Chiesa di Santa Maria Liberatrice a Testaccio
Address
Contacts
Opening times
For the timetable of the masses and visiting conditions, please consult the contacts.
Description
Its construction dates back to the early 1900s (1906-1908): Pope Pius X entrusted the construction of the parish church first to the Benedictines and then definitively to the Salesians, who were already working in the neighbourhood.
The Pope wanted this new church to be particularly linked to the memory of the Roman population, and therefore gave it the title of Santa Maria Liberatrice, which had belonged to the church of the same name built in the 13th century on the ruins of Santa Maria Antiqua al Foro and renovated by Honorius Longhi in 1617. He also gave her the venerated image "Sancta Maria libera nos a poenis inferni".
The history of the church is summed up by this inscription inside: "This church perpetuates the cult of St Mary Liberator, inheriting the title and icons of the demolished church of the same name, which from the 16th century to the year MDCCCXCIX held the place and guarded the memories of Santa Maria Antiqua, the first sanctuary of the Mother of God in the world".
The Romanesque style church, built in brick and travertine, was designed by Turin architect Mario Ceradini: the imposing façade is divided into three round-arched portals with travertine slabs.
The central section is adorned in the upper part by two large marble circles with mosaics surmounting the coats of arms of Pius X, and a polyphora window. The upper mosaic represents the Crucifixion, with Christ clothed and with his eyes open, Mary Magdalene and St John; behind them are two soldiers, one with a sponge and the other with a lance. The lower mosaic, reconstructed in 1924, depicts the Madonna between Saints Peter and Paul; palms and symbolic rivers adorn the representations.
The interior of the church is divided into three naves; the floor of the nave is decorated with a black and white mosaic with fragments of marble depicting geometric elements and zodiac symbols.
Between 1956 and 1964, Luciano Bartoli created the apsidal fresco depicting the Trinity and the Incarnation, the works of mercy, and the stained glass windows on the façade and in the aisles depicting the saints.