where: Via Vittorio Veneto, 27
getting there: metro linea A/Barberini
open: Monday - Saturday 7:00-13:00 & 15:00-18:00, Sunday 9:30-12:00 & 15:30-18:00
Santa Maria della Concezione, near the Piazza Barberini, was built in 1626 by Capuchin Cardinal Antonio Barberini, brother of Pope Urban VIII.
The church was dedicated – to God in Honour of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary – and belonged to the Franciscan order whose convent was next door.
Today the church is better known for the Crypt of the Cappuccini Friars, now a museum below the church. Through the museum entrance, at a cost €8.50 the crypt, displaying the bones of exhumed Capuchin monks fashioned into wall decorations, chandeliers (and even a clock face) some dressed in monks robes and positioned in the chapels, can be seen along with the history of the Capuchin friars and the painting of Saint Francis in Prayer attributed to Caravaggio.
The inside of the church is beautifully decorated with gilding, stucco and glossy woodwork.
The barrel vaulted ceiling, showing the
Assumption was decorated by Liborio Coccetti and dates to 1796. The ten chapels are closed off by original wooden gates.
In the first chapel on the right is the altarpiece of
Saint Michael the Archangel (1635) by
Guido Reni. On the side wall is
Christ Mocked by Gherardo delle Notti.
In the first chapel on the left is
Saint Paul Restores Vision (c.1631) by
Pietro da Cortona.
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