And They Were Always in the Temple: The Pilgrims’ Experience at S. Maria Rotonda
Hanneke van Asperen
Although not one of Rome’s earliest Christian The Pantheon as a Church churches, the Pantheon is one of Rome’s oldest and most prominent buildings. Built by Hadrian In 609, 610, or perhaps 613, Pope Boniface IV as a templum,1 it stood abandoned for some time (608‑15) consecrated the classical building that is 3 in the Early Middle Ages. It started to function as still known today as the Pantheon. According a church only in the early decades of the seventh to the Liber pontificalis, the Pantheon became ‘the century when it was dedicated to the Virgin and Church of the Blessed Mary, always a Virgin, 4 all martyrs, and it has been a place of Christian and All Martyrs’. Circular churches were not at worship ever since. The building underwent all unusual at the time as S. Stefano Rotondo, many interventions during the Middle Ages and built for Pope Simplicius (468‑83), clearly dem- it has been considered something of a miracle onstrates. The dedication to all martyrs seems that the Roman building has survived at all. Its to have followed on from the tradition of the transformation into a church in the seventh cen- Pantheon being a temple to all the gods, but the tury was surely crucial, but much remains un- Virgin became its most important titular. The clear about how the pagan, and therefore taint- pope might have been inspired by a tradition, ed, history of the edifice was accommodated already firmly established in the east, of associ- 5 once the function of Christian church was im- ating round churches with the Virgin. Retro- posed upon it. The Pantheon’s enormous round spectively, a story emerged that the Pantheon open space with its grand cupola was not well had previously been a temple to the mother- 6 suited to its new function. The roof has a large goddess Cybele. She anticipated the dedication hole in the middle to let the light in, but also of the building to the Virgin just as all gods had allows in any precipitation and, in winter, the prefigured all martyrs. The inclusion of Cybele cold. Still, the building attracted much attention in the proto-history of the church, especially from the devout, during the High and Late Mid- her privileged position among the other gods, dle Ages. The city of Rome where the Pantheon was supposedly invented to underscore the posi- is situated was well endowed with antique and tion of the Virgin at the top of the hierarchy of believed-to-be antique buildings and statues that saints. Since the Virgin was the most important embodied the medieval ideal of romanitas. For figure, the roots of the Pantheon’s dedication to pilgrims however, the building must have had her had to be present from the start too. an attraction that exceeded its connection with The building’s most prominent features, the the Roman past. The subject of this contribution circular floor plan, the cupola and the round is not the physical appearance or liturgical use hole, became its identifying marks. Although of the Pantheon, which have been the primary the church was officially known as Mary among focus of Sible de Blaauw’s careful attention.2 In- the Martyrs from the seventh century onwards, stead, I will turn my attention to the Christian its popular name became S. Maria Rotonda, or interpretations of its classical architecture dur- ‘the Round Church of St Mary’. Serving as a ing the heyday of medieval pilgrimage to Rome. conduit between east and west, S. Maria Roton- Although ideas and associations are intangible, da became a model in the West for circular, and it is possible to catch a glimpse of the medieval centralized, churches dedicated to Mary, such perspectives on the Pantheon from surviving as the chapels at Centula, Würzburg, Altötting, 7 images, such as pilgrimage souvenirs. and Ludwigstadt. Significantly, the additional title of S. Maria Rotonda already appears in
