Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, Rome

Dating from 1280, Santa Maria sopra Minerva is one of the major churches of the Roman Catholic Order of Preachers (better known as the Dominicans) in Rome, Italy. The church's name derives from its being built over the ruins or foundations of an earlier pagan temple (sopra = above/over in Italian) . While many other medieval churches in Rome have been given Baroque makeovers which cover Gothic structures, the Minerva is the only extant example of original Gothic architecture church building in Rome. Behind a restrained Renaissance-style façade, the Gothic interior features arched vaulting. The vaulting was restored in the 19th-century neo-gothic style - painted blue, trimmed with brilliant red ribbing, and decorated with gilded stars. The titulus of Sanctae Mariae supra Minervam was conferred on 28 June 2018 by Cardinal António Marto.