Day 31 - Churches

Looked at the map and spied an area I hadn't been to with a big church so I went for a looksy. There was actually a smaller one on the way and walking in was a little strange. There were steps that you could only ascend on your knees. At first it is a little bit comfronting seeing the 'faithful' doing this but I spied some other stairs to the side so took these instead.

Across the road was another giant church and they were also setting up for a mass. Something about some of these Roman churches that just comes across so sterile. It is like the Greeks knew how to make things artistic and Romans were just good builders - just make it bigger and better with stone and concrete.

In the afternoon I went to this other church that had an interesting blend of history. It was built in the 1st century as a pagan church, demolished in the 4th century and replaced with another church before being demolished and rebuilt again in the 12th century.

What was interesting, after tagging onto the back of a tour group, was the fresco (painting with plaster). It was actually the first one in Roman. In the 14th century, fresco was discovered as before this artworks on walls and rooves were all mosaics. Basically the pope at the time wanted Rome to have fresco. Local artists weren't interested in the new technique so he bought a couple of Artists from Florence (who were versed).

These artists were Massaccio and his master. His master had done this particular piece (which I'd never seen his work before) and you can really see the influence the style of the master had on the student. The student would outshine the master but was an interesting 'missing link' in the development of art in Rome that I hadn't come across before.