Santa Maria sopra Minerva

Basilica di Santa Maria sopra Minerva
Basilica of Saint Mary above Minerva (English) Basilica Sanctae Mariae supra Minervam (Latin)
Santa Maria sopra Minerva façade by Carlo Maderno
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41°53′53″N 12°28′42″E / 41.89806°N 12.47833°E / 41.89806; 12.47833
Location	Piazza della Minerva 42, Rome
Country	Italy
Denomination	Catholic
Website	santamariasopraminerva.it/en
History
Status	Minor basilica, titular church
Dedication	Mary, mother of Jesus
Consecrated	1370
Architecture
Architect(s)	Fra Sisto Fiorentino Fra Ristoro da Campi Carlo Maderno
Style	Gothic
Groundbreaking	1280 (1280)
Completed	1370
Specifications
Length	101 m (331 ft)
Width	41 m (135 ft)
Nave width	15 m (49 ft)
Administration
Province	Diocese of Rome
Clergy
Cardinal protector	António Marto

Santa Maria sopra Minerva is one of the major churches of the Order of Preachers (also known as the Dominicans) in Rome, Italy. The church's name derives from the fact that the first Christian church structure on the site was built directly over (Italian: sopra) the ruins or foundations of a temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis, which had been erroneously ascribed to the Greco-Roman goddess Minerva^[1] (possibly due to interpretatio romana).

The church is located in Piazza della Minerva one block east the Pantheon in the Pigna rione of Rome within the ancient district known as the Campus Martius. The present church and disposition of surrounding structures is visible in a detail from the Nolli Map of 1748.

While many other medieval churches in Rome have been given Baroque makeovers that cover Gothic structures, the Minerva is the only extant example of original Gothic architecture church building in Rome. Behind a restrained Renaissance style façade^[2] the Gothic interior features arched vaulting that was painted blue with gilded stars and trimmed with brilliant red ribbing in a 19th-century Neo-Gothic restoration.

The church and adjoining convent served at various times throughout its history as the Dominican Order's headquarters. Today the headquarters have been re-established in their original location at the Roman convent of Santa Sabina. The titulus of Sanctae Mariae supra Minervam was conferred upon Cardinal António Marto, on 28 June 2018.