Santa Maria in Aracoeli, or “Saint Mary in the Altar of the Sky,” is an incredibly important church that remains a major cultural, civic, and religious monument to this day. Situated on the Campidoglio, the governmental center of 13th and 14th century Rome, during the late middle ages the church served as the center of the city’s civic religion, with its notable owners, the Franciscans, having increased power. Its founding is traditionally attributed to Saint Helena, the emperor Constantine's mother. Her relics can be found at the church today, another piece of evidence for the site’s imperial and religious significance. The story goes that site was considered important as it was where Emperor Augustus first saw his vision of the Virgin Mary in her “Altar of the Sky.” By the 9th century, we know that the church was occupied by Benedictine monks; in 1248, Pope Innocent IV dismissed the Benedictines from the property and replaced them with the Franciscans, moving them from their unhealthy and far-off quarters in Trastevere to the heart of the city. The present structure of the church was built in the years following this relocation, as Franciscans had a lot of funding coming in from their ventures abroad. Some important bits of the site to check out include: The steps, made from Spoliated marble and dedicated to the icon of the Virgin Mary, which rests at the altar. Built in the middle of the 14th century under the rule of Cola di Rienzo, it was believed that the icon had protected the city from a plague. This icon was so important that Cola di Rienzo was said to have submitted himself to it at his coronation at the Campidoglio. It’s important to note that the possession of this icon put the Franciscans in a very powerful position in the religious landscape of medieval Rome. Also be sure to check out the facade, which remains simple, in the Franciscan style. Be sure to check out the two remaining rose windows as well. To the left of the altar, one can see where the relics of Saint Helena are housed. Beneath is the altar of the original Benedictine church, which one can still see through a panel of glass. Right nearby is the tomb of Cardinal Matteo d’Acquasparta, a very well preserved piece of late medieval tomb work. To the right of the altar is the old Savelli family chapel, called the chapel of St Francis. There you can see the tomb of Luca Savelli, the oldest known layman's tomb in Rome.
Bolgia, Claudia. "The Felici Icon Tabernacle (1372) at S. Maria in Aracoeli, Reconstructed : Lay Patronage, Sculpture and Marian Devotion in Trecento Rome." Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 68 (2005): 27-72. Bolgia, Claudia. "The So-Called Tribunal of Arnolfo Di Cambio at S. Maria in Aracoeli, Rome." The Burlington Magazine 143, no. 1185 (2001): 753-55. Noreen, Kirstin. "The High Altar of Santa Maria in Aracoeli : Recontextualizing a Medieval Icon in Post-tridentine Rome." Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 53 (2008): 99-128 Russo, Laura. Santa Maria in Aracoeli. Rome: Fundo di Edifici in Culto. Ministero dell’Interno, 2007 Gardner, Julian. The Tomb and the Tiara : Curial Tomb Sculpture in Rome and Avignon in the Later Middle Ages. Clarendon Studies in the History of Art. Oxford : New York: Clarendon Press ; Oxford University Press, 1992.
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