Most of Rome is Baroque and most facades of churches are Baroque. It can be said to be "in your face architecture". Another word for its beginnings is the counter reformation due to problems with the protestants. Baroque art and architecture showed the power and beauty of the Catholic faith. When you hear the word Baroque it is all about complex decoration. Lost of ornate stucco work, heavy gilding, twisted columns and colored marble.
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| Altar seen with the ornate marble |
This church was built by Pope Gregory XV in 1626 in honor of St. Ignacius of Loyola who was the founder of the society of the Jesuits. It's interior is huge with marble stucco, and almost seems theatrical. Right at the entrance you can see the letters of the Jesuits IHS or society of Jesus. A arm of a saint names Xavier is encased in a glass vial here. The frescoes on the ceiling are simply phenomenal and they show a scene of the church fighting heresy which was a big part of the Jesuit beliefs.
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| Ornate ceiling |
Present on the outside also on both sides of the doors are two figures whom are crushing the bodies of heretics with their feet. This church is the classic baroque with gold everywhere and dramatic scenes with many different types of marble.
- Andrea Pazzo painted a glorious baroque ceiling in 1685 here to celebrate St. Ignacius and the Jesuit order.
- Together with the Gesu, Saint Ignacius forms the center of the Jesuit area in Rome.
- A cupola was planned but never built, so the space it would have filled was covered by a fake perspective painting.
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