Christina of Sweden in Rome

The arrival of Christina of Sweden in Rome was the culmination of a long process already prepared at homeland. Christina became a sovereign, on her father’s death, in 1632.
She decided to abjure the Protestant faith in which she was raised, to embrace Catholicism, in 1652.
For this reason, the sovereign was strongly opposed in her country and finally, on 23 February 1654 she decided to abdicate and voluntarily exile herself to Rome.

As a consequence of the religious and political choices, Cristina’s journey, and the transfer to Rome, went far beyond the personal affair, fitting into the delicate balance of powers between the Catholic Church and the Protestant world.
For this, every gesture, every apparatus, every moment of the complex and articulated ceremony that accompanied the event was enriched through symbols and allegories, as usual at the time.

A first incognito entry was planned, late in the night of the 20^th December, throughout the Vatican gardens ‘door called “Pertusa” , then Christina was housed in the “Torre dei Venti”, a wing of the Vatican Palaces.

A triumphant entrance was then planned, through the “Porta del Popolo” . This involved a redevelopment of the urban spaces along which the parade would take place and the realization of those rich scenographic apparatuses and complex protocols that made so much fuss in the chronicles of the time.

On 23 December 1655, Christina made her triumphal entry into Rome through the “Porta del Popolo”, which Alessandro VII (Fabio Chigi) had Bernini restore for the occasion.

The event, as one of the most important events in the history of Rome in the seventeenth century, was immortalized with the inscription “FELICI FAUSTOQUE INGRESSUI”, placed on the top of the City Gate.

From Porta del Popolo (Porta Flaminia), the fabulous parade unfolded along “le strade del Corso, di San Marco, del Giesù, de’ Cesarini, della Valle, di Pasquino, di Parione, di Banchi, di Borgo nuovo fino a San Pietro”
(cit. da “C. Festini, I trionfi della Magnificenza Pontificia”)

The Parade

“The chronicles tell of the Queen’s solemn entry into the city, which appeared truly memorable for its political-ideological, religious and symbolic significance, emphasized by the splendor and colors of the clothes and liveries, by the ephemeral apparatus, the quantity of carriages, litters, horses and mules, by the great number and the high rank of the participants, lay and ecclesiastical,  the vastness of their followers, the special effects (colours, sounds of trumpets and drums, illuminations, gunfire of muskets and cannons, marvellous situations, ornaments, symbolic objects), by the display of colorful drapes and tapestries on the facades of the buildings, the competition of an amazing crowd that seemed to occupy every free space… the ride is the central core of this baroque festival that invests all the inhabitants, from the high clergy and nobility to the common people, as well as the whole of the city… It was the true scenic gravity centre of the feast, created for the queen and around her figure.” (cit from De Caprio 2018, p. 209. Ed.’s trad.)

Coat of arms of Queen Christina of Sweden 

The coats of arms of the Wasa, surmounted by the royal crown, were exhibited along the arcade of San Pietro and the Basilica was sumptuously decorated with tapestries and precious vestments.The queen’s emblem consists of a golden handpiece, that is the woven wheat ears of the insigniaWasa heraldry used by Bernini in the decoration of Porta del Popolo, in the festoon surmounted by the coat of arms of the Chigi (six mountains under a nine-pointed star).Abdicating, Christina, chose as her own Weapon, the golden handpiece, leaving Wasa’s Lions and the three Crowns, at that time common to both of Sweden and Poland and Denmark. (De Caprio 2018, p. 205, nota 67)On that happy day, the Queen, received by Alexander VII in the Sala Regia, humbly bowed three times before the pontiff, kissed his foot, his hand, and expressed her jubilation for having converted to the Catholic faith. s

Two days later, on Christmas’ day, the former sovereign was confirmed by the Pope, taking the name of Alessandra. Cristina also adopted Mary, as middle name, as requested by the pontiff, but she always signed Cristina Alessandra.

Christina’s first visits to Rome

In the days following her official entry into Rome, Christina began a long series of formal visits to the landmarks of the city:

• to the Vatican Library .
• to the  “Biblioteca Alessandrina”: recently founded by Pope Alexander VII in Sant’Ivo alla Sapienzaseat of the first Roman University.
  
  

On January 14^th, 1656, Christina visited La Sapienza, where she attended some lectures and received 53 books written by University’s teachers, as a gift.
Four days later she went to the “Collegio Romano”.

