Church of the Gesù historical timeline

Last updated on October 8, 2026

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A church designed to be heard in, built on the spot where its founder prayed.

Chronology

1551 — Ignatius of Loyola conceives the church. Structural impact: none yet. What you see today: a building designed from the start around preaching rather than procession.
1550s–1560s — Michelangelo, at the request of the Spanish cardinal Bartolomeo de la Cueva, offers out of devotion to design the church for free. The work is ultimately funded by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, grandson of Paul III — the pope who had authorised the founding of the Society. Structural impact: none from Michelangelo. What you see today: a Farnese building, by the Farnese family architect.
26 June 1568 — construction begins to the design of Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, on the site of the earlier church of Santa Maria della Strada, where Ignatius had prayed before an image of the Virgin. Structural impact: the older church demolished. What you see today: that image, now adorned with gems, in the chapel of Ignatius to the left of the altar.
1571–1575 — the Jesuit Giovanni Tristano takes over from Vignola in 1571; on his death in 1575 the Jesuit architect Giovanni de Rosis succeeds him. Structural impact: continuity of the plan under three hands. What you see today: a single coherent interior rather than a sequence of revisions.
1573 — Giacomo della Porta revises Vignola's façade design. Vignola's rejected version survives in an engraving of this year. Structural impact: the front becomes della Porta's dynamically fused composition rather than Vignola's balanced three superimposed planes. What you see today: the façade itself, and an argument architectural historians have been having ever since.
25 November 1584 — the church is consecrated by Cardinal Giulio Antonio Santorio, delegate of Pope Gregory XIII. Structural impact: completion of the shell. What you see today: the building, before any of its decoration.
1678–1679 — Giovanni Battista Gaulli, called Baciccia, frescoes the Triumph of the Name of Jesus, along with the cupola, lantern, pendentives, central vault, window recesses and transept ceilings. Structural impact: none; the surface changes entirely. What you see today: the single most striking thing in the church.
1696–1700 — Andrea Pozzo designs the St Ignatius Chapel, having won a public contest; the project had earlier been given to della Porta and then to Pietro da Cortona. Structural impact: the left transept becomes the church's masterpiece. What you see today: the lapis-veneered columns and the altar with the Trinity above a globe.
1773 — the Society of Jesus is suppressed, and the Gesù ceases to be the home of its Superior General. Structural impact: none to the fabric. What you see today: a church that outlived the dissolution of the order that built it.
1797 — Pope Pius VI has the colossal silver statue of St Ignatius melted down, ostensibly to pay the war reparations to Napoleon established by the Treaty of Tolentino. Structural impact: the altar loses its centrepiece. What you see today: a copy, probably by Adamo Tadolini working in the studio of Canova, standing where the silver one stood.

Verified against Wikipedia, October 2026.

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Sources & verification Covers the sourced claims on this page.

Checked against Wikipedia — The Gesù was first conceived in 1551 by Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the Spanish founder of the Society of Jesus, and was the home of the Superior General of the Society of Jesus until the wide suppression of the order in 1773, and it is one of the great 17th-century preaching churches built by Counter-Reformation orders in the Centro Storico of Rome, the others being Sant'Ignazio, San Carlo ai Catinari, Sant'Andrea della Valle and the Chiesa Nuova, Although Michelangelo, at the request of the Spanish cardinal Bartolomeo de la Cueva, offered out of devotion to design the church for free, the endeavor was funded by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, grandson of Pope Paul III who had authorized the founding of the Society of Jesus, and the main architects involved in the construction were Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, architect of the Farnese family, and Giacomo della Porta; the church was built on the same spot as the previous church Santa Maria della Strada where Saint Ignatius of Loyola had once prayed before an image of the Holy Virgin, which now adorned with gems can be seen in the chapel of Ignatius, Construction of the Gesù began on 26 June 1568 to Vignola's design, Vignola being assisted by the Jesuit Giovanni Tristano who took over from him in 1571 and who on his death in 1575 was succeeded by the Jesuit architect Giovanni de Rosis, while Giacomo della Porta was involved in the construction of the cross-vault, dome and apse; Vignola's rejected facade design remains in an engraving of 1573, and the church was consecrated by Cardinal Giulio Antonio Santorio, the delegate of Pope Gregory XIII, on 25 November 1584, The most striking feature of the interior decoration of the Gesù is the ceiling fresco, the grandiose Triumph of the Name of Jesus of 1678 to 1679 by Giovanni Battista Gaulli, who also frescoed the cupola including lantern and pendentives, the central vault, window recesses and transepts ceilings, and the ceiling of the apse is adorned by his painting Glory of the Mystical Lamb, The St Ignatius Chapel with the saint's tomb is located on the left side of the transept and is the church's masterpiece, designed by Andrea Pozzo between 1696 and 1700, the altar showing the Trinity on top of a globe whose lapis lazuli representing the Earth was thought to be the largest piece in the world but is actually mortar decorated with lapis lazuli, with four lapis lazuli-veneered columns enclosing the colossal statue of the saint by Pierre Legros which is a copy probably by Adamo Tadolini working in the studio of Antonio Canova, Pope Pius VI having had the original silver statue melted down ostensibly to pay the war reparations to Napoleon established by the Treaty of Tolentino of 1797, and Pozzo having won a public contest to design the altar after the project was designed first by Giacomo della Porta and then by Cortona (October 2026).

Church of the Gesù historical timeline

Chronology

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