C for Church

In Rome there is no shortage of churches (over 900); therefore it had to be my 'c'. Around every corner there are lovely churches. Most churches are free and absolutely beautiful inside, so defiantly worth a look! Some people (including me) find it confusing that there are 'Basilica' and 'Chiesa': they are both churches.  The reason a church is called a 'Basilica' is because it has the original rectangle shape with a dome on one end, whereas a 'Chiesa' is any other shaped church (usually a cross shape). 

This afternoon, I focused on the centre on the city and visited quite a few churches, to try to decide which one was my favourite for this post. However, I couldn't. There are too many churches. All the churches were beautiful on the inside and were important in some way to the history of Rome.  Instead I will tell you about one which really stood out for me. 

The Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri looks very plain and simple from the outside: but when you enter it is a different story. The reason I like this church is due to the meridian line that runs through it. The line was added many hundreds of years after the church was built so truthfully I find it cuts the church at a very odd angle. The line was commissioned by the Pope so he could know when Easter would fall each year, to test the Gregorian Reformation of the calendar and because there had recently been one built in Bologna so Rome needed one. I found it very peculiar to have this meridian line through the centre of the church as it's not often you see maths, science and religion combined! 

The outside 

The meridian line