3 optical illusions in the church where Saint Ignatius of Loyola is buried

This Wednesday, July 31, we celebrate the day of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus whose remains rest in one of the most emblematic churches of Rome.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola He died on July 31, 1556 in his cell at the Jesuit headquarters in Rome.what is known today as the church of Gesù.

Did you know that this temple has several “trompe l’oeils”? Despite having been built in the 17th century, it presents some peculiarities and optical illusions typical of our time.

The construction of this church It was the initiative of Pope Gregory XVI in 1622, and his work began in 1627 by Horazio Grassi, Jesuit astronomer and architect.

As soon as you enter, in the center of the temple there is a point that indicates exactly where to stand to contemplate one of these optical illusions.

If one looks up, the dome seems to deform. However, this is a “hoax”, since it is not the dome, but a painting.

This is because economic difficulties prevented the builders from building a dome over the transept.

For this reason, the master painter and architect of optical illusions, Andrea del Pozzo, With his skill he achieved this “false dome” on a roof that is actually flat.

Another of these illusions is found in the vault, also painted by Andrea del Pozzo in 1664 and which represents the evangelization of Saint Ignatius.

The ceiling seems to go on forever, as the painted paint creates a three-dimensional effect. The figures represented on the clouds of the ceiling They even seem to come out of the drawing and “float” on the air.

This artist, who belonged to the Society of Jesus, also had knowledge of geometry and mathematics that influenced him in the design of these paintings.

Besides, the apse wall appears to be multilateraleven though it is actually a concave wall.

In the paintings on the wall you can see different images of the vocation of Saint Ignatius and the Company of Jesus.