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Fig. 1. Rome, S. Maria Rotonda (Pantheon), interior, looking towards the main apse and upwards. Photo in the public domain. eighth-century pilgrims’ itineraries,8 and from tion and was most likely intended to reinforce the twelfth century, the name of S. Maria Ro- the special relationship of the new church with tonda also appears in official documents.9 S. Ma- the Virgin. The icon of the Virgin bore witness ria Rotonda, and not S. Maria ad Martyres, is to the established hierarchy, not the other way the name written on twelfth- and thirteenth- around. Nor did the icon become the main fo- century pilgrims’ souvenirs (Figs 2 and 3). In cus of the pilgrimage cult later, or at least this agreement with its popular name, these souve- does not emerge from the sources. The icon is nir badges depict the Virgin and Child in the hardly mentioned in the Indulgentiae ecclesiarum round church, without additional figures, with- urbis Romae [‘The Indulgences of the churches out martyrs or saints. of the city of Rome’].11 In his description of Besides being a church and a model for sanc- Rome, Nikolaus Muffel c. ( 1410‑69) mentions tuaries elsewhere, the former Pantheon became an apparition of the Virgin to a large group of a site of pilgrimage which attracted pilgrims martyrs who were inside the church.12 They had from far and wide. Much importance has been refused to honour the pagan gods and turned to attributed to a Byzantine icon of the Virgin and Mary who came to console them. Muffel does Child in the pilgrimage cult of S. Maria Ro- not mention the icon, only the apparition of tonda, but its significance must not be overes- the Virgin, on a site where an altar was erect- timated.10 First of all, the dedication of the for- ed afterwards to commemorate the miraculous mer pagan temple to the Virgin was probably event. In another story in the Liber pontificalis, not instigated by the icon. On the contrary, the from the time of Pope Stephanus III (768‑72), a icon’s being placed inside the S. Maria Rotonda Lombard priest called Waldipert turned to the seems to have followed shortly after the dedica- church for asylum ‘while Waldipert carried his
86 And They Were Always in the Temple image [imaginem ipsius] of the mother of God Likewise, the miraculous story of the trans- to this place’.13 The narrative seems to indicate formation of the pagan building into a church that the priest brought the image with him, al- focuses on the architecture. When the pope though it is impossible to be sure on the basis of consecrated the former mausoleum and temple, this short passage. Pilgrims hardly mention the the devil had supposedly appeared and tried to image in their accounts. In comparison, icons of demolish the building to stop its transformation. the Virgin in other churches of Rome are de- He failed, and in total frustration he took the scribed elaborately, even if they play a subsidiary metal knob from the top of the building and role among the relics, for example in St Peter’s threw it into the river Tiber. With the removal or in S. Maria Maggiore.14 of the knob and the subsequent creation of the No saint had been martyred on the site of the oculus, light could enter the building, symboli- rotunda, no divine vision had preceded its con- cally creating a direct link with heaven. The struction and pilgrims’ accounts and the Indul- miracle marked the moment when God entered gentiae evoke an image of a church with few rel- the building. To further underscore God’s be- ics. Muffel does mention a large number of relics nevolence towards, or direct interference in, at the Pantheon at the time of the consecration, the consecration, the knob was miraculously but this is a later construction without historic retrieved and brought to St Peter’s for visitors to basis.15 Sources dating back to the fifteenth cen- marvel upon. Books with the Indulgentiae men- tury mention the relics of Sts Rasius and An- tion the object in the atrium of St Peter’s.20 As astasius, but these are not mentioned in older a tangible remnant of the pagan proto-history descriptions.16 They might have been installed of S. Maria Rotonda, it showed that the con- later to emphasize the dedication to Mary and secration had met with divine approval and the the martyrs and they were presumably not the building, although pagan at first, had always focus of the pilgrimage cult. Although the link been destined to become a place of Christian of the former pagan temple with the Virgin was worship.21 strong from the beginning and remained firm, In line with the pilgrims’ accounts, the no concrete evidence emerges of a cult focusing badges that pilgrims took home also depicted on relics or on the icon. a circular and domed church with an oculus. A chronology of badges is hard to define be- Fascination with Architecture cause they remained the same over a long period of