The Santa Maria Immacolata e San Giovanni Berchmans Church is located in the central square of the San Lorenzo neighbourhood in Rome. Its most striking aspect is the bell tower, which resembles the one of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice.
Santa Maria Immacolata e San Giovanni Berchmans Church Rome
Address, opening hours and admission
Address: Via dei Sabelli – Rome. Phone: +39 06 4461979. Opening hours: Unknown. Entrance fee: free.
History and description
The Chiesa di Santa Maria Immacolata e San Giovanni Berchmans was commissioned by Pope Pius X between 1906 and 1909. The architect was Costantino Schneider.
Since Belgian Catholics had paid for much of its construction, the church was partially dedicated to their compatriot, the Jesuit Jan Berchmans, who had been canonized in 1888.
The fifty-meter tall bell tower was not added until 1929.
The church itself exhibits both neo-Romanesque and neo-Gothic features.
The interior decorations were added between 1946 and 1954 by the Italian painter Mario Prayer. “Triumph of the Virgin between Saints and Martyrs” in the apse is one of the highlights.
San Lorenzo is one of the few districts in Rome that were bombed during world war II. Several of the characters depicted in the central nave and the transept were copied from photographs of victims of these bombings.