One of the creators of Roman Baroque, the great sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), builder of Saint Peter's Square, contemplated the decline of another emblematic monument of Rome: since the fourteenth century the Colosseum had been in a lamentabl

One of the creators of Roman Baroque, the great sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), builder of Saint Peter's Square, contemplated the decline of another emblematic monument of Rome: since the fourteenth century the Colosseum had been in a lamentable state, crumbling ever more. Despite its worldwide fame dating from the beginning of the Christian era, the symbol of the city looked more like a neglected ruin, which everyone put to whatever use suited him. The popes extracted building materials from the walls of the Colosseum for the construction of palaces and adapted its premises for domestic needs. Clement IX (1667-1669) began the production of saltpetre in the Colosseum!!! A few years after his death, Bernini conceived a monumental building scheme for the Colosseum.

The very idea of reconstructing the Colosseum had been in the air since the Middle Ages, but from the second half of the sixteenth century it began to be worked out more thoroughly. In particular, Sixtus V (1585-1590) intended to undertake commercial construction in the Colosseum. Bernini's idea, voiced almost a century later, was more closely tied to Christianity. According to the architect's conception, a church dedicated to the Christian martyrs, whose blood had also been shed within the walls of the Colosseum, was to be erected in the centre of the arena. The oval church with a portico was sketched by Bernini's pupil and friend Carlo Fontana (1638-1714). But the church was never built.

Benedict XIV (1740-1758) enlisted the architect Paolo Posi (1708-1776) to commemorate the martyrs who perished in the Colosseum; he set up a cross in the centre of the arena and 14 altars around it. The complex was dedicated to the Passion of Christ. At the end of the nineteenth century these structures would be removed from the Colosseum.