time and it is often not possible to date them Different sources indicate that pilgrims were on the basis of archaeological evidence. Never- drawn primarily to the building and, after that, theless, those few badges that might be dated to the icon or the relics. Pilgrims’ accounts fo- indicate that the souvenir production for the cus on the architectural elements, primarily S. Maria Rotonda had been established in the the round shape, the spacious interior and the early fourteenth century and might go back to oculus. In his description of Rome, the twelfth- the (late) thirteenth century.22 St Peter’s – one century Icelandic Abbot Nikolas Munkathverá of the seven stationary churches of Rome – had mentions a church dedicated to All Saints which been manufacturing badges depicting Sts Peter is ‘large, splendid’ and ‘is open above.’17 Arnold and Paul, for some time, probably as early as the von Harff (1471‑1505) describes the former Pan- twelfth century.23 Other churches in Rome had theon: as ‘a beautiful round church without followed suit. The badges of S. Lorenzo fuori le a window. High up is a round hole through mura, built on the site where one of the great which the daylight shines.’18 In Ye Solace of Pil- martyr saints of Rome supposedly had been grimes, John Capgrave (1393‑1464) elaborately executed, were modelled after the badges of St describes ‘a round house with outer piler and Peter’s. As the badges of Peter and Paul did, the that of so grete widnesse and so grete heith that badges of S. Lorenzo combined the half-length it is wonder who thei myth rere it.’19 He mainly images of Sts Lawrence and St Stephen whose revels over the spaciousness of the interior. relics were in the church.24 Significantly, archi-
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Fig. 2. Pilgrim badge from Rome, Virgin and Child Fig. 3. Pilgrim badge from Rome, Virgin and Child inside S. Maria Rotonda, found in Rotterdam, late inside S. Maria Rotonda, found between Bierum fourteenth or early fifteenth century, pewter, 37 × and Spijk, late fourteenth century, pewter, 34 × 29 mm, inscription: SINN[A] STA MARIA ROTN. 22 mm, inscription: SIGNVM SANCTE MA[RI]E Langbroek: collection Van Beuningen family, inv. ROTV[ND]E. Province of Groningen: private col- no. 3408. Photo: Medieval Badges Foundation. lection. Photo courtesy of the owner. tecture plays a minor role on these images from ited the Pantheon brought back an image of ‘a St Peter’s and S. Lorenzo. round church with a hole’ from their journey The badges of S. Maria Rotonda, where rel- to Rome as visual counterparts to the pilgrims’ ics were not the focus of the attention of the accounts. Although they are not found in large visiting devout, clearly diverge from the estab- quantities, they badges are found over a large lished tradition of badge design in Rome. They geographical area, from Rome to the United focus on the architecture, prominently placing Kingdom and Denmark.26 Recently, a badge of the Madonna inside the domed rotunda (Figs 2 S. Maria Rotonda turned up that was found be- and 3). Much attention has gone to the depiction tween Bierum and Spijk (north eastern part of of the antique edifice. The badges effectively the Netherlands; Fig. 3). combine the inside and outside of the building Some scholars have suggested that the badges in one image. The lines that decorate the cupola depict the icon.27 The icon shows Mary half- seem to refer to the outside of the building, as it length; she is shown with her body en trois-quart is still pictured on slightly later drawings such as and her head turned towards the viewer. On the one by Hendrick van Cleve (c. 1525– after 1589), badges, however, Mary is shown full-length, en- but the opening in the dome is pictured from throned and crowned. Furthermore, the badges the inside.25 Some badges even have an actual depict the Virgin in the apse where the altar open-work oculus as if to underline the direct was located. Admittedly, the icon might have link with the open sky. Pilgrims who had vis- been on the main altar, but, as Sible de Blaauw
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Fig. 4. God as the centre of the cosmos, half-page miniature in: Aristotle, De caelo et de mundo, translated in French by Nicole Oresme, c. 1410, parchment, 360 × 255 mm, Paris: Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS français 565, fol. 69r. Photo: Bibliothèque national de France.
