DAY 6: Respect

07.07.2014

Largo Santa Sussana Elevation

 The city both benefits and suffers from millions of people pouring in on annual basis for no other reason than walking around, eating ice cream and taking most tasteless photographs (hugging statues and columns, posing in front of frescos and fountains). For every urban and social phenomenon discovered in Rome, church inevitably plays a role as a stake holder. Seen as a trend-setter for what we consider morality and promoting the only set of values that will help humanity survive, the church in Rome is in a funny position, squeezed between international, globalized, modern society and itself.

Churches are holly places, we all agree. We don’t need to agree what “holly” means, but we need to agree that it requires respect. If it is holly for someone, everyone needs to respect it. The respect is paid in the way in which the ones that find something holly want us to pay that respect. So we don’t choose how to respect what is holly unless it is holly for us, our social or religious group, or even our nation. Sounds complicated, but in this case it only means “don’t wear shorts and short sleeves while in church – turn off your phone and be quiet”.

In Rome, respect seems to be difficult to achieve. The tourists just want to run in and out of a church, quickly see Michelangelo and move on. It is hard for these fast living people to predict what a church finds disrespectful or what time there will be a mass. Who is going to bother about wearing decent clothes or interrupting the priest?

Santa Maria della Vittoria, a 1620 baroque church, is not only located on a major cross rode but it is a home of one of the most famous Bernini sculptures – the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. Positioned far from the entrance, to the left of the altar, the marble sculpture requires visitors to search for it among few other side chapels.

Via XX Settembre Elevation

The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa

The fact that the mass is underway and that the church is full of seated people praying with the priest doesn’t bother a few visitors which are determined to see the masterpiece. The holly words which are being said don’t seem to be as seductive as the art. As the group of inpatient visitors gets disrespectfully near the priest, a seated monk intervenes. He pulls their short sleeves and asks them to sit down or leave. They sit in the front row and try to be respectful by not getting their big, noisy cameras out, instead they discretely start manoeuvring their iPhones to get the best possible photo of the sculpture.

The concept of seeing a work of art clearly just means having it documented on a camera. You have only seen a masterpiece if you have successfully taken a photograph of it, no matter if the photo is a bit blurry.  After taking a photo of the sculpture, a group of believers in Bernini leave the church.