Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome

Santa Maria Maggiore is a papal basilica and Rome’s largest church devoted to Mary. Notice the broad façade and the layered surfaces that gather centuries of alteration into a single ceremonial front. The present church rose in the years after the Council of Ephesus declared Mary Mother of God, and Pope Sixtus the Third made it a memorial to that decision.

Its early Christian framework has endured despite later additions, an unusual survival in Rome. Within, the nave mosaics unfold episodes from the Hebrew scriptures, while the triumphal arch turns to Christ’s childhood. Their imagery was devised to proclaim Christ’s divinity in the Virgin’s incarnation and the standing of Rome’s Church.

Local legend gives the basilica its snowy title: in the heat of August, snowfall marked the site for Pope Liberius and a Roman patron. Each year on the fifth of August, pale petals drift down during the celebration recalling that tale. This is also among Rome’s Seven Pilgrim Churches, a destination shaped by worship, art, and pilgrimage. Its architect is recorded as Ferdinando Fuga, and its listed style is Renaissance, a manner that revived the visual language of ancient Rome.