was as an expert paleographer, a student of ancient and medieval Church manuscripts. Eventually, he left teaching to work full-time at the Ambrosian Library in Milan. During this time, he edited and published an edition of the Ambrosian Missal and he became chief of the Library in 1907 and undertook a thorough programme of restoration and re-classification of the Ambrosians collection. He was also a mountaineer in his spare time, reaching the summits of Monte Rosa. The combination of a pope would not be seen again until the pontificate of John Paul II. In 1911, at Pope Pius Xs invitation, he moved to the Vatican to become Vice-Prefect of the Vatican Library, in October 1918, Benedict was the first head of state to congratulate the Polish people on the occasion of the restoration of their independence. In March 1919, he nominated ten new bishops and, soon after, Ratti was consecrated as a titular archbishop in October 1919. Benedict XV and Nuncio Ratti repeatedly cautioned Polish authorities against persecuting the Lithuanian and Ruthenian clergy, Ratti intended to work for Poland by building bridges to men of goodwill in the Soviet Union, even to shedding his blood for Russia. Benedict, however, needed Ratti as a diplomat, not as a martyr, the nuncios continued contacts with Russians did not generate much sympathy for him within Poland at the time. After Pope Benedict sent Ratti to Silesia to forestall potential political agitation within the Polish Catholic clergy, on 20 November, when German Cardinal Adolf Bertram announced a papal ban on all political activities of clergymen, calls for Rattis expulsion climaxed
34.
St. Peter's Basilica
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The Papal Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, or simply St. Peters Basilica, is an Italian Renaissance church in Vatican City, the papal enclave within the city of Rome. While it is neither the church of the Catholic Church nor the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome. It has been described as holding a position in the Christian world. Catholic tradition holds that the Basilica is the site of Saint Peter, one of Christs Apostles. Saint Peters tomb is supposedly directly below the altar of the Basilica. For this reason, many Popes have been interred at St. Peters since the Early Christian period, construction of the present basilica, which would replace Old St. Peters Basilica from the 4th century AD, began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626. St. Peters is famous as a place of pilgrimage and for its liturgical functions. The Pope presides at a number of liturgies throughout the year, drawing audiences of 15,000 to over 80,000 people, either within the Basilica or the adjoining St. Peters Square. St. Peters has many associations, with the Early Christian Church, the Papacy. As a work of architecture, it is regarded as the greatest building of its age, St. Peters is one of the four churches in the world that hold the rank of Major Basilica, all four of which are in Rome. Contrary to popular misconception, it is not a cathedral because it is not the seat of a bishop, St. Peters is a church built in the Renaissance style located in the Vatican City west of the River Tiber and near the Janiculum Hill and Hadrians Mausoleum. Its central dome dominates the skyline of Rome, the basilica is approached via St. Peters Square, a forecourt in two sections, both surrounded by tall colonnades. The first space is oval and the second trapezoid, the basilica is cruciform in shape, with an elongated nave in the Latin cross form but the early designs were for a centrally planned structure and this is still in evidence in the architecture. The central space is dominated both externally and internally by one of the largest domes in the world, the entrance is through a narthex, or entrance hall, which stretches across the building. One of the bronze doors leading from the narthex is the Holy Door. The interior is of vast dimensions when compared with other churches and this in its turn overwhelms us. The nave which leads to the dome is in three bays, with piers supporting a barrel-vault, the highest of any church. The nave is framed by wide aisles which have a number of chapels off them, there are also chapels surrounding the dome
35.
