Sacro Cuore di Cristo Re

Church of Sacred Heart of Christ the King Chiesa del Sacro Cuore di Cristo Re (Italian)
File:Cristore35.jpg
Basic information
Location	Rome, Italy
Geographic coordinates
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	Titular church, Minor basilica
Architectural description
Architect(s)	Marcello Piacentini
Architectural type	Church
Architectural style	Italian rationalism
Groundbreaking	1920
Completed	1934
Specifications
Dome(s)	1
Dome height (outer)	36 meters (118 ft 1.3 in)
Dome dia. (inner)	20 meters (65 ft 7.4 in)

Sacro Cuore di Cristo Re is a Roman Catholic church (minor basilica) in Rome, designed between the 1920s and 1930s by Marcello Piacentini.

History

The idea for a new church in the newly developed Quartiere della Vittoria (literally District of Victory, named for the victory in World War I) came from Ottavio Gasparri, member of the Sacred Heart of Jesus religious institute. At first the church was to be named Tempio della Pace, to remember and honour the fallen of World War I. Construction began in May 1920. The original design proposed by Marcello Piacentini was inspired by the churches built in Rome in the 16th century.

Construction halted with the death of Ottavio Gasparri, in 1929. In the next two years Piacentini changed radically the project, being inspired by the emerging Rationalist movement, and the Sacro Cuore di Gesù marked the turning point of the sacred architecture in Rome. The construction started again in 1931 and the church was inaugurated in 1934.

The church became a parish church under Pope Pius XI on 31 October 1926 with the apostolic constitution Regis pacifici. On 5 February 1965 was declared titular church by Pope Paul VI with the apostolic constitution Sacrum Cardinalium Collegium. Later that year, with the motu proprio Recentioris architecturae the church became a minor basilica.

Design

The church has a bricks facing, the façade with brick rows of different projection alternated; façade upper side, portals and windows are boarded with travertine. The floor plan, with a nave flanked byt two aisles, is between a Latin cross and greek cross, with a length of about 70 m. The church present a dome of 20 meters of diameter. Over the main portal an high relief by Arturo Martini, that depicts the sacred heart of Jesus. In the inside the Stations of the Cross made by Alfredo Biagini.

References

• (German) Luigi Monzo: trasformismo architettonico – Piacentinis Kirche Sacro Cuore di Cristo Re in Rom im Kontext der kirchenbaulichen Erneuerung im faschistischen Italien, in: Kunst und Politik. Jahrbuch der Guernica-Gesellschaft, 15.2013, pp. 83–100. ISSN 1439-0205.
• (Italian) Massimo Alemanno, Le chiese di Roma moderna - Volume 2, Armando Editore, 2006 (page 32)

Further reading

• (Italian) C. Rendina, Le Chiese di Roma, Newton & Compton Editori, Milano 2000