The Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli al Campidoglio is a titular Basilica in Rome, located on the top of the Capitoline hill. Originally it was called Santa Maria in the Capitoline hill, but in the 14th century it was renamed. Medieval legend says that the Church was built on the spot where Tiburtina the sibyl foretold to the Emperor Augustus the imminent coming of Christ. For this reason the figures of Augustus and the sibyl is depicted on both sides of the arch above the main altar of the Church. In later legend, the prophecy of the coming of Christ is replaced by the apparition of the virgin Mary. In the Middle ages, condemned criminals were executed directly on the steps of the Basilica: so, it took the death of Cola di Rienzo, the self-proclaimed tribunes and political figure of the 14th century (near the place where now you can see his statue).

If you go back to the historical facts, then it is known that the Foundation of the Church was laid on the site of a Byzantine Abbey is first mentioned in 574 year. Around the first temple was built many different buildings, the ruins of which, for example, the small Church of San Biagio del Mercato, were discovered in the 1930-ies.

In the 9th century, the Basilica was handed over to the Benedictine monks, and 4 of a century later became the property of the Franciscans, under which it has acquired its Romano-Gothic style. The arch separating the Central nave from the side aisles, lean on columns, among which you will not find two identical – they are taken from ancient ruins.

In the Middle ages Santa Maria in Aracoeli al Campidoglio became the center of religious life of Rome, especially in the 14th century, when Cola di Rienzo was the initiator of the construction in front of the Church of the monumental stairway of 124 steps (it was designed in 1348 Simone Andreozzi). In 1571, the Church celebrated Marcantonio Colonna, commander of the fleet in the victorious battle of Lepanto. On this occasion the vaults of the Basilica were covered with gold leaf and painted. But in 1797 the Church was secularized and a while turned into the stable.

Today in the Church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli al Campidoglio virtually no preserved original mosaics and frescoes, and the Gothic window, which visitors can see from the steps of the ladder, is really the only Gothic element of the interior. Of the attractions of the temple include the frescoes of the 15th century work of Pinturicchio (in the chapel of Bufalini), tombstone Donatello, the tomb of Cecchino dei Bracci, made by his friend Michelangelo, a copy of the wooden statues of the Christ Child from the 15th century (the original was stolen in 1994), as well as the relics of Saint Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine the Great, and the grave of the poet Giulio Salvadori.