Pope Julius II
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Pope Julius II, nicknamed The Fearsome Pope and The Warrior Pope, born Giuliano della Rovere, was Pope from 1 November 1503 to his death in 1513. In addition to a military policy, he personally led troops into battle on at least two occasions. There is disagreement about Juliuss year of birth, for some sources put it as late as 1453, Giuliano della Rovere was the son of Rafaello della Rovere. Francesco della Rovere was his uncle and he was educated among the Franciscans by his uncle, who took him under his special charge and later sent him to a Franciscan friary in Perugia with the purpose of obtaining knowledge of the sciences. After his uncle was elected Pope Sixtus IV, della Rovere was promoted to be cardinal, taking the title as that formerly held by his uncle. With his uncle he obtained great influence, and in addition to the archbishopric of Avignon he held no fewer than eight bishoprics, including Lausanne from 1472. In June 1474, della Rovere led an army to Todi and Spoleto, around this time, in 1483, an illegitimate daughter was born, Felice della Rovere. Della Rovere, jealous and angry, accused Borgia of being elected over him, in 1494 he joined Charles VIII of France who was undertaking a military expedition into Italy. This was, in Andrew Greeleys view, almost certainly by means of bribery with money, but also, per Ott, Ullman, and Hughes, with promises. Giuliano Della Rovere thenceforth took the name of his fourth century predecessor, Julius I, indeed, on the day of his election, he declared I will not live in the same rooms as the Borgias lived. He desecrated the Holy Church as none before and he usurped the papal power by the devils aid, and I forbid under the pain of excommunication anyone to speak or think of Borgia again. His name and memory must be forgotten and it must be crossed out of every document and memorial. All paintings made of the Borgias or for them must be covered over with black crepe, all the tombs of the Borgias must be opened and their bodies sent back to where they belong—to Spain. The Borgias apartments remained sealed until the 19th Century, the combination was, however, at first little more than nominal, and was not immediately effective in compelling the Venetians to deliver up more than a few unimportant places in the Romagna. With a campaign in 1506, he led an army to Perugia and Bologna. The refusal of Pope Clement VII to grant the annulment led to the English Reformation, the same year, he founded the Swiss Guard to provide a constant corps of soldiers to protect the Pope. On Palm Sunday,1507, Julius II entered Rome, both as a second Julius Caesar, heir to the majesty of Romes imperial glory, and in the likeness of Christ, whose vicar the pope was, and who in that capacity governed the universal Roman Church. Julius, who modelled himself after his namesake Caesar, would lead his army across the Italian peninsula under the imperial war-cry
36.
Sistine Chapel ceiling
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The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance art. The ceiling is that of the Sistine Chapel, the papal chapel built within the Vatican between 1477 and 1480 by Pope Sixtus IV, for whom the chapel is named. It was painted at the commission of Pope Julius II, the chapel is the location for papal conclaves and many important services. Pope Julius II was a pope who in his papacy undertook an aggressive campaign for political control, to unite. He invested in symbolism to display his power, such as his procession, in the Classical manner. It was Julius who began the rebuilding of St. Peters Basilica in 1506, in the same year 1506, Pope Julius conceived a program to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The walls of the chapel had been decorated twenty years earlier, the lowest of three levels is painted to resemble draped hangings and was hung on special occasions with the set of tapestries designed by Raphael. The middle level contains a scheme of frescoes illustrating the Life of Christ on the right side. It was carried out by some of the most renowned Renaissance painters, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Perugino, Pinturicchio, Signorelli, the upper level of the walls contains the windows, between which are painted pairs of illusionistic niches with representations of the first thirty-two popes. A draft by Matteo dAmelia indicates that the ceiling was painted blue like that of the Arena Chapel and decorated with gold stars, Michelangelo, who was not primarily a painter but a sculptor, was reluctant to take on the work. Also, he was occupied with a large sculptural commission for the popes own tomb. The pope was adamant, leaving Michelangelo no choice but to accept, but a war with the French broke out, diverting the attention of the pope, and Michelangelo fled from Rome to continue sculpting. The tomb sculptures, however, were never to be finished because in 1508 the pope returned to Rome victorious, the contract was signed on 10 May 1508. The scheme proposed by the pope was for large figures of the Apostles to occupy the pendentives. However, Michelangelo negotiated for a grander, much more complex scheme and was permitted, in his own words. It is unknown and is the subject of speculation among art historians whether Michelangelo was really able to do as he liked. It has been suggested that the Augustinian friar and cardinal, Giles of Viterbo, was a consultant for the aspect of the work. Many writers consider that Michelangelo had the intellect, the Biblical knowledge, a total of 343 figures were painted on the ceiling
37.