89 Hanneke van Asperen has justly pointed out, there is no evidence that (Fig. 4).32 God is depicted in (and as) the centre of the icon was placed on the main altar or even in the universe surrounded by concentric circles to the main apse.28 Although it might seem likely indicate the layers of the firmament. More im- that badges document a cult icon or statue, it is portantly, the central oculus – literally the eye – not necessarily the case. Madonnas depicted on of the cupola invoked God as the source of light: badges from other sites often do not resemble a ‘God is light and in him there is no darkness.’ (i miraculous image either, or perhaps bear only a John 1. 15) Significantly, the legends about the slight resemblance. In conclusion, the badges of origin of the church stress that light had been ab- the Pantheon probably do not necessarily refer sent when the Pantheon had supposedly served as to a specific image in this church; the Madonna a temple to the pagan gods. The oculus, both the depicted is universal. They indicate divine pres- symbolic centre of the universe and the source of ence in a religious building as confirmed in the light in the church, became a metaphor for God. eyes of the devotees by the visions and miracles In the twelfth century, the link between the that had happened there.29 In contrast with the dome and heaven was liturgically established universal Madonna, the elements on the badges with the institution of domenica de rosa on the that indicate the edifice are very specific, and the Sunday between the Ascension and Pentecost. badges use the name rotunda, which again un- During the liturgical feast of Pentecost the Chris- derscores architectural form. They clearly focus tian community commemorated the descent of on the appearance of the building rather than the the Holy Spirit and the dispersal of the apostles cult image. to spread the Christian faith. The devout also remembered how the disciples and the Virgin The Pilgrims’ Experience would have gathered to imitate the Last Supper after Christ’s death and resurrection. As the pope Whether the badges depict the icon or not, ar- preached about the coming of the Holy Spirit chitecture played a major, if not primary, role in the domed church, a multitude of roses was in the experiences of the pilgrims. How did the thrown down from the dome, possibly through pilgrim’s physical confrontation with the antique the oculus.33 Symbolizing divine inspiration, the building combine with the spiritual experience? roses linked heaven and earth in a very power- The building had never been very suitable for ful way. While this symbolic staging was prob- its appropriated function as a church. The large ably fostered by the practical possibilities that hole in the roof created problems for liturgical S. Maria Rotonda offered, it would have further use rather rather than supplying a solution.30 But encouraged the participants’ association of the if it presented problems during the liturgy, the cupola with heaven and the oculus with God. antique structure proved to be perfectly compat- Indicatively, the institution of domenica de rosa ible with the symbolism of Christian faith. As occurred around the time when the Virgin start- early as the third century, Lucius Cassius Dio had ed to be included in the company of the apos- written about the Pantheon that ‘because of its tles at the Pentecost. The Shaftesbury Psalter vaulted roof, it resembles the heavens’.31 Chris- from the second quarter of the twelfth century tian users embraced this antique interpretation of contains a miniature of Pentecost (Fig. 5).34 The the dome. Indicatively, the Latin term chosen to miniature was modelled after a depiction of the describe the church – rotundus means ‘round’ or same theme in the St Albans Psalter which also ‘spherical’ – was often used in combination with includes the Virgin among the apostles, but the caelum [‘heaven’ or ‘firmament’]. It is not difficult miniaturist, identified as the Master of the En- to imagine how the cupola with its concentric tangled Figures, made some adaptations that are circles brought to mind God-centred images of worth mentioning here. With a crown, the Vir- the cosmos such as was the case, for example, gin is identified as first among Christ’s entourage with a miniature in a French translation of Ar- and it also anticipates her role as queen of heaven. istotle’s De caelo et de mundo which was once part Moreover, she is larger than the rest. Mary is not of the library of Duke Jean de Berry (1340‑1416) just the focal point of the community of apos-
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‘were always in the temple, praising and bless- ing God’ (Luke 24. 53). This parallel was elabo- rated in later centuries. In many fourteenth- and fifteenth-century books of hours, an image of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended to in- spire the apostles, precedes the Hours of the Holy Spirit. Alongside the description of the moment of Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles, images of Pentecost were visual models of Christian worship, because they depicted the first Chris- tian community at prayer. The text of the Hours of the Holy Spirit starts with the words: ‘Domine labia mea aperies et os meum annunciabit lau- dem tuam’ [Lord, thou wilt open my lips; and my mouth shall declare thy praise]. The min- iature of Pentecost depicting disciples at prayer provides a powerful prototype for the devotee who is about to utter these words of adoration.
