In the heart of Rome, amid the ruins of Trajan's Forum, we find the church of the Most Holy Name of Mary, begun by the French architect Antoine Dérizet, who was followed in the building process by Mauro Fontana and Agostino Masucci, before the church was consecrated in 1741. It is essentially an ex-voto, an act of thanks to the Virgin Mary, and a sign of a special bond with the Austrian people following the victory of the Christian troops against the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Vienna (1683). During the Nazi persecution, Jewish people were given refuge in the church's basement. Next to it you can see the church of the Madonna di Loreto: the two places of worship occupy the spaces where two libraries stood at the time of Trajan.
The exterior is a compact structure, decorated with columns and pilasters supporting a balustrade with statues of Prophets and Evangelists. The interior, however, opens out into a liturgical space which is oval in shape, brightly decorated with polychrome marble, and surmounted by a dome: between the vaults, stucco medallions appear with scenes from the life of Mary – works carried out by various 18th-century artists.
The solemn main chapel, built in 1750, houses the Icon of the Mother of God with the Child Jesus in a "glory" of marble and stucco. It is a medieval work of the so-called Roman School. If the church of the Most Holy Name of Mary came into being in a context of wars and misunderstandings, today it offers the visitor a haven of mercy, as is written on the plaque above the entrance.
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