Church of the Gesù

The mother church of the Jesuit order, consecrated in 1584, set the template for Baroque church design across Catholic Europe with its wide single nave, shallow side chapels, and emphasis on the pulpit and altar. Its ceiling bears Giovanni Battista Gaulli's swirling fresco of the Triumph of the Name of Jesus, whose gilded figures spill beyond the painted frame in stucco relief. The lavish Chapel of Saint Ignatius, marking his tomb, glitters with lapis lazuli, bronze, and silver.