Architecture as Cult Image As paradoxical as it may seem, its unique appear- ance made the Pantheon an archetype of pagan architecture and an embodiment of Christian faith at the same time. The magnificent architec- ture was imbued with layers of meaning, some elaborating on the antique interpretations of the Fig. 5. Pentecost, full-page miniature in a Psalter dome as heaven, others of later origin. Perfectly (the ‘Shaftesbury Psalter’), England, second half of in line with the medieval way of thinking, pa- the twelfth century, parchment, 225 × 140 mm. gan and Christian use became inextricably en- London: The British Library, Lansdowne MS 383, twined, with one pointing to the other and be- fol. 14r. Photo: The British Library. coming completely inseparable. Sible de Blaauw lifted the edge of the veil when he concluded his article on the furnishing and liturgy of the tles who are subordinate to her; she is queen of building: ‘Das Pantheon hat paradoxerweise heaven already, a role that she would assume after seine Existenz als Kirche behalten durch seine her assumption. In addition to the community nicht-kirchlichen Eingeschaften: die Großartig- of disciples gathering to honour Christ, this is a keit seiner Architektur und seinen Ruf als eine depiction of the community of saints in heaven. der Meraviglia des Altertums.’35 It was not just The miniature in the Shaftesbury Psalter does a wonder of Antiquity, an example of romani- not depict S. Maria Rotonda, but it demonstrates tas, but it was considered a miracle of Christian that the metaphors that linked the round domed faith at the same time. The antique design of the church with the Virgin and with heaven, and, building did not contradict its Christian use. On via Pentecost with the Christian community on the contrary, the architecture justified Chris- earth, were established before the mid-twelfth tianization, because it permitted divine associa- century. The story of Pentecost – which is not tions. It was open to heaven, and therefore God, described in much detail in the Gospels, but is in the Virgin, and the community of saints. Be- the Acts of the Apostles – had become a powerful cause of its association with heaven, the build- narrative of the first Christian community who ing invoked those who are in paradise. At Pen-
91 Hanneke van Asperen tecost, when the Christian community gathered story of the Pantheon being a temple of Cybele to praise God, the liturgy referred back to the demonstrates. The paradoxes, pagan-Christian, Virgin and the disciples who gathered to com- demonic-divine, only heightened wonder at the memorate Christ and to the foundation of the magnificent building that had come to visualize Church. The architecture of S. Maria Rotonda divine presence because it had been pagan. This reinforced ideas of continuity from that first campaign of Christianization that incorporated Christian community to the present day com- the building’s pagan history proved so successful munity of worshippers. When the roses floated that it was the architecture, the building itself, down into the rotunda representing the descent and not the icon of the Virgin and Child, that of the Holy Spirit, the gathering of devotees in came to attract the pilgrims most. The building, S. Maria Rotonda would have seen themselves regarded as an image of heaven, was described, as reflecting the first meetings of Virgin and depicted and propagated to pilgrims via textual apostles. Like them, and in direct continuation, and visual media such as the Indulgentiae ecclesiar- the devotees present were a community gath- um urbis Romae, pilgrims’ accounts and pilgrims’ ered in praise of God. badges. From these sources, it becomes clear that The pagan proto-history of the building was the building, not the icon, became the cult image. never forgotten or even concealed, but was in- It was the building’s intangible qualities, overlaid terwoven into its new Christian function. The upon its physical construction, that ensured the pagan-Christian interconnections were accentu- building’s survival throughout the Middle Ages. ated and sometimes re-invented, as the medieval
Notes
