Sant' Andrea degli Scozzesi (English: St Andrew of the Scots) is a former church in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, near Piazza Barberini

Piazza Barberini

Piazza Barberini is a large piazza in the centro storico or city center of Rome, Italy and situated on the Quirinal Hill. It was created in the 16th century but many of the surrounding buildings have subsequently been rebuilt....

 on Via delle Quattro Fontane

San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane

The Church of Saint Charles at the Four Fountains is a Roman Catholic church in Rome, Italy. Designed by the architect Francesco Borromini, 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...

. Once a haven for Scottish Catholics in Rome, it was deconsecrated in 1962.

History

The church was built under Pope Clement VIII

Pope Clement VIII

Pope Clement VIII , born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was Pope from 30 January 1592 to 3 March 1605.-Cardinal:...

 in 1592 with the title "S.Andrea e S.Margherita regina". It was constructed for the Scottish expatriate community in Rome, especially for those intended for priesthood. The adjoining hospice was a shelter for Catholic Scots who escaped their country because of religious persecutions. In 1615 Pope Paul V

Pope Paul V

-Theology:Paul met with Galileo Galilei in 1616 after Cardinal Bellarmine had, on his orders, warned Galileo not to hold or defend the heliocentric ideas of Copernicus. Whether there was also an order not to teach those ideas in any way has been a matter for controversy...

 gave the hospice and the nearby Scottish Seminar to the Jesuits. It was rebuilt in 1645. They became more important when James Francis Edward Stuart

James Francis Edward Stuart

James Francis Edward, Prince of Wales was the son of the deposed James II of England...

, the Old Pretender set his residence in Rome in 1717. It was abandoned during the French occupation of Rome in the late 18th century. In 1820, religious activity was resumed, but no longer by the Jesuits. It was reconstructed in 1869 by Luigi Poletti

Luigi Poletti (architect)

Luigi Poletti was an Italian neoclassical architect.-Biography:He was born in Modena.He studied under Raffaele Stern, and directed the reconstruction of Basilica of San Paolo fuori le Mura...

. The church was deconsecrated in 1962 and incorporated in a bank (Cassa di Risparmio delle Province Lombarde). The Scottish Seminar also moved away. The Feast of St Andrew is still celebrated here on 30 November.

Art

The simple two-storied Baroque

Baroque architecture

Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...

 façade is only decorated with the cross and two fishes of Saint Andrew

Saint Andrew

Saint Andrew , called in the Orthodox tradition Prōtoklētos, or the First-called, is a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter. The name "Andrew" , like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the 3rd or 2nd century BC. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him...

, the patron saint of Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. The former Scottish Seminar is still decorated with the coat of arms and motto of the country.

The interior of the church was left intact after 1962.

It has two aisles, side altars and barrel-vaulted ceiling. In the centre of the ceiling is a 16th century fresco of St Andrew in Glory.

The high altar was made in the 17th century. The altarpiece from the 18th century is by Scottish painter Gavin Hamilton

Gavin Hamilton (artist)

Gavin Hamilton was a Scottish neoclassical history painterwho is more widely remembered for his hunts for antiquities in the neighborhood of Rome...

, and depicts the Martyrdom of St Andrew. There is also an Enthroned Madonna with Sts Columba and Ninian by Alexander Maximilian Seitz

Alexander Maximilian Seitz

Alexander Maximilian Seitz was a German painter.He studied under Peter von Cornelius, and two early pictures, Joseph sold by his Brethren and the Seven Sleepers, received speedy recognition. Heinrich Maria Hess employed him on the frescoes in the Church of All Saints...

.

On both sides of the sanctuary there are hinged grates covering openings into tribunes where members of the exiled royal family would sit when they attended mass.