Oratorio dei Filippini

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Oratorio dei Filippini (Oratory of Saint Phillip Neri) by Francesco Borromini, 1650
Corso Vittorio Emanuele II
Rome, May 2012

“The congregation of the Filippini already had one of the most well-decorated Baroque churches in Rome, and the order had planned to build an oratory, as well as residential quarters, adjacent to the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella (Chiesa Nuova) located in crowded central Rome. Borromini won a competition for designing the structure against many including Paolo Maruscelli[citation needed]. He was employed in the task for 13 years, often a testy process. By 1640, the oratory was in use, and by 1643, the library, called the Biblioteca Vallicelliana, was complete. The striking facade adjacent to the church entrance has little regard for the structures behind. Inside the oratory is articulated by half columns and a complex rhythm of pilasters. The facade provides a summary of Borromini's characteristics of innovations style, both austere and technically rigorous. The main body is divided into five parts by pilasters following a concave curve. In the central part, a dialectic set appears between the lower level, whose curve moves outward. At the top, the tympanum, created for the first time after an mistiligne angle, accentuates the both curved and angular movement.” (Oratorio dei Filippini, Wikipedia)