2-984-247 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Basilica and Monastery of the Quattro Santi Coronati in Rome, c.1809-c.1812. Even now this complex, located halfway between the Colosseum and the basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, still looks like a virtually impenetrable medieval stronghold. According to legend, the ‘Four crowned martyrs’ to whom the church is consecrated were sculptors who refused to make pagan idols. They were tortured by being forced to wear iron crowns with the sharp points pressing into their heads.