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The Church of Saint Yves at La Sapienza (Italian: Chiesa di Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza) is a Roman Catholic church in Rome. The church is considered a masterpiece of Roman Baroque church architecture, built in 1642-1660 by the architect Francesco Borromini.
The church started out, around the 14th century, as a chapel of the Palace of the University of Rome. The University is called La Sapienza, and the church is devoted to Saint Yves (patron saint of the jurists), giving the church its name. Borromini was forced to adapt his design to the already existing palace.The main artwork of the interior is the altarpiece by Pietro da Cortona, portraying St. Yves.
Interior :
The interior of Sant Ivo Della Sapienza is in one word unique because of the shapes incorporated into the rotunda. Francesco Borromini was well known for his fusing of geometrical shapes as well as his pairing of columns in order to facilitate curves, incorporating them in an almost harmonious manner in his previous project, “San Carlo alle Quatro Fontane” . In his later church project of Sant Ivo Della Sapienza however, Borromini did not blend the different shapes used in the making for the rotunda like he did with San Carlo.
The rotunda of Sant Ivo is contrived of distinct shapes, a triangle with its three angles cut as if bitten off, and semi-circles located in between the triangle’s three lines. Despite the shift from the smooth geometrical alignments of San Carlo to the sharper abrupt geometrical bends in Sant Ivo, both building still exhibit harmony between the sharp edges and the curves and spheres. As the photograph of the ceiling of the dome shows, Borromini utilized curves(semi-circles) and edges(clipped triangle tips) in equal amounts to define the shape of the rotunda.
This harmonious blending of edges and curves is arguably Borromini’s most distinguishable signature. Paying closer attention to detail, there are bigger windows associated with the round sections of the dome and smaller windows associated with the edgy sections. One of the edgy sections is where the entrance is located while the round section on the opposite end is where the altar is located. The two other round and edgy sections to the sides are identical in features .
The center hole in the dome is called the lantern, sunlight enters into the lantern providing a lighting effect to the dome. Francesco Borromini had a talisman with the shape of a flying bee portrayed at the roof of the lantern because the bee was the family coat of arms of Urban VIII who patronized the construction of Sant Ivo Della Sapienza. The aisles of arches surrounding the right and left wings of Sant Ivo are themselves not halted by the church. The space between the aisles’ arches and the aisles’ walls still continues and goes past the church’s sides and there is one lateral entrance to the church on each the left aisle and right aisle.
These hindered side entrances lead to hexagonal rooms(one on each side), and these hexagonal rooms are connected to the rotunda as well as the smaller façade windows. Behind the Altar to the rear of the cathedral lies two more hexagonal rooms with windows aligned on the back of the church. To the rear wings of the altar are the passages leading to the two separate hexagonal rear rooms. Borromini paid a lot of attention to detail in Sant Ivo Della Sapienza, the inside walls and dome of the rotunda is marked with many sculptures and motifs.
On each edgy and round section there are columns of stars leading up to an Angel’s face with wings. One close observable difference between the round segments and the edgy ones is that the round ones exhibit a motif of six eggs in a Pyramid formation with three crowns holding them together while the edgy segments exhibit a bouquet of Flowers held together by a single crown.
From the exterior, Sant Ivo Della Sapienza is a perfect example of baroque architecture1. The church is established at the end of the alley of buildings so that the façade of the building can be seen throughout the alleyway which suggests a decentralized planning on Borromini’s part. Baroque architecture was marked from a change in renaissance centralization to different orientations, shifting the buildings; such as churches, from the main stage to the background while maintaining similar importance in society.
In Sant Ivo Della Sapienza this is especially the case as it is very much hidden within the confines of its encapsulating alley. The courtyard, known as “the courtyard of Giacomo della Porta” leading to the entrance of Sant Ivo Della Sapienza is enclosed in the alley to which Sant Ivo is attached to at the end. Arguably, the courtyard and surrounding edifice framing San Ivo serve to create a separate dimension inside the alley where the towering dome above the façade of the church is the dominating focus point granting the building a form of captivating power via the focus the alley provides.
The façade of San Ivo Della Sapienza is concavely rounded away from the alley, molding the church into the alleyway as if completing it rather than disrupting it. The façade itself looks like a continuation of the alley arches except with the openings filled in with small windows, a door, and a larger glass window above the door. Above the façade is a large parapet structure which adds towards the effect of the almighty dome by hindering it just a little more so that only the higher stages of the church is seen past the façade.
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