“Christina left the room accompanied by the cardinal and for the same
lodge passing, stopped little space in the middle of it, near the balustrade, to see the perspective of the courtyard. She went down the same staircase on the right, passed through the right porch, stopped for a short time to take a look at the first staircase, the same as the second. Then she briefly visited the church of Sant’Ivo, stopping to observe the dome and the lantern (the upper dome) that was still under construction. She was also shown some plans and elevations of the building that had been prepared by Borromini to show them to the pope.“

Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza

Pope Alessandro Borgia (1492-1503) wanted to found the oldest university building in Rome: there he intended to bring together all the knowledge and different fields of study that took place in the City. So the Sapienza building is based on a fifteenth-century plant, but its splendid current appearance is due to the genius of Gian Luigi Bernini, commissioned by Pope Urbano VIII Barberini to erect a “chapel”.Of the symbolic triumph created by the baroque architect you can admire the mixed plan in the shape of a six-pointed star, the famous spiral “lantern” and a myriad of small bees, present everywhere in the monument. This is a symbol of purity, hard work and unconditional generosity since ancient times, taken up by the Barberini in the coat of arms of the Family.

• to the Collegio Romano, where she met father Athanasius Kircher, who gave her a small silver obelisk, with a commendation in thirty-three different languages. The German Jesuit, mathematician, physicist, philosopher, historian and lover of oriental languages, taught here for more than forty years and, in 1651, established a “Wunderkammer” that formed the nucleus of the Museo Kircheriano.

Athanasius Kircher Museum

“She also visited the “gallery” where father Kircher had gatheredspecimens of nature, art and objects from all parts of theworld through missions.In the garden she saw herbs, plants, metals,”and other rarer things, to compose the triaca and the balsam oflife… stopped for a while to consider the grass called Fenice,which, as it were from the Phoenix, perpetually sprouts in the watersfrom her ashes; she still saw fountains and clocks, which by virtueof the magnet with occult force they are turned around”.(Galeazzo Gualdo Priorato, Historia della Sacra Maestà di Cristina Alessandra di Svezia, Roma, 1656, cit. from Partini 2010. Ed.’s trad.)
browse the catalog of the Kircher Museum collection (de Sepibus 1678)

The Collegio Romano

The College was established by Sant’Ignazio of Loyola, after the foundation of the Compagnia di Gesù. His intention was to provide youth training from elementary school to university.The seat of the College (from 1584 to 1870) was built by Pope Gregorio XIII in the homonymous square, in the heart of the Rione Pigna. Within the College, father Athanasius Kircher placed there his “cabinet of curiosity” (1651). This, inspired by the “wunderkammers” widespread in intellectual and scientific circles since the Renaissance, is considered the first museum in the world. Today the building houses the Liceo Classico Statale Ennio Quirino Visconti and the headquarters of the Ministry of Culture.

• to Campidoglio: On July 7^th, 1656, Christina was received with great honors on the Capitol where, to commemorate her visit, a marble slab was placed, carved with the shape of the “mountains” of the coat of arms of Alessandro VII, with in the centre the profile of the queen crowned by the star of the Chigi.

Piazza del Campidoglio

Arch of the city founded by Romolo, seat of numerous and important temples, first of all the Temple of Giove Capitolino. In 87 B.C. Quintus Lutazius Catulus built there the Tabularium, the building used as a state archive, whose remains, between the end of the eleventh and twelfth century, were transformed into a fortified residence by the baronial family of the Corsi. With the birth of the municipal institutions, in 1144 the palace became the seat, as Senatorial Palace, of the reconstituted Roman Senate. After the important interventions carried out in the fifteenth century, the layout of the square is dictated by the powerful project of Michelangelo Buonarroti, which however was completed much later.Christina of Sweden could admire there the statue of Marcus Aurelius and the new Palazzo dei Conservatori, but not the paving designed by the artist, made only in 1940 on the basis of the reproduction that the engraver Étienne Dupérac that handed down to us of the project of Michelangelo.

Cristina’s coming to Rome coincided with the anniversary of Alexander VII. This was the opportunity for fabulous celebrations that kept her very busy, until she officially settled in Palazzo Barberini. There she was triumphantly welcomed by a crowd of at least 6000 spectators, as well as by a long procession of camels, elephants lavishly dressed and with wooden towers placed on their backs.