Fresco
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Fresco is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly-laid, or wet lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the fresco technique has been employed since antiquity and is closely associated with Italian Renaissance painting. Buon fresco pigment mixed with water of temperature on a thin layer of wet, fresh plaster, for which the Italian word for plaster. Because of the makeup of the plaster, a binder is not required, as the pigment mixed solely with the water will sink into the intonaco. The pigment is absorbed by the wet plaster, after a number of hours, many artists sketched their compositions on this underlayer, which would never be seen, in a red pigment called sinopia, a name also used to refer to these under-paintings. Later, new techniques for transferring paper drawings to the wall were developed. The main lines of a drawing made on paper were pricked over with a point, the paper held against the wall, if the painting was to be done over an existing fresco, the surface would be roughened to provide better adhesion. This area is called the giornata, and the different day stages can usually be seen in a large fresco, buon frescoes are difficult to create because of the deadline associated with the drying plaster. Once a giornata is dried, no more buon fresco can be done, if mistakes have been made, it may also be necessary to remove the whole intonaco for that area—or to change them later, a secco. An indispensable component of this process is the carbonatation of the lime, the eyes of the people of the School of Athens are sunken-in using this technique which causes the eyes to seem deeper and more pensive. Michelangelo used this technique as part of his trademark outlining of his central figures within his frescoes, in a wall-sized fresco, there may be ten to twenty or even more giornate, or separate areas of plaster. After five centuries, the giornate, which were nearly invisible, have sometimes become visible, and in many large-scale frescoes. Additionally, the border between giornate was often covered by an a secco painting, which has fallen off. One of the first painters in the period to use this technique was the Isaac Master in the Upper Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi. A person who creates fresco is called a frescoist, a secco or fresco-secco painting is done on dry plaster. The pigments thus require a medium, such as egg. Blue was a problem, and skies and blue robes were often added a secco, because neither azurite blue nor lapis lazuli. By the end of the century this had largely displaced buon fresco
38.
Renaissance art
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Renaissance art, with Renaissance Humanist philosophy, spread throughout Europe, affecting both artists and their patrons with the development of new techniques and new artistic sensibilities. Renaissance art marks the transition of Europe from the period to the Early Modern age. In many parts of Europe, Early Renaissance art was created in parallel with Late Medieval art, the following list presents a summary, dealt with more fully in the main articles that are cited above. Classical texts, lost to European scholars for centuries, became available and these included Philosophy, Prose, Poetry, Drama, Science, a thesis on the Arts and Early Christian Theology. Simultaneously, Europe gained access to advanced mathematics which had its provenance in the works of Islamic scholars, the advent of movable type printing in the 15th century meant that ideas could be disseminated easily, and an increasing number of books were written for a broad public. The establishment of the Medici Bank and the subsequent trade it generated brought unprecedented wealth to a single Italian city, cosimo de Medici set a new standard for patronage of the arts, not associated with the church or monarchy. Humanist philosophy meant that mans relationship with humanity, the universe, a revived interest in the Classics brought about the first archaeological study of Roman remains by the architect Brunelleschi and sculptor Donatello. A similar heritage of artistic achievement occurred in Venice through the talented Bellini family, their influential inlaw Mantegna, Giorgione, Titian, the publication of two treatises by Leone Battista Alberti, De Pitura,1435, and De re aedificatoria,1452. Their masterpieces are the pulpits of the Baptistery and Cathedral of Pisa, the painters of the Low Countries at this period included Jan van Eyck, his brother Hubert van Eyck, Robert Campin, Hans Memling, Rogier van der Weyden and Hugo van der Goes. Their painting developed independently of Early Italian Renaissance painting, and without the influence of a deliberate, the style of painting grew directly out of the Medieval arts of tempera painting, stained glass and book illumination. The media used was oil paint, which had long been utilised for painting leather ceremonial shields and accoutrements, because it was flexible, the earliest Netherlandish oil paintings are meticulous and detailed like tempera paintings. The material lent itself to the depiction of variations and texture. The Netherlandish painters did not approach the creation of a picture through a framework of linear perspective and they maintained a Medieval view of hierarchical proportion and religious symbolism, while delighting in a realistic treatment of material elements, both natural and man-made. Jan van Eyck, with his brother Hubert painted The Altarpiece of the Mystical Lamb and it is probable that Antonello da Messina became familiar with Van Eycks work, while in Naples or Sicily. His studies of perspective are thought to have influenced the painter Masaccio, the contemporary of Donatello, Masaccio, was the painterly descendant of Giotto, furthering the trend towards solidity of form and naturalism of face and gesture that he had begun a century earlier. Masaccios developments were carried forward in the paintings of Fra Angelico, the treatment of the elements of perspective and light in painting was of particular concern to 15th-century Florentine painters. Uccello was so obsessed with trying to achieve an appearance of perspective that, according to Vasari and his solutions can be seen in his masterpiece, the Battle of San Romano. In Naples, the painter Antonello da Messina began using oil paints for portraits and religious paintings at a date that preceded other Italian painters and he carried this technique north and influenced the painters of Venice
