We started Friday by visiting the National Museum of
Rome. The museum focuses on the
archeological history of Rome, with displays of many of the statuaries that
have been uncovered within the city and the surrounding areas. This display greets visitors at the entrance
of the museum, as it shows what the area around the Baths of Diocletian looked
like back at the height of Rome’s power.
The special exhibit at the museum concentrated on the
written language of Rome. There were videos
that showed how they put together what Rome looked like long ago from the
fragments of maps and writings. Another
video showed how the carving of Roman letters was done. There were a number of writing exhibits,
including how different social classes used writing and how Romans wrote in
cursive. This photograph has nothing to
do with writing, however. It is a Balbi
wall and wood oil painting of the father of Pope Clemente IV, himself a
Carthusian monk. It resides in the
Michelangelo cluster of the museum.
We then headed next door to the Basilica di Santa Maria
degli Angeli. This was the church that
Michelangelo helped design once Pope Pius IV consecrated the Baths of Diocletian
to the angels and Christian martyrs that built the baths. Many of the exhibits within the church were
showing that Galileo Galilei was a religious man, not an atheist.
This is a statue found outside the old sacristy of Basilica
di Santa Maria degli Angeli, entitled “Galileo Galilei Divine Man.”
We stopped at a small restaurant near the Piazza Barberini
called La Fontanella Sistina. Kinsey
ordered a calzone. That was the
football-sized calzone that was delivered to her. Yikes!
Our final visit was to the Basilica di Santa Maria del
Popolo, a church that was described as “a wonderful primer on Roman art and
architecture.” Unfortunately, it was
closed by the time we got there, but that did not stop me from posing in front
of the church for a photograph. To
finish off the “Angels and Demons” theme, this was the church that Dan Brown
used as the Earth-based Altar of Science.
We spent the rest of the afternoon gift shopping, drinking
tea at Babington’s Tea Room, and visiting the Spanish Steps. Our pilgrimage ends tomorrow as we head home
from Rome. We hope that these pictures
have given you a taste of the pilgrimage that we have experienced. Thanks again to all of you who helped make
our pilgrimage possible!