Palazzo Barberini

The Palace, which is located in Rome in Via Quattro Fontane, was conceived as a coronation of the rise of the Barberini family.Maffeo Barberini (Florence 1568 – Rome 1644) distinguished himself for his love for the arts and his patronage, already as cardinal.When he rose to the papal throne on August 5th, 1623 as Pope Urbano VIII, his patronage came to blossom: an era of great artistic splendour emerged.Constantly concerned to create a state of privilege for his family, the Pope wanted to build a dwelling worthy of a court, to establish its power and make it like the residences of the great Roman families.The palace was built in the period 1625-1633, enlarging the pre-existing building of the Sforza family, whose sudden financial backlash interrupted the renovation works and led in 1625 to the sale of the property to the Barberini, which acquired the entire block between Via Quattro Fontane and Via Pia (now Via XX Settembre). An elder Carlo Maderno was commissioned of the project, with the help of Francesco Borromini. At the death of the first, Borromini will join Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who passed the direction of the yard.Bernini partly respected the original Maderno’s design, but the creation of the large central hall, which occupies the two floors of the building, and the adjoining oval room were important contributions of his own.His was the conception of the glazed loggia, through between the facade and the underlying porch, as well as the quadrangular staircase that gives access to the main floor.Moreover, Borromini contributed to the splendid helical staircase, at the opposite end of the portico.The rooms were decorated with interventions of the most important artists of the time: the great vault of the central hall was frescoed by Pietro da Cortona with the Triumph of Divine Providence, symbolizing the spiritual and temporal glory of the family. Pietro, as an architect, also played a decisive role in the design of the theater, built in the courtyard of the Cavallerizza Palazzo Barberini.So richly conceived according to the canons of the Roman Baroque, the palace was precious not only for its architecture and the artistic manifestations that took place there, but also for the sumptuous collection that lent itself to host.Starting from the pontificate of Urban VIII and on the impulse of the fervent activity of urban transformation that was undergoing the city in those years, the collections of the Barberini family were enriched throughout the seventeenth century. However, by the end of the century, the glory and wealth of the family slowly declined. The last descendant, Cornelia Costanza (1716-1797), was married to Giulio Cesare Colonna di Sciarra, eldest son and heir of the Colonna family.The finds of ancient Rome in the collection had suffered various difficulties and dispersions since the eighteenth century, but were still very conspicuous in 1934, thanks to the federcommesso who, confirming the passage from the Papal States to the Kingdom of Italy, had also preserved other important Roman princely collections, such as those of Doria Pamphili, Torlonia and Borghese.In that year, on April 26th, a very controversial Royal Decree abolished the constraint in exchange for just 16 paintings (out of about 640), allowing the dispersion of the Barberini’s collections abroad. So, works of ancient statuary, paintings of Dürer, Caravaggio, Guido Reni, Guercino and Poussin, as well as an innumerable number of minor artists, left Italy. The only positive consequence of the sale of the Barberini collection was to raise a scandal such as to make it inevitable the creation of new and urgent protection rules that would prevent in the future a loss of that size.Meanwhile, the Palace had remained in the hands of the Barberinis’ heirs.Unfortunately, with the unification of Italy, the area where the house is located was involved in the speculation and development of the Capital, with the construction of ministries along Via XX Settembre.The garden was spared from complete parcelling, sacrificing marginal strips towards the Via Pia, where were built Palazzo Bourbon Artom, Palazzo Calabresi, Palazzo Baracchini, the building of the Stato maggiore della Difesa and, along the carriage ramp of Palazzo Berberini was built a large greenhouse (1875).In the years of fascism (1938) the buildings “for the family”, along Via delle Quattro Fontane, were replaced by the “Palazzo dei Beni stabili” and behind the cork house was built the Palazzo Savorgnan of Brazzà (1936, Giovannoni and Piacentini), in whose foundation, during the excavations, a second-century mithraeum was found.In 1949 the Palace was purchased by the Italian State and now it houses part of the important National Gallery of Ancient Art and the Italian Institute of Numismatics.

Christina’s stay in Rome

In the months to come the former sovereign stayed first at Palazzo Farnese  (from December 26^th, 1655), specially renovated for the occasion by the owner Duke of Parma.
Here Christina began to lead an almost irreproachable life, receiving Communion and continuing to attend churches, monasteries and monuments, but her attitude concealed in reality quite another nature. Soon she became impatient with religious practices and began to deal with art, music and entertainment, increasingly irritating Pope Alessandro VII. Cristina returned to Rome on May 15^th 1658, after a series of journeys outside Italy, and resided in the beautiful , belonging to Cardinal Mazzarino. (cit. from Lovelli 2013. Ed’s tranl.)

