> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://theparnassian.com/en/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Bernini's Project for a Church in the Colosseum and the Memory of Martyrs
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/odin-iz-sozdatelei-rimskogo-barokko-velichaishii-skulptor-dzhovanni-bernini-1598-1680-postroivshii-ploshchad-sviatogo-petra-sozertsal-upadok-drugogo-znakovogo-pamiatnika-rima-s-xiv-veka/
- Published: 2025-08-21T05:35:02.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:37:59.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Architecture, Faith, Heritage, Rome

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 landmark of Rome: since the fourteenth century the Colosseum had been in a pitiable state, crumbling ever further. Despite its worldwide fame since the dawn of the era, the symbol of the city resembled rather a neglected ruin, which everyone put to whatever use he pleased. The popes extracted building materials from the walls of the Colosseum for the erection of palaces and adapted its chambers 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 project within 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 set on foot a commercial building venture in the Colosseum. Bernini's idea, voiced almost a century later, was more closely tied to Christianity. According to the architect's design, a church dedicated to the Christian martyrs, whose blood had also been shed within the walls of the Colosseum, was to be raised 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) engaged the architect Paolo Posi (1708-1776) to perpetuate the memory of the martyrs who perished in the Colosseum; he set up a cross in the centre of the arena and fourteen 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.