1 For a discussion about the original function of the Life and Thought, Fourth Series, 77 (Cambridge: classical building, see Paul Godrey and David Hem- Cambridge University Press, 2010), p. 200. soll, ‘The Pantheon: temple or rotunda?’, in Pagan 5 Thunø, pp. 231‑54; Michael V. Schwarz, ‘Eine Gods and Shrines of the Roman Empire, ed. by Martin frühmittelaterliche Umgestaltung der Pantheon- Henig and Anthony King (Oxford University Com- Vorhalle’, Römisches Jahrbuch der Bibliotheca Hertziana mittee for Archaeology, 1986), pp. 195‑209. 26 (1990), 1‑29. 2 Sible de Blaauw, ‘Das Pantheon als christlicher Tem- 6 Nine R. Miedema, Die Mirabilia Romae: Untersu- pel’, in Bild- und Formensprache der Spätantike Kunst: chungen zu ihrer Überlieferung mit Edition der deutschen Hugo Brandenburg zum 65. Geburtstag, ed. by Martina und niederländischen Texte, Die Deutsche Bibliothek Jordan-Ruwe and Ulrich Real (=Boreas. Münstersche (Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 1996), p. 353. Beiträge zur Archäologie, 17 (1994)), pp. 13‑26. I would 7 Richard Krautheimer, ‘Sancta Maria Rotunda’, in like to thank Sible for being an attentive colleague who Studies in Early Christian, Medieval, and Renaissance always takes an interest, and for his support, while I was Art, ed. by James S. Ackerman and Elisabeth B. Mac- writing my PhD thesis, especially in the final stages. Dougall (London: University of London Press Lim- 3 On the arguments for the date, see De Blaauw, p. 13; ited, 1969), pp. 107‑14. with comments in Erik Thunø, ‘The Pantheon in the 8 Buchowiecki, ii, p. 673. Middle Ages’, in The Pantheon: From Antiquity to the 9 De Blaauw, p. 14. Present, ed. by Tod A. Marder and Mark Wilson Jones 10 On the icon, see Gerhard Wolf, ‘Icons and Sites: Cult (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), Images of the Virgin in Medieval Rome’, in Images of pp. 233‑34. Also Walther Buchowiecki, Handbuch the Mother of God: Perceptions of the Theotokos in Byzan- der Kirchen Roms: Der Römische Sakralbau in Geschichte tium, ed. by Maria Vasilaki (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005), und Kunst von der altchristlichen Zeit bis zur Gegenwart, pp. 23‑50 (pp. 28‑31); also Hans Belting, Bild und Kult: 3 vols (Vienna: Hollinek 1967‑74) [vol. iv by Brigitte Eine Geschichte des Bildes vor dem Zeitalter der Kunst (Mu- Kuhn-Forte, 1997], ii (1970), p. 672. nich: Beck, 2004), pp. 77‑78; De Blaauw, p. 25; Richard 4 Liber pontificalis (hereafter LP), lxviiii, c. 3: ‘Eodem Krautheimer, Rome: Profile of a City, 312‑1308 (Prince- tempore petiit a Focate principe templum qui appel- ton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1980), p. 97. latur Pantheum, in quo fecit ecclesiam beatae Mariae 11 Nine R. Miedema, Die römischen Kirchen im Spätmitte- semper virginis et omnium martyrum’. Cf. Caro- lalter nach den Indulgentiae ecclesiarum urbis Romae, Bib- line J. Goodson, The Rome of Pope Paschal I: Papal liothek des Deutschen Historischen Instituts in Rom, Power, Urban Renovation, Church Rebuilding and Relic 97 (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 2001), p. 665. Translation, 817‑24, Cambridge Studies in Medieval
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12 Nikolaus Muffel, Descrizione della città di Roma nel fahrt in die ewige Stadt – Die Römische Pilgerzeichen’, 1452: Delle indulgenze e dei luoghi sacri di Roma (Der Ab- in exh. cat. Erfurt: Kunsthalle, Rom sehen und sterben: las und die heiligen Stet zu Rom), ed. by Gerhard Wied- Perspektiven auf die ewige Stadt. Um 1500‑2011 (Bielefeld, mann, 2 vols (Bologna: Pàtron, 1999), pp. 88‑90. Leipzig, and Berlin: Kerber, 2011); Marco Leo Impe- 13 LP cxvi, c. 15: ‘Ipse vero hoc agnito fugiit in eccle- riale, ‘‘Signa apostolorum Petri et Pauli’: Note sulla sia sanctae Dei genetricis semperque virginis Mariae produzione delle ‘quadrangulae’ di pellegrinaggio a quae appellatur ad martyres. Quem exinde isdem Roma’, in VI congresso nazionale di archeologia medievale, vicedominus abstraxit, portante eodem Waldiper- ed. by Fabio Redi and Alfonso Forgione (Florence: to imaginem ipsius Dei genetricis, eumque in teter- All’Insegna del Giglio, 2012), pp. 698‑703 (p. 700). rima retrudi fecerunt custodia quae vocatur Ferrata, 24 For badges of Sts Lawrence and Stephen, see Kunera: in cellario maiore’. Database of Medieval Badges and Ampullae, Rad- 14 Miedema, Die römischen Kirchen, pp. 266‑67 and 334. boud University Nijmegen, nos 01832, 06133, 14363 See also the contribution of Ingo Herklotz in this and 16644
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