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Michelangelo
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Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. Considered to be the greatest living artist during his lifetime, he has since described as one of the greatest artists of all time. A number of Michelangelos works of painting, sculpture, and architecture rank among the most famous in existence and he sculpted two of his best-known works, the Pietà and David, before the age of thirty. As an architect, Michelangelo pioneered the Mannerist style at the Laurentian Library, at the age of 74, he succeeded Antonio da Sangallo the Younger as the architect of St. Peters Basilica. Michelangelo transformed the plan so that the end was finished to his design, as was the dome, with some modification. Michelangelo was unique as the first Western artist whose biography was published while he was alive, in his lifetime he was often called Il Divino. One of the qualities most admired by his contemporaries was his terribilità, the attempts by subsequent artists to imitate Michelangelos impassioned and highly personal style resulted in Mannerism, the next major movement in Western art after the High Renaissance. Michelangelo was born on 6 March 1475 in Caprese near Arezzo, at the time of Michelangelos birth, his father was the Judicial administrator of the small town of Caprese and local administrator of Chiusi. Michelangelos mother was Francesca di Neri del Miniato di Siena, the Buonarrotis claimed to descend from the Countess Mathilde of Canossa, this claim remains unproven, but Michelangelo himself believed it. Several months after Michelangelos birth, the returned to Florence. There Michelangelo gained his love for marble, as Giorgio Vasari quotes him, If there is good in me. Along with the milk of my nurse I received the knack of handling chisel and hammer, as a young boy, Michelangelo was sent to Florence to study grammar under the Humanist Francesco da Urbino. The young artist, however, showed no interest in his schooling, preferring to copy paintings from churches, the city of Florence was at that time the greatest centre of the arts and learning in Italy. Art was sponsored by the Signoria, by the merchant guilds and by patrons such as the Medici. The Renaissance, a renewal of Classical scholarship and the arts, had its first flowering in Florence, the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti had laboured for fifty years to create the bronze doors of the Baptistry, which Michelangelo was to describe as The Gates of Paradise. The exterior niches of the Church of Orsanmichele contained a gallery of works by the most acclaimed sculptors of Florence – Donatello, Ghiberti, Andrea del Verrocchio, and Nanni di Banco. The interiors of the churches were covered with frescos, begun by Giotto. During Michelangelos childhood, a team of painters had been called from Florence to the Vatican, among them was Domenico Ghirlandaio, a master in fresco painting, perspective, figure drawing, and portraiture who had the largest workshop in Florence at that period
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Sandro Botticelli
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Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, known as Sandro Botticelli, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticellis posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th century, since then, among Botticellis best-known works are The Birth of Venus and Primavera. Botticelli was born in the city of Florence in a house in the Via Nuova, BorgOgnissanti, Vasari reported that Botticelli was initially trained as a goldsmith by his brother Antonio. By 1462 he was apprenticed to Fra Filippo Lippi, many of his works have been attributed to the elder master. Influenced also by the monumentality of Masaccios painting, it was from Lippi that Botticelli learned a more intimate, by 1470, Botticelli had his own workshop. The Adoration of the Magi for Santa Maria Novella, contains the portraits of Cosimo de Medici, his sons Piero and Giovanni, the quality of the scene was hailed by Vasari as one of Botticellis pinnacles. In 1481, Pope Sixtus IV summoned Botticelli and other prominent Florentine, the iconological program was the supremacy of the Papacy. Sandros contribution included the Temptations of Christ, the Punishment of the Rebels, thus Vasari characterized the first printed Dante with Botticellis decorations, he could not imagine that the new art of printing might occupy an artist. Recent scholarship suggests otherwise, the Primavera was painted for Lorenzos townhouse in Florence, by 1499, both had been installed at Castello. In these works, the influence of Gothic realism is tempered by Botticellis study of the antique, but if the painterly means may be understood, the subjects themselves remain fascinating for their ambiguity. The complex meanings of these continue to receive widespread scholarly attention, mainly focusing on the poetry. The works do not illustrate particular texts, rather, each relies upon several texts for its significance, of their beauty, characterized by Vasari as exemplifying grace and by John Ruskin as possessing linear rhythm, there can be no doubt. The