LightNews — News, ranked by scholars

Anthony Majanlahti

@anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social

Why does #SpoliaSunday matter? Too often, casual onlookers treat it as a collection of random bric-a-brac rather than what it truly was. In medieval Rome, looting ancient ruins was a high-stakes institutional battle. Take the early C13 porch of S. Giorgio in Velabro. #AncientBluesky 🏺 #Rome

PORTICO, EARLY C13. S. GIORGIO IN VELABRO

Here we see the early C13 brick portico and Romanesque campanile of S. Giorgio in Velabro. The view looks up from the cobblestones, focusing on a row of ancient Roman marble columns with classical capitals protected by an iron gate. Above the columns, the long marble architrave features a crisply carved medieval Latin inscription. The text, translated, reads "Stefano della Stella, desiring to capture heavenly things, rare in eloquence, illustrious with the light of virtues, spending his gold, was eager to renew this porch. At his own expense he made it for you, Saint George, he who was a cleric and prior of this church. This place is called by the name of the Golden Sail." This poetic phrase was a grand medieval mistranslation of Velabrum, the actual name of this ancient marshy district situated between the Forum Boarium and the Forum Romanum.

July 5, 2026 at 7:08 PM

Maria Luisa Franciolini 🇮🇹🇻🇦🇪🇺

@mlfranciolini.bsky.social

Arco di Giano e Chiesa di San Giorgio al #Velabro #CartolineRomane #Roma #Rome #Italy #photography

June 21, 2025 at 7:56 AM

Museum

@dailyclassicart.bsky.social

Antonie Sminck Pitloo - "San Giorgio in Velabro in Rome" (1820)

January 24, 2025 at 3:40 AM

Rijksmuseum Art

@rijksmuseumart.bsky.social

San Giorgio in Velabro in Rome
https://botfrens.com/collections/216/contents/1006819

Gezicht door de Romeinse boog Janus Quadrifrons op de kerk van San Giorgio in Velabro te Rome. In de onderdoorgang knielen twee figuren voor de priester die een processie naar de kerk leidt.

August 6, 2026 at 7:28 AM

Rijksmuseum Art

@rijksmuseumart.bsky.social

De boog van Janus quadrifons en een deel van de S. Giorgio in Velabro te Rome #artbots #rijksmuseum
https://botfrens.com/collections/216/contents/1007556

August 24, 2025 at 2:48 PM

Anthony Majanlahti

@anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social

He simply sourced his materials from the ruins of the surrounding #ForumBoarium. To understand the wild, choked landscape he was operating in, we can look to this 1530s sketch by Maarten van Heemskerck, which shows the church nestled amongst a chaotic mess of half-buried ancient monuments.

MAARTEN VAN HEEMSKERCK. THE VELABRUM WITH THE ARCH OF JANUS AND S. GIORGIO IN VELABRO, 1530s. STAATLICHE MUSEEN ZU BERLIN, KUPFERSTICHKABINETT

An ink drawing on toned paper showing a chaotic, semi-urban Roman landscape overgrown with vegetation. On the left stands the massive, medievally fortified Arch of Janus Quadrifrons. To the right, the portico and church facade of S. Giorgio in Velabro sit low in the basin, partially obscured by mounds of dirt and ruined stone walls. A colossal, headless torso drawn on the reverse side of the page bleeds through the paper into the center background, appearing like a phantom of antiquity hovering over the Velabrum.

July 5, 2026 at 7:15 PM

Anthony Majanlahti

@anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social

At the main entrance, lush imperial acanthus friezes have been stripped whole from a classical monument to frame the new church door. It is an act of absolute, unapologetic physical dominance over the monumental classical past. #SpoliaSunday

REUSED ROMAN MARBLE DOOR CASING, EARLY C13. S. GIORGIO IN VELABRO

Here we see the main doorway of S. Giorgio in Velabro. The deep blue wooden door stands partially open, offering a glimpse into the interior where the reuse of antiquity continues with a mismatched nave colonnade and a Cosmatesque marble altar. The doorway itself is framed by an exceptionally grand, recycled ancient Roman marble casing, deeply carved with a classical relief of swirling acanthus leaves and stylized rosettes, showing noticeable weathering and chips from its long history of reuse.

July 5, 2026 at 8:37 PM

Roma Medieval / Pablo Díaz

@romamedieval.bsky.social

Detalle de pavimento cosmatesco de la basilica de San Giorgio in Velabro.
Roma

November 15, 2024 at 1:41 PM

disemino

@disemino.com

On a tranquil spring afternoon, the Basilica of San Giorgio in Velabro, a symbol of faith and history, was shaken by a terrible attack. A tragic event that shrouded the community in a veil of darkness and despair...

