Santissima Trinità degli Spagnuoli, Rome

Posted by MadScientist (Düsseldorf, Germany) on 15 June 2008 in Architecture.

There are churches that are totally overwhelming. Others make you believe you're already in (a bavarian version of) heaven. Others let you witness the salvific history. And when the splendor is just too much but you urgently need a place of peace and calmness, you may go to this church. Santissima Trinità degli Spagnuoli is a very small, built for the Spanish Trinitarian friars in the middle of the 18th century, and it's quite like a living room, not far away from S. Carlo but completely different. This small house of God is pure contemplation, an intimate place for just a few people and far away enough from the hubbub.

Such a place would habe been ideal for me today, because there were as many as three major events in my city today and there were perceived 5 million people running through the streets.

Comments (7)

MaryB from Staffordshire, United Kingdom

A sanctuary indeed. A very beautiful chuch.
I hope you are sucessful in avoiding the crowds today MS.

15 Jun 2008 5:09am

@MaryB: Unfortunately not ;-(
Did my shopping, tripped over myriads of party people and reached my home with with pain and misery. (Okay, maybe I'm over-egging the pudding here... ;-)

Jen from Alpharetta, United States

Lovely!

15 Jun 2008 8:31am

@Jen: Thanks :)

Observing from Chester, United Kingdom

Lovely shot, and the lighting is great on this image, almost like an oil painting.

15 Jun 2008 11:37am

@Observing: Thank you! The light was very bad, as I was visiting this place in the evening. I had to do some colour correction here, the original photo was way too yellow :)

JoeB from Brampton, Canada

Doesn't seem so small, seems grand in view and detail.

15 Jun 2008 7:22pm

@JoeB: Would it be the only church in a small town you would be right, but amongst all the other Baroque giants this one was quite tiny :)

Japanalia from Yokohama, Japan

I went to all the links you offered in the presentation, so...in comparison with other grandly designed churches......this one might look like "a living room", but still a most imposing one! The light falls beautifully on the decorated altar, but it is hiding the great paintings on the walls....we can only imagine their gorgeous subjects.

15 Jun 2008 7:50pm

@Japanalia: I was there in the evening and there were just a few lights, exposing just the central area. The 'living room' impression was given by that sparing light, the fact that my wife and me were the only visitors and that this relatively small church can be easily overlooked: it's part of a greater building block and has just a small facade.

Michael from Wuppertal, Germany

Indeed...overwhelming!

16 Jun 2008 1:08pm

@Michael: Och nöö, die hier nicht :) Das war ein ganz kleines, intimes Kirchlein inmitten eines Häuserblocks. Ich kann mich nicht mal an Fenster erinnern, ein paar Sitzreihen, etwas Kunst und der Altar in der Mitte schufen wirklich diese Art 'Wohnzimmer-Gefühl', die ich im Eintrag beschrieben habe.