pictures feature Botticellis linear style emphasized by the soft continual contours, in 1491 he served on a committee to decide upon a façade for the Cathedral of Florence. For this reason, persisting in his attachment to that party, Botticelli biographer Ernst Steinmann searched for the artists psychological development through his Madonnas. In the deepening of insight and expression in the rendering of Marys physiognomy, Botticelli was already little employed in 1502. In 1504 he was a member of the appointed to decide where Michelangelos David would be placed. After his death, his reputation was eclipsed longer and more thoroughly than that of any other major European artist and his paintings remained in the churches and villas for which they had been created and his frescoes in the Sistine Chapel were upstaged by those of Michelangelo. The English collector William Young Ottley, however, had brought Botticellis The Mystical Nativity to London with him in 1799 after buying it in Italy, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood incorporated elements of his work into their own
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Pietro Perugino
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Pietro Perugino, born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pupil, Pietro Perugino was born Pietro Vannucci in Città della Pieve, Umbria, the son of Cristoforo Marie Vannucci. Pietros nickname characterizes him as from Perugia, the city of Umbria. Scholars continue to dispute the status of the Vannucci family. While certain academics maintain that Vannucci worked his way out of poverty and his exact date of birth is not known, although, based on his age at the death mentioned by Vasari and Giovanni Santi, he is suspected to be born between 1446 and 1452. Pietro most likely began studying painting in local workshops in Perugia such as those of Bartolomeo Caporali or Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, the date of this first Florentine sojourn is unknown, some make it as early as 1466/1470, others push the date to 1479. According to Vasari, he apprenticed in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio alongside Leonardo da Vinci, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Lorenzo di Credi, Filippino Lippi, piero della Francesca is thought to have taught him perspective form. In 1472 he must have completed his apprenticeship, for he was enrolled as a master in the Confraternity of St Luke, Pietro, although very talented was not extremely enthusiastic about his work. Perugino was one of the earliest Italian practitioners of oil painting, a good specimen of his early style in tempera is the tondo in the Musée du Louvre of the Virgin and Child Enthroned between Saints. Perugino returned from Florence to Perugia, where his Florentine training showed in the Adoration of the Magi for the church of Santa Maria dei Servi of Perugia, in about 1480, he was called to Rome by Sixtus IV to paint fresco panels for the Sistine Chapel walls. The frescoes he executed there included Moses and Zipporah, the Baptism of Christ, pinturicchio accompanied Perugino to Rome, and was made his partner, receiving a third of the profits. He may have some of the Zipporah subject. The Sistine frescoes were the major high Renaissance commission in Rome, the altar wall was also painted with the Assumption, the Nativity, and Moses in the Bulrushes. He had a studio in Florence, and received a great number of commissions. His Pietà in the Uffizi is an uncharacteristically stark work that avoids Peruginos sometimes too easy sentimental piety, in 1499 the guild of the cambio of Perugia asked him to decorate their audience-hall, the Sala delle Udienze del Collegio del Cambio. The humanist Francesco Maturanzio acted as his consultant, on the mid-pilaster of the hall Perugino placed his own portrait in bust-form. It is probable that Raphael, who in boyhood, towards 1496, had been placed by his uncles under the tuition of Perugino, Perugino was made one of the priors of Perugia in 1501. On one occasion Michelangelo told Perugino to his face that he was a bungler in art, Vannucci brought an action for defamation of character, unsuccessfully
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Pinturicchio
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Pintoricchio or Pinturicchio whose formal name was Bernardino di Betto, also known as Benetto di Biagio or Sordicchio, was an Italian painter of the Renaissance. Born in Perugia in 1454 and dying in Siena in 1513, Pintoricchio acquired his nickname, meaning and he also used it to sign some of his 14th and 15th century artworks. Pinturicchio was born the son of Benedetto or Betto di Blagio, in his career, he may have trained under lesser known Perugian painters such as Bonfigli and Fiorenzo di Lorenzo. According to Vasari, Pinturicchio was an assistant of Perugino. The works of the Perugian Renaissance school are very similar, and paintings by Perugino, Pinturicchio, Lo Spagna, the Sistine Chapel was also where it is believed that Pinturicchio was collaborating with Perugino to some extent. Would be, if it had left with all its original decorations. A great deal still remains, but much has been swept away, the earliest of his works is an altarpiece of the Adoration of the Shepherds, in the Della Rovere Chapel, the first chapel on the south, built by Cardinal Domenico della Rovere. The old fresco of the Virgin and the Child by Pinturicchio was detached from the wall, the fragment was re-used as the altarpiece of the Ducal Chapel of the Cathedral of Massa. The third chapel on the south is that of Girolamo Basso della Rovere, nephew of Pope Sixtus IV, and bishop of Recanati. The Basso Della Rovere Chapel contains an altarpiece of the Madonna enthroned between Four Saints, and on the east side a very nobly composed fresco of the Assumption of the Virgin. In the Costa