San Crisogono
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The church of San Crisogono, located near the Tiber River on the Via della Lungaretta, was constructed in 1123 by Cardinal John of Crema. This 12th century church rests, however, on the structure of a 4th century Christian church, the original San Crisogono—Cardinal John had abandoned the original church, removed its roof, and filled it with dirt. Visitors today have the option of paying a small fee to visit the original church, which was discovered in the last century and is now an archaeological site.
One of the most interesting features of the original church was an annular crypt that Gregory III had added sometime between 731 and 741 when the original church was partially remodeled. An annular crypt is a semi-circular passage that sits behind an altar and follows the curve of an apse, from the apex of the semi-circle a straight corridor branches off and goes straight to a relic chamber, the destination for many pilgrims, that would sit directly below the altar. Although this was added to the original San Crisogono in the early 8th century, annular crypts only became a commonplace feature of churches built in Rome in the ninth century. Because annular crypts helped control vast numbers of pilgrims—they helped channel crowds of the pious into orderly lines to see a relic—it is possible that one of the reasons it was installed so early on in S. Crisogono was that its relics were an especially popular destination for tourists, necessitating some form of crowd control.
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Description
The church of San Crisogono, located near the Tiber River on the Via della Lungaretta, was constructed in 1123 by Cardinal John of Crema. This 12th century church rests, however, on the structure of a 4th century Christian church, the original San Crisogono—Cardinal John had abandoned the original church, removed its roof, and filled it with dirt. Visitors today have the option of paying a small fee to visit the original church, which was discovered in the last century and is now an archaeological site.
One of the most interesting features of the original church was an annular crypt that Gregory III had added sometime between 731 and 741 when the original church was partially remodeled. An annular crypt is a semi-circular passage that sits behind an altar and follows the curve of an apse, from the apex of the semi-circle a straight corridor branches off and goes straight to a relic chamber, the destination for many pilgrims, that would sit directly below the altar. Although this was added to the original San Crisogono in the early 8th century, annular crypts only became a commonplace feature of churches built in Rome in the ninth century. Because annular crypts helped control vast numbers of pilgrims—they helped channel crowds of the pious into orderly lines to see a relic—it is possible that one of the reasons it was installed so early on in S. Crisogono was that its relics were an especially popular destination for tourists, necessitating some form of crowd control.