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Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome

Basilica, Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. This was not on our list to see in Rome. Santa Maria sopra Minerva is just behind or next to the great Pantheon. Yet glad we came across this Gothic style church, the only such styled church left in Rome today. It, like many Catholic churches, is built on old temples from pagan days. Read more below, but for sure this is a church to check out. The symbols and general condition of the building and interior is amazing. Also, yet another obelisk, one of the 11 in Rome!

“Santa Maria sopra Minerva in English - Saint Mary above Minerva, Latin- Sancta Maria supra Minervam- is one of the major churches of the Roman Catholic Order of Preachers -better known as the Dominicans - at Rome, Italy. The church's name derives from the fact that the first Christian church structure on the site was built directly over - Latin- supra - the ruins or foundations of a temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis, which had been erroneously ascribed to the Greco-Roman goddess Minerva.”
Source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_M...

So they actually misnamed the church after Minerva, when it was really an old pagan site for Isis worshipers. Interesting.

More on the obelisk on an elephant of all things in front of the church, just a stones throw from the side of the amazing Pantheon, which we filmed here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--BX3...

“The Pulcino della Minerva, the famous elephant sculpture by Bernini and Ercole Ferrata, making the base of one of Rome's eleven Egyptian obelisks.” Source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_M...

Bernini was a master sculpture, the best of his time and came just after Michelangelo.

Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome

The Vatican and St. Peter's Square - outside during daylight. During our trip to Rome, we of course stopped by the Vatican. The crowds were huge at around 10am, so we came back at 4pm and then it was easier to get in. This video looks more at the outside of the Vatican on St. Peter's Square. The interesting circle symbol, centered with the huge Egyptian obelisk. "The Vatican Obelisk is the only obelisk in Rome that has not toppled since ancient Roman times."

More on St Peter's square - "Saint Peter's Square, in Italian - Piazza San Pietro and in Latin- Forum Sancti Petri, is a large plaza located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City, the papal enclave inside Rome, directly west of the neighbourhood or rione of Borgo.

At the centre of the square is an 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, which embrace visitors in "the maternal arms of Mother Church". A granite fountain constructed by Bernini in 1675 matches another fountain designed by Carlo Maderno in 1613." Source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_P...

The Vatican and St. Peter's Square