Chapel, Pinturicchio or one of his helpers painted the Four Latin Doctors in the lunettes of the vault, most of these frescoes are considerably injured by moisture and have suffered little from restoration. In the centre is a panel of the Coronation of the Virgin. The spaces between them are filled by reclining figures of the Four Sibyls, on each pendentive is a figure of one of the Four Doctors enthroned under a niched canopy. No finer specimen of the decoration of a quadripartite vault can be seen anywhere. In 1492, Pinturicchio was summoned to Orvieto Cathedral and he was employed by Pope Alexander VI to decorate a recently completed suite of six rooms, the Borgia Apartments in the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican. These rooms now form part of the Vatican Library, and five still retain a series of Pinturicchio frescoes, the Umbrian painter worked in these rooms till around 1494, assisted by his pupils, and not without interruption. It was not until Pope Alexander VI died that Pinturicchio left Rome for Umbria, leaving much of the work in Rome to be completed by Michelangelo, Raphael, and company. His other chief frescoes in Rome, still existing in good condition, are in the Bufalini Chapel in the southwest sector of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli, probably executed around 1484-1486
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Domenico Ghirlandaio
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Domenico Ghirlandaio was an Italian Renaissance painter born in Florence. Ghirlandaio was part of the third generation of the Florentine Renaissance, along with Verrocchio. Many apprentices passed through Ghirlandaios workshop, including the famous Michelangelo, Ghirlandaio was born Domenico di Tommaso di Currado di Doffo Bigordi. Tommaso had two children by his second wife, also named Antonia, whom he married in 1464. Domenicos half-sister Alessandra married the painter Bastiano Mainardi in 1494, both Ghirlandaios father and his uncle, Antonio, were setaiuolo a minuto. Giorgio Vasari reported that Domenico was at first apprenticed to his father, the nickname Il Ghirlandaio came to Domenico from his father, who was famed for creating the metallic garland-like headdresses worn by Florentine women. He was eventually apprenticed to Alesso Baldovinetti to study painting and mosaic, according to the art historian Günter Passavent, he was apprenticed in Florence to Andrea del Verrocchio. He maintained an association with other Florentine painters including Botticelli. Ghirlandaio excelled in the painting of frescos and it is for his fresco cycles that he is best known, an early commission came to him in the 1470s from the Commune of San Gimignano to decorate the Chapel of Santa Fina in the Collegiate Church of that city. The frescos, executed from 1477 to 1478, depict two miraculous events associated with the death of Saint Fina, in 1480, Ghirlandaio painted St. Jerome in His Study as a companion piece to Saint Augustine in His Study by Botticelli in the Church of Ognissanti, Florence. He also painted a life-sized Last Supper in its refectory, from 1481 to 1485, he was employed on frescoes at the Palazzo Vecchio, painting among other works an Apotheosis of St. Ghirlandaio painted the Vocation of the Apostles. He also painted the now lost Resurrection of Christ, the Crossing of the Red Sea has also been attributed to him, but is consistent with the style of Cosimo Roselli who was also part of the commission. Ghirlandaio is known to have created works in Rome, now lost. The first of these paintings contains portraits of Lorenzo de Medici, Sassetti and Lorenzos children with their tutor, the Resuscitation shows the painters own likeness. In 1483, there arrived in Florence a masterpiece of the Flemish painter Hugo van der Goes, now known as the Portinari Altarpiece, it was an Adoration of the Shepherds, commissioned by Tommaso Portinari, an employee of the Medici Bank. The painting was in oil paint, not the tempera employed in Florence, the aspect of the painting that had a profound effect on Ghirlandaio was the naturalism with which the shepherds were depicted. Ghirlandaio painted the altarpiece of the Sassetti chapel, an Adoration of the Shepherds and it is in this painting that he particularly shows his indebtedness to the Portinari Altarpiece. The shepherds, among whom is a portrait of the artist himself, are portrayed with a realism that was an advance in Florentine painting at that time, the altarpiece is still in position in Santa Trinita, surrounded by the frescos of which it was the centrepiece
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Papal conclave
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A papal conclave is a meeting of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a new Bishop of Rome, also known as the Pope. The pope is considered by Roman Catholics to be the successor of Saint Peter. The conclave has been the procedure for choosing the pope for almost a thousand years, conclaves are now held in the Sistine Chapel of the Apostolic Palace. Since the Apostolic Age, the Bishop of Rome, like other bishops, was chosen by the consensus of the clergy, the body of electors was more precisely defined when, in 1059, the College of Cardinals was designated the sole body of electors. Since then, other details of the process have developed, in 1970, Pope Paul VI limited the electors to cardinals under 80 years of age. A two-thirds supermajority vote is required to elect the new pope, the procedures relating to the election of the pope have undergone almost two millennia of development. As the Christian communities became established they started to elect bishops, chosen by the clergy and laity of the community with the assistance of the bishops of neighbouring dioceses. St. Cyprian says that Pope Cornelius was chosen Bishop of Rome by the decree of God and of His