San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane

INTRODUCTION:

        巴洛克一词的原意是奇异古怪，特别意指“畸形的珍珠”。典型实例有罗马的圣卡罗教堂。巴洛克式的世俗建筑的中心是法国。巴洛克式的建筑重要特点有：
       （1）长, 狭窄的教堂中殿由更加宽广, 偶尔地圆形式替换，对光、或者强壮的光和树荫对比、单色画作用, 或一致的照明设备的剧烈的用途通过几个窗口表示；
       （2）对装饰品的丰富的应用途，木头(经常被镀金), 膏药或灰泥、大理石或虚假制成使有大理石花纹) ；
       （3）大规模天花板壁画；
       （4）内部经常是设有绘画和雕塑（特别是在巴落克式样晚期）； 
       （5）葱圆顶是普遍存在的。

         The Church of Saint Charles at the Four Fountains (Italian: Chiesa di San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane also called San Carlino) is a Roman Catholic church in Rome, Italy. The church was designed by the architect Francesco Borromini and it was his first independent commission. It is an iconic masterpiece of Baroque architecture, built as part of a complex of monastic buildings on the Quirinal Hill for the Spanish Trinitarians, an order dedicated to the freeing of Christian slaves. He received the commission in 1634, under the patronage of Cardinal Francesco Barberini, whose palace was across the road. However, this financial backing did not last and subsequently the building project suffered various financial difficulties. It is one of at least three churches in Rome dedicated to San Carlo, including San Carlo ai Catinari and San Carlo al Corso.
    

         The monastic buildings and the cloister were completed first after which construction of the church took place during the  period 1638-1641 and in 1646 it was dedicated to Saint Charles Borromeo. Although the idea for the serpentine facade must have  been conceived fairly early on, probably in the mid-1630s, it was only constructed towards the end of Borromini's life and the upper part was not completed until after the architect's death. The site for the new church and its monastery was at the south-west corner of  the "Quattro Fontane" which refers to the four corner fountains set on the oblique at the intersection of two

roads, the Strada Pia and the Strada Felice. Bernini's oval church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale would later be built further  along the Strada Pia.