Palazzo Farnese

At the end of the fifteenth century Alessandro Farnese, created cardinal at 25 years on September 25th 1493, buys, in the heart of the district Regola, a few steps from the Tiber, the old Palazzo Ferriz and its pertinences.The ambitions of Alessandro Farnese are directed towards a new project for a dwelling worthy of a candidate to the papal throne.The construction of the Palazzo Farnese began in 1514, under the direction of Antonio da Sangallo, the Younger.The palace’s works take on new impulse when Alessandro was elected Pope on October 13th ,1534 taking the name of Paolo III. On the death of Sangallo (1546), takes the direction of the yard Michelangelo, to which important modifications are due in the facade, with the realization of polychrome games in the brick facing, that will be highlighted by the recent restorations carried out for the Jubilee of 2000.At the death of the Pope, his nephew Cardinal Ranuccio Farnese entrusted Vignola with the direction of the work and commissioned the Mannerist Francesco Salviati to paint the fresco in the Sala dei Fasti Farnesiani, with the task of exalting the pontificate and the glories of the Farnese.At the end of the century it will be Giacomo della Porta to finish the works of the rear facade and the construction of the Palace.The subsequent heirs will make other improvements and enrichments to the Farnese family Roman home, through the work of the brothers Annibale and Agostino Carracci, who fresco the cabinet of Cardinal Odoardo better known as “dressing room of Hercules” and made the frescoes of the Gallery. Finally, in 1603, were built the terrace and the small palace of Cardianale Odoardo, on the Tiber banks.
During the seventeenth century, the Farnese family progressively shifted its interests in Parma; the Palace experienced a phase in which important tenants cohabited.In particular, thanks to the family’s connections to the throne of France, the residence hosted, throughout the seventeenth century, the ambassadors of Kings Luigi XIII and Luigi XIV, among these illustrious guests to remember the presence of Cardinal Alphonse-Louis de Richelieu, brother of Cardinal Armand-Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu, Prime Minister of Luigi XIII.And in this very context, on December 26th, 1655 that the transfer, in a wing of the Palazzo Farnese, of the former Queen Christina of Sweden, takes place.The eighteenth century sees a progressive dispossession of the building by the heirs of the family. In 1731, on the death of Antonio Farnese, Duke of Parma and Piacenza, Elisabetta, last heir, married to Filippo V of Spain, left the Farnese properties to her son Carlo of Borbone, first king of the Regno delle Due Sicilie, then called to become Carlo III of Spain in 1759, that began the transfer to Naples of the prestigious Farnese collection.On September 3rd,1808 Gioacchino Murat, newly elected King of Naples, received the homage of his new subjects in the Carracci Gallery.During the nineteenth century the Borbone made some changes and restorations, by the architect Antonio Cipolla, and commissioned the decoration of the rooms and dressing rooms of the piano nobile to the Grassi brothers.In 1863 Francesco II di Borbone Re delle Due Sicilie, due to the occupation of Naples by Garibaldi troops, moved into exile in Rome, in Palazzo Farnese.With the events following the capture of Rome and the Unification of Italy, the Palace became the seat of the Embassy of France, through a lease agreement with the Borbone delle Due Sicilie, followed by a purchase agreement by France.oday the French diplomatic office is still located inside the Building where, on the second floor since 1875, the Ecole Française de Rome took on institutional headquarters along with its splendid library of Archaeology and History of Art. From the twentieth century the subsequent restoration of the facade and the Palace will be taken care of by the Italian State which, exercising the right of pre-emption in 1936, took over the property, signing a lease with France for 99 years.