Church, by the testimony of all the clergy, by the college of aged bishops. As was true for bishops of dioceses, the clergy of the Diocese of Rome was the electoral body for the Bishop of Rome. Instead of casting votes, the bishop was selected by consensus or by acclamation. The candidate would then be submitted to the people for their approval or disapproval. This lack of precision in the election procedures occasionally gave rise to rival popes or antipopes. The right of the laity to refuse the person elected was abolished by a Synod held in the Lateran in 769, the pope was also subjected to oaths of loyalty to the Holy Roman Emperor, whose task it was to provide security and public peace in Rome. The cardinal bishops were to meet first and discuss the candidates before summoning the cardinal priests, through much of the Middle Ages and Renaissance there were a small number of cardinals, down to as few as seven under either Pope Alexander IV or Pope John XXI. Difficult travel further reduced the number arriving at the conclave, with a small electorate an individual vote was significant, and was not easily shaken from familial or political lines. Conclaves could last months and even years, lengthy elections resumed and continued to be the norm until 1294, when a Benedictine hermit was elected Pope Celestine V. Celestine reinstated the strict conclave, but soon resigned the papacy. Beginning with Pope John XXIIIs attempts to broaden the representation of nations in the College of Cardinals, though this remains the theoretical limit, John Paul II exceeded this for short periods of time with knowledge of impending retirements. Originally, lay status did not bar election to the Bishop of Rome, Bishops of dioceses were sometimes elected while still catechumens, such as the case of St. Ambrose
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College of Cardinals
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The College of Cardinals, formerly styled Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. A function of the college is to advise the pope about church matters when he summons them to an ordinary consistory and it also attends various functions as a matter of protocol, for example, during the canonization process. Historically, cardinals were the clergy serving parishes of the city of Rome under its bishop, the College acquired particular importance following the crowning of Henry IV as King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor at the age of six, after the unexpected death of Henry III in 1056. This was significant as the aims and views of the Holy Roman Emperor, churchmen involved in what has become known as the Gregorian Reform took advantage of the new kings lack of power and in 1059 reserved the election of the pope to the clergy of the Church in Rome. Reserving to the cardinals the election of the pope represented a significant shift in the balance of power in the Early Medieval world. From the beginning of the 12th century, the College of Cardinals started to meet as such, in the Catholic church, the Dean of the College of Cardinals and the Cardinal Vice-Dean are the president and vice-president of the college. Both are elected by and from the six Cardinal-bishops, but the election requires Papal confirmation, except for presiding and delegating administrative tasks, they have no authority over the cardinals, acting as primus inter pares. The Fundamental Law of Vatican City State requires that appointees to the legislative body. The word cardinal is derived from the Latin cardo, meaning hinge, the office of cardinal as it is known today slowly evolved during the first millennium from the clergy of Rome. In 845 the Council of Meaux required Bishops to establish Cardinal titles or parishes in their towns and those who were assigned to the latter roles were given the titles of Legatus a latere and Missus Specialis. During the pontificate of Stephen V, the three classes of the College that are present today began to form, Stephen decreed that all cardinal-bishops were bound to sing Mass on rotation at the high altar at St. Peters Basilica, one per Sunday. The first class to form was that of the cardinal-deacons, direct descendants of the original seven ordained in Acts 6, followed by the cardinal-priests, and finally. The College played a part in various reforms within the Church as well. In the 12th century, the Third Lateran Council declared that only Cardinals could assume the papacy, in 1130, under Urban II, all the classes were permitted to take part in papal elections, up to this point, only cardinal-bishops had this role. By the end of the 14th century, the practice of solely Italian cardinals had ceased, between the 14th century and 17th century, there was much struggle for the College between the cardinals of the day and the reigning popes. The most effective way for a pope to increase his power was to increase the number of cardinals and those cardinals in power saw these actions as an attempt to weaken their influence. In 1517, Pope Leo X added another thirty-one cardinals, bringing the total to sixty-five so that he could have a majority in the College of Cardinals. Paul IV brought the total to seventy, Pope Pius IV raised an additional six
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Raphael