🧵👇 read more

July 22, 2023 at 11:14 AM

Nicholas Whithorn

@nickwhithorn.bsky.social

The same night, just a few minutes after midnight, two car bombs explode in Rome, one near the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano and another near the Church of San Giorgio in Velabro. Nobody is killed in these attacks but 22 people are injured >> 45

January 18, 2025 at 4:04 PM

Anthony Majanlahti

@anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social

#EpigraphyTuesday this week offers us a painted #inscription now in the #VaticanMuseums, a property document bequeathing an apartment building, the #Insula Sertoriana, to the writer's daughter, Aurelia Cyriaca, c. 100-150 CE. The text is written in beautiful rustic capitals. #AncientBluesky 🏺

FRESCO INSCRIPTION OF THE INSULA SERTORIANA, 100-150 CE. VATICAN MUSEUMS

In 1819 this written inscription in red paint was found on the wall of an ancient building 6 Roman palmi under the street, near the church of S. Eligio de' Ferrari in the Velabro. It says "I want this estate, the Insula Sertoriana, to belong to my daughter Aur[elia] Cyriaca" and goes on to describe it: "6 apartments upstairs and ten shops downstairs, and space under the stairs. [May she enjoy it] happily". The word "cinacula" ("cenacula") refers to apartments of the artisan class. The rent from this building would have given Aurelia Cyriaca a comfortable income but not a huge one. The term "Sertoriana" probably refers to the first builder of the insula. This text is written in clear and formal "rustic" text, with lovely flourishes like the descending L and the rising Y and T.

March 24, 2026 at 12:38 PM

Somerset Confidential

@somersetconf.bsky.social

For #FrescoFriday another wonderful religious fresco from Rome. The apsidal fresco of #Christ and #StPeter in San Giorgio in #Velabro painted probably at the end of the 13th century by #PietroCavallini

January 31, 2025 at 4:52 PM

Antonio

@crialesi.bsky.social

San Giorgio al Velabro, Roma. Interno.
#blackandwhitephotography #fineart

February 16, 2026 at 1:48 PM

Archinect

@archinect.bsky.social

A new WaPo feature explores how Rome’s San Giorgio in Velabro church—built with mismatched, reused elements—offers timeless lessons in sustainability and circular design for modern architecture.

archinect.com/news/article...

'Recycled' Roman churches offer clues for modern sustainable architecture, WaPo deep-dive argues

In an extensive Washington Post article, Philip Kennicott and Naema Ahmed reflect on the San Giorgio in Velabro church in Rome, whose

archinect.com

April 7, 2025 at 5:39 PM

JP Pasdeloup

@jppasdeloup.bsky.social

Pour compléter la réponse donnée sur l'autre réseau :
La sublime Farnesina
Le cimetière "anacattolico" (ou cimetière protestant)
Le combo San Giorgio del Velabro - Santa Maria in Cosmedin (qui vaut bien plus que la seule Bocca della Verita)

March 15, 2025 at 6:54 PM

Anthony Majanlahti

@anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social

The result is a harsh, beautiful jigsaw puzzle. If you zoom in on the corner, you can see where the medieval brickwork swallows the C3 CE Arch of the Moneychangers, trapping a relief of an imperial soldier in the masonry.

STRUCTURAL INTERSECTION OF THE PORCH, EARLY C13, AND THE ARCUS ARGENTARIORUM, 204 CE. S. GIORGIO IN VELABRO

Here we see the point where the brickwork of the church portico intersects with the Arch of the Moneychangers. Ochre intonaco and flat red bricks crash directly into a white marble relief that depicts the Genius Populi Romani, which originally formed a pair with Hercules, the genius loci of the Forum Boarium, on the opposite side of the dedicatory inscription. This structural intersection physically absorbs the imperial monument into the fabric of the church wall, turning the ancient arch into a load-bearing support for the Romanesque bell tower. This structural integration ultimately guaranteed the monument's survival and protected it from future spoliation, deliberately appropriating pagan decoration to celebrate the triumph of the Church over the classical past.

July 5, 2026 at 8:22 PM

Longtail News

@longtail-news.bsky.social

Feed: "Archinect"
By: Niall Patrick Walsh on Monday, April 7, 2025

'Recycled' Roman churches offer clues for modern sustainable architecture, WaPo deep-dive argues

In an extensive Washington Post article, Philip Kennicott and Naema Ahmed reflect on the San Giorgio in Velabro church in Rome, whose

archinect.com

April 7, 2025 at 4:35 PM

Anonima friulana 🍉🇵🇸

@squo.bsky.social

Pochi minuti dopo avvengono due attentati alle chiese di Roma presso la basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano e la chiesa di San Giorgio al Velabro

July 27, 2025 at 8:12 PM

Roma Medieval / Pablo Díaz

@romamedieval.bsky.social

La iglesia de San Giorgio in Velabro y el arco de Jano. Roma
🖌️Pintura de Antonie Sminck Pitloo (1820)

November 11, 2024 at 2:55 PM

disemino

@disemino.com

The Basilica of San Giorgio in Velabro has become a symbol of strength and hope for all who approach it, a vivid reminder that light can always shine, even in the darkest times.

July 22, 2023 at 11:15 AM

SMKbot

@smkbot.bsky.social

Titel: Parti ved Cloaca Maxima | Parti ved Cloaca Maxima - udsigt fra den østlige skråning af Monte Palatino over kirken S. Giorgio in Velabro mod Campidoglio, Rom
Kunstner: Eckersberg, C.W.
Produktionsår: 1814
Link til SMK: https://open.smk.dk/artwork/image/KKS9473

June 5, 2026 at 6:00 AM

francogafforelli.bsky.social

@francogafforelli.bsky.social

Milano
27 luglio 1993
ore 23.14

un’autobomba esplode in via Palestro.
43 minuti dopo una deflagrazione a Roma, davanti alla Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, e una terza davanti a San Giorgio al Velabro.

Sono ordigni di Cosa Nostra.

#27luglio1993

#cosanostra
#milano
#roma
#pernondimenticare