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Address Largo dei Librari, 00186 Roma, Italy Similar San Carlo ai Catinari, Theatre of Pompey, Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, Santa Maria in Campitelli, San Lorenzo in Damaso | ||
Santa Barbara dei Librai is a small Roman Catholic church in Rome, Italy. It was once known as Santa Barbara alla Regola after the rione in which it was located. Today it now considered within the rione of Parione, near the Campo de' Fiori.
History
Giuseppe Vasi dates the consecration of the church by 1306, although it is probable that a church existed at the site since the 10-11th century. Inscriptions inside claim that the church was established by Giovanni di Crescenzio de Roizo and his wife Rogata, who was a senator of Rome in the second century. In 1600, it was granted to the confraternity of the Bookmakers (bookbinders, publishers, and scribes) or Librari, who titled the church after St Thomas Acquinas and St John of God as patrons.
During the papacy of Innocent XI , the church was restored. In 1634, after a fire, the confraternity of book makers bought out adjacent properties. The baroque façade was remade by Giuseppe Passeri. The statue of St Barbara over the door was sculpted by Ambrogio Parisi, and the angel painted on a wall is attributed to Guido Reni. The church has paintings by Luigi Garzi; a fresco of St Saba by Giovanni Battista Brughi, pupil of Baciccio, in the chapel of Specchi; and frescoes by Francesco Ragusa and Domenico Monacelli.
The church was used by the confraternity till 1878, but fell into abandon and was deconsecrated. In 1982, it was restored and.
The adjacent oratory is sited in the ruins of the Theater of Pompey.
Among the works of art inside the church are: