Dome

Interior, Baroque decoration by Vanvitelli; angel over elaborate curved pediment of a side chapel with oval-framed clerestory window; As part of his urban improvements to this area of Rome, Pope Pius IV took up the campaign of a Sicilian visionary Antonio del Duca (brother of the architect Giacomo del Duca) that a part of the ancient Baths of Diocletian (AD 298-306) should be re-dedicated for Christian use. Michelangelo was called in to convert the tepidarium into the Carthusian church of S Maria degli Angeli (built from 1562). He oriented it northeast/southwest, with the main door and high altar on the short axis and long "transepts" ending in side-entrances. His interventions were minimal. Because the original groin vaulting and the great rose-granite columns that supported it were largely intact, Michelangelo simply walled off the transepts from the rooms beyond, built a long barrel-vaulted choir behind the altar, whitewashed the vault and tiled the roof. The present opulent interior is the result of a major reworking by Luigi Vanvitelli in 1749-1750, which obscures Michelangelo’s intentions. Some of the original spatial and lighting effects of the baths interior can still be appreciated. Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.oxfordartonline.com/ (accessed 7/29/2012)