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Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, known as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period. Raphael was enormously productive, running a large workshop and, despite his death at 37. Many of his works are found in the Vatican Palace, where the frescoed Raphael Rooms were the central, the best known work is The School of Athens in the Vatican Stanza della Segnatura. After his early years in Rome much of his work was executed by his workshop from his drawings and he was extremely influential in his lifetime, though outside Rome his work was mostly known from his collaborative printmaking. Raphael was born in the small but artistically significant central Italian city of Urbino in the Marche region and his poem to Federico shows him as keen to show awareness of the most advanced North Italian painters, and Early Netherlandish artists as well. In the very court of Urbino he was probably more integrated into the central circle of the ruling family than most court painters. Under them, the court continued as a centre for literary culture, growing up in the circle of this small court gave Raphael the excellent manners and social skills stressed by Vasari. Castiglione moved to Urbino in 1504, when Raphael was no longer based there but frequently visited, Raphael mixed easily in the highest circles throughout his life, one of the factors that tended to give a misleading impression of effortlessness to his career. He did not receive a humanistic education however, it is unclear how easily he read Latin. His mother Màgia died in 1491 when Raphael was eight, followed on August 1,1494 by his father, Raphael was thus orphaned at eleven, his formal guardian became his only paternal uncle Bartolomeo, a priest, who subsequently engaged in litigation with his stepmother. He probably continued to live with his stepmother when not staying as an apprentice with a master and he had already shown talent, according to Vasari, who says that Raphael had been a great help to his father. A self-portrait drawing from his teenage years shows his precocity and his fathers workshop continued and, probably together with his stepmother, Raphael evidently played a part in managing it from a very early age. In Urbino, he came into contact with the works of Paolo Uccello, previously the court painter, and Luca Signorelli, according to Vasari, his father placed him in the workshop of the Umbrian master Pietro Perugino as an apprentice despite the tears of his mother. The evidence of an apprenticeship comes only from Vasari and another source, an alternative theory is that he received at least some training from Timoteo Viti, who acted as court painter in Urbino from 1495. An excess of resin in the varnish often causes cracking of areas of paint in the works of both masters, the Perugino workshop was active in both Perugia and Florence, perhaps maintaining two permanent branches. Raphael is described as a master, that is to say fully trained and his first documented work was the Baronci altarpiece for the church of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino in Città di Castello, a town halfway between Perugia and Urbino. Evangelista da Pian di Meleto, who had worked for his father, was named in the commission
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Urbino
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The town, nestled on a high sloping hillside, retains much of its picturesque medieval aspect, an illusion only slightly broken by the large car parks below the town. It hosts the University of Urbino, founded in 1506, and is the seat of the Archbishop of Urbino and its best-known architectural piece is the Palazzo Ducale, rebuilt by Luciano Laurana. The city is located in a hilly area, at the foothills of the Northern Apennines. The city is in the area of Montefeltro, an area classified as medium-high seismic risk. In the database of earthquakes developed by the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology and they include 24 April 1741, when the shocks were stronger than VIII on the Mercalli intensity scale, with an epicenter in Fabriano. Though Pepin the Short presented Urbino to the Papacy in 754–56, independent traditions were expressed in its commune, until, around 1200, eventually, though, the Montefeltro noblemen took control once more, and held it until 1508. The most famous member of the Montefeltro family, Federico da Montefeltro, federicos brilliant court, according to the descriptions in Baldassare Castigliones Il Cortegiano, set standards of what would characterize a modern European gentleman for centuries to come. Cesare Borgia dispossessed Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, and Elisabetta Gonzaga in 1502, with the complicity of his father, Pope Alexander VI. They moved in 1523 the court in the city of Pesaro, the state was ruled since then by a papal legate, generally belonging to high ecclesiastical hierarchy. These works went on to form the core of the future Uffizi Gallery, among the works that went to Florence is the diptych of the Dukes of Urbino by Piero della Francesca. Other works of the Ducal Palace were brought to Rome, such as the Barberini Ex Tables of Fra Carnevale, the eighteenth century opened with the election to the papacy of Cardinal Giovan Francesco Albani Urbino, under the name of Clement XI. This was a windfall for the city and was its last great era, especially in terms of arts and culture, thanks to funding by Pope Albani and his family. In addition, due to the patronage of the Pope and of his family and this new age of splendor for the city ended with the death of Clement XI in 1721, placing the city in a long decline that has continued to the present day. After the Popes death, the Albani family remained the patron of the most significant works until the first half of the nineteenth century. In 1789, the collapse of the Cathedral dome following an earthquake led to the total renovation of the church. Between 1797 and 1800 the city was occupied by French troops, like much of northern and this event was a further cause of the impoverished local artistic heritage, already tried by the loss of the works following the devolution of the duchy in the seventeenth century. Sergius, now occupied by the Hotel Raffaello. This resulted in a new layout with the large spit of land below the Doges Palace incorporated into the city
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