St Paul's Within the Walls
| St Paul's Within the Walls | |
|---|---|
| American Church in Rome | |
| Italian: San Paolo dentro le mura | |
The west front
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| Coordinates: 41°54′04″N 12°29′39″E / 41.90111°N 12.49417°E | |
| Denomination | Episcopal |
| Website | www |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | George Edmund Street |
| Style | Gothic Revival |
| Completed | 1880 |
St Paul's Within the Walls (Italian: San Paolo dentro le mura), also known as the American Church in Rome, is a church of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe on Via Nazionale in Castro Pretorio, Rome. It was the first Protestant church to be built in Rome. Designed by English architect George Edmund Street in Gothic Revival style, it was built in polychrome brick and stone, and completed in 1880.
The church contains mosaics which are the largest works of the English Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones.
Building a Protestant church in Rome became possible after the Kingdom of Italy's Capture of Rome from the Papacy in 1870.
The Episcopal expatriate congregation in Rome commissioned Street in 1872. The cornerstone was laid in 1876, and the church was completed in 1880.
Street approached Burne-Jones in 1881, but died the same year. The congregation's rector, Robert J. Nevin, travelled to England to confirm and expand the commission.
Burne-Jones was eager to emulate the mosaics of Ravenna, which he had visited in 1873.
Burne-Jones designed cartoons which he sent to Venice, together with specifications for the colours to be used. The Venice and Murano Glass and Mosaic Company mounted tesserae onto the cartoons, and the resulting assemblies were then installed in the church. The selection of colours, based on sample tiles sent to England by the company, was a collaboration between Burne-Jones and William Morris. Burne-Jones did not travel to Italy to supervise the work, instead sending his assistant, Thomas Rooke.
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