The Fake Dome of The Church of St. Ignatius

One of Rome’s lesser-known attractions, the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola ( Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio di Loyola in Italian), lies just a block away from the Pantheon. This incredible 17th century baroque church has a towering façade that dominates the Piazza, and a lavishly decorated interior that’s considered one of the best in the entirety of Rome. The first thing most visitors do when they step inside this church dedicated to the founder of the Jesuit order is look up at the sumptuous frescoes that decorate the huge ceiling. The grandiose fresco painted by Andrea Pozzo depicts the triumph of St. Ignatius and the apostolic goals of Jesuit missionaries, eager to expand the reach of Roman Catholicism across the world. The ceiling appears to be a high and vaulted decorated with statues and populated with flying figures. In reality the roof is flat. Pozzo gave the ceiling an illusion of height using anamorphic techniques. A marble disk set into the middle of the nave floor marks the ideal spot from which observers might fully experience the illusion. The fake dome and vaulted ceiling of Church of St. Ignatius in Rome. Photo: Fabianodp/Shutterstock.com Further up on the floor of the nave, is another marker. Standing on this, an observer can see a beautiful, ribbed cupola that doesn't exist. Like the rest of the ceiling, the decorated dome too is an illusion, painted by Andrea Pozzo to hide the fact that the Jesuits could not afford to build a dome. The church was originally a simple chapel of the Roman College established by St. Ignatius in 1551, on land donated by Vittoria della Tolfa, an Italian noble women, to the Society of Jesus in memory of her late husband. Although the Jesuits got the marchesa's land, they did not have the money for building the church. Budgetary restraints compelled them to hire their own architect, and the Jesuit brothers themselves laboured in the construction of the church.