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Chigi Chapel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Chigi Chapel is one of five chapels located within the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo. The Chigi chapel was designed by Raphael as a private chapel for his friend and patron Sienese banker Agostino Chigi, then completed by Bernini more than a century after Raphael's death in 1520. Bernini's commission was requested by Fabio Chigi, who became pope Alexander VII in 1655.
Raphael painted a fresco of four classical sibyls over the archway of the door to the chapel. The chapel contained the early panel of Raphael's The Marriage of the Virgin (now in the Brera, Milan).
The Chigi chapel, unlike other rooms within the church, is replete with statues, bronze reliefs, paintings, marbles and mosaics.
The altar piece of the chapel was painted by Sebastiano del Piombo and the statues of Jonah and Elijah were carved by Lorenzetto. Two niches across from each other, but interactive, contain Bernini's statues of Habakkuk and the Angel, and Daniel.
The tomb of Maria Flaminia Odescalchi Chigi, designed by Posi, is also located within the Chigi Chapel. The Chigi chapel was the site of an episode in Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. The sculpture of Habakkuk and the Angel was one of the four "markers" leading to an ancient lair in the Castel Sant'Angelo.