Rebuilding St. Paul's Outside the Walls
Architecture and the Catholic Revival in the 19th Century

Traces the reconstruction of the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, providing a new prehistory of the great Catholic revival after 1850.

Richard Wittman (Author)

9781009414524, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 25 January 2024

448 pages
26.1 x 18.5 x 2.9 cm, 1.17 kg

'An indispensable volume for studying nineteenth-century Rome and for understanding a still-debated era such as the Restoration.' Ludovica Scalzo, Catholic Historical Review

In 1823, the fourth-century basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls in Rome was destroyed by a catastrophic fire, prompting debate as to whether, and in what style, it should be reconstructed. Two years later, Pope Leo XII made the unprecedented decision to rebuild St. Paul's as an exact replica of its predecessor, which resulted in the most expensive construction project in Rome since the early modern rebuilding of St. Peter's. In this study, Richard Wittman traces this reconstruction within the context of the Church's struggle to adapt to a radically changed and changing world. He offers new perspectives on European architectural modernity and its negotiations with the past, and problematizes received ideas about the sources and significance of architectural historicism. Proposing a new prehistory of the great Catholic revival after 1850, Wittman's study demonstrates the key role that religions motivations played in the formation of modern mentalities, and particularly the historicist component.

I. Fire in the Temple: 1. Disenchanting Histories
2. 'A Portent, Beyond Statues Sweating Blood in the Forum…'
3. Future Visions
4. Broadening the Debate
5. Reframing the Debate
6. Catholic Romanticism
II. Resurrecting San Paolo: 7. Matters of Money
8. Resisting Resurrection
9. The End of a Generation
III. Reimagined Sacred Histories: 10. Luigi Poletti and the Challenge of Rebuilding San Paolo
11. Peter and Paul
12. Material Histories
13. Prelude to a Revolution
14. Eighteen Forty-Eight
IV. From Paul to Mary: 15. Pius IX and Romantic Aesthetics
16. Two Days in December.

Subject Areas: Church history [HRCC2]