Santa Maria della Vittoria Historical Timeline

A church begun for Saint Paul, renamed for a battle in Bohemia, and now visited for ninety seconds of a nun's autobiography carved in marble.

Chronology

1. 1608–1620 — Carlo Maderno builds the church for the Discalced Carmelites, as a chapel dedicated to Saint Paul. Structural impact: the building itself — a single nave, with three side chapels. What you see today: the shell and the plan.
2. 1620 — after the Catholic victory at the Battle of White Mountain, which reversed the Reformation in Bohemia, the church is rededicated to the Virgin Mary — Our Lady of Victories. Structural impact: none to the fabric; everything to the name. What you see today: the dedication the church still carries, and the reason for it.
3. 1624–1626 — Scipione Borghese funds the rest of the work on the façade and grants the order his own architect, Giovanni Battista Soria, who erects it during Maderno's lifetime. Structural impact: the front of the church. What you see today: Soria's façade on Via XX Settembre.
4. 1647–1652 — Cardinal Federico Cornaro commissions his family chapel from Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and the sculpture is executed in marble and gilded bronze. It represents a moment from the life of Saint Teresa of Ávila, and becomes among the most celebrated works of all Baroque sculpture. Structural impact: a chapel built as a stage set. What you see today: the Ecstasy, in the aedicule Bernini designed for it.
5. 17th century onwards — the interior is finished with contrasting marble revetments enriched with white and gilded stucco angels and putti in full relief. Structural impact: the Baroque surface over Maderno's structure. What you see today: essentially this, allowing for the fire.
6. 1833 — the interior suffers a fire and requires restoration. Structural impact: damage and repair throughout the interior. What you see today: a nineteenth-century restoration of a seventeenth-century scheme — which is worth knowing before attributing every surface to Bernini's century.
7. today — a Discalced Carmelite conventual church and titular minor basilica, free to enter, with visiting hours published by the Carmelites and none published by the city. Structural impact: none. What you see today: a parish-scale church holding one of the most famous sculptures in the world, and almost no queue.

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