Crypt of The Nativity and Cappella Sistina
Under the high altar of the basilica is the Crypt of the Nativity or Bethlehem Crypt, with a crystal reliquary designed by Giuseppe Valadier said to contain wood from the Holy Crib of the nativity of Jesus Christ. Here is the burial place of Saint Jerome, the 4th-century Doctor of the Church who translated the Bible into the Latin language (the Vulgate).
Fragments of the sculpture of the Nativity believed to be by 13th-century Arnolfo di Cambio were transferred to beneath the altar of the large Sistine Chapel off the right transept of the church. This chapel of the Blessed Sacrament is named after Pope Sixtus V, and is not to be confused with the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican, named after Pope Sixtus IV. The architect Domenico Fontana designed the chapel, which contains the tombs of Sixtus V himself and of his early patron Pope Pius V. The main altar in the chapel has four gilded bronze angels by Sebastiano Torregiani, holding up the ciborium, which is a model of the chapel itself.
Beneath this altar is the Oratory or Chapel of the Nativity, on whose altar, at that time situated in the Crypt of the Nativity below the main altar of the church itself, Saint Ignatius of Loyola celebrated his first Mass as a priest on 25 December 1538.
Just outside the Sistine Chapel is the tomb of Gianlorenzo Bernini and his family.
The Mannerist interior decoration of the Sistine Chapel was completed (1587–1589) by a large team of artists, directed by Cesare Nebbia and Giovanni Guerra. While the art biographer, Giovanni Baglione allocates specific works to individual artists, recent scholarship finds that the hand of Nebbia drew preliminary sketches for many, if not all, of the frescoes. Baglione also concedes the roles of Nebbia and Guerra could be summarized as "Nebbia drew, and Guerra supervised the teams".
| Painter | Work |
|---|---|
| Giovanni Battista Pozzo | Angelic Glory, Visitation, Annunciation, Joseph’s dream, St. Paul & John Evangelist, St. Peter enters Rome,& Massacre of infants |
| Lattanzio Mainardi | Tamar, Fares, Zara, Solomon, & Boaz |
| Hendrick van den Broeck (Arrigo Fiammingo) | Esrom, Aram, Aminabad & Naassom |
| Paris Nogari | Ruth, Jesse, David, Solomon & Roboam; & the Holy Family |
| Giacomo Stella | Jehoshaphat & Jehoram, Jacob, Judah & his brothers, Sacrifice of Isacc |
| Angiolo Nebbia | Ozias & Jonathan, Abiud and Eliacim, Manassah and Amon, Josiah and Jechonia, Salatiele & Zorobabel |
| Salvatore Fontana | Jacob, Eli, Eliezer and Nathan, Herod orders massacre of the innocents, Annunciation |
| Cesare Nebbia | Chaziel & Ezekias, Sadoch, Achim, Amoz |
| Ercole from Bologna | Flight from Egypt" and "Mary visits Elisabeth's house |
| Andrea Lilio | Magi before Herod |
Others include Ferdinando Sermei, Giacomo Stella, Paul Bril, and Ferraù Fenzoni.
Read more about this topic: Basilica Di Santa Maria Maggiore