Palazzo Mazzarino – Rospigliosi

The Palazzo Mazzarino – Rospigliosi (now Pallavicini Rospigliosi) was built by the Borghese family near the Quirinal Hill, on the ruins of the Baths of Constantine Emperor, now incorporated into the basement of the Casino.The building was commissioned by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paolo V, as a large residence of the family built next to the papal residence of the Quirinal Palace, the construction was first entrusted to Flaminio Ponzio, whose death was succeeded by the architect Carlo Maderno, the garden embellished by the “Casino dell’Aurora” was designed by Giovanni Vasanzio.The palace then passed to Giovanni Angelo Altemps, who bought it in 1616, having it refined by Onorio Longhi.Six years later only, it was sold to the Bentivoglio, then passed to Lante and then to Cardinal Mazarino and, by him, to his heirs Mancini. During this time, it served as the seat of the French embassy before it was transferred to the more spacious Farnese palace.In 1704, the palace was purchased by Prince Giovanni Battista Rospigliosi, nephew of Pope Clemente IX, and his wife, Princess Maria Camilla Pallavicini, and became the home of the Rospigliosi Pallavicini family, who still owns a large portion.Sold by the Rospigliosi following a serious financial crisis, the rest of the building for many years became the headquarters of the Federconsorzi and is currently the headquarters of Coldiretti.The most interesting artwork is represented by the Casino dell’Aurora which houses the homonymous fresco by Guido Reni (1614).On the ceiling of the small room, the artist depicted Apollo in his chariot preceded by Aurora, which brings light to the world: a very dear theme to Roman classicism.Guido’s fresco recalls the reliefs of ancient sarcophagi, of which the facade of the Casino is richly decorated.A probably prototype of this work is a picture of the Farnese Gallery – belonging to Agostino Carracci – depicting Aurora and Cephalus.On the walls Paul Bril painted the four seasons, two triumphs were painted by Antonio Tempesta.The Building preserves the Pallavicini Art Gallery, whose first nucleus, created by Cardinal Lazzaro Pallavicini, now includes more than 540 paintings, drawings and sculptures by artists such as Annibale Carracci, Pietro da Cortona, Nicolas Poussin, Botticelli, Lorenzo Lotto (Triumph of Chastity), Diego Velázquez, Pieter Paul Rubens, Domenichino, Luca Signorelli, Guido Reni and Guercino; it constitutes, with the collections owned by the families Colonna and Doria-Pamphilij, one of the largest private art collections in Rome.

Later Christina wanted to live in the Palazzo Riario at the Lungara (now Palazzo Corsini), which she appreciated the which he appreciated the location at the foot of the Janiculum and the beautiful gardens and the location at the foot of the Gianicolo. To this aim, in March 1659, she commissioned her friend’s and collaborator, Cardinal Decio Azzolino, to arrange his installation at the Palace (Partini 2010; Lovelli 2013), of which he undertook restoration and embellishments. 

Particularly dear to her was the garden, she contributed to enrich it with rare and exotic plants, forming the original nucleus of the Botanical Garden of Rome, where you can still admire some plane trees dating back to the time of the sovereign.
During the restorstions, first years were spent by Christina in a secondary house, now no longer existing: a rural casino near the Palace, where she moved till the completion of the works in 1663.
Having become his definitive residence, Christina placed her small and varied court in the palace that soon became the seat of intrigue, diplomatic travels, parties and gallant adventures, but also of important intellectual relations: in 1674 the Royal Academy was founded, to which was added an Academy of Physics, Natural History and Mathematics.
Love and interest for the arts and for sciences and the innate patronage of this cultured and intelligent woman, were the foundations from which the Academy of Arcadia was born, immediately after her death and in her memory.

Palazzo Riario at the Lungara

Palazzo Riario, now Palazzo Corsini, seat of the Accademia dei Lincei, was erected in the fifteenth century for Cardinal Domenico Riario, nephew of Sisto IV (Francesco della Rovere), who welcomed artists and writers around him, including Michelangelo and Erasmus of Rotterdam.Christina continued this tradition, with her patronage for artists and scientists; here she reopened the Accademia Reale (1674) and lived there until its death, in 1689.

The patronage of the former sovereign – Theatre, music and Baroque parties

From the very beginning of her stay in Rome, Christina distinguished herself by her perfect patronage, surrounded by musicians, artists and writers including Alessandro Scarlatti, Arcangelo Corelli, Bernardo Pasquini ed i poeti Alessandro Guidi e Vincenzo Filicaia.
In 1670, with the help of Conte Giacomo d’Alibert, she founded the Tor di Nona Theater .

The Tor di Nona Theatre

The Tor di Nona Theatre, also known as the Apollo Theatre in Tordinona, was founded by Christina of Sweden in 1670 to allow the theatrical performances of the artists she promoted and supported.Count d’Alibert helped Christina in the realization of her project. He interceded with the Pope Clemente IX for the sale of a property, previously owned by the Orsini family, where now are the banks of the Tiber on the Lungotevere Tordinona.Previously the building was used as a prison until 1657, and subsequently as an inn.The setting fitted the purpose, in fact earlier, on several occasions, an attempt was made to transform it into a theatre.  But the policy of the previous Pope Alessandro VII, opposed to worldly events, had failed the project.The work to adapt the building to the theatre was entrusted to renowned architect Carlo Fontana.The hall, about 16×22 meters, was “U” shaped, in the tradition of the Italian theatre, composed of six orders of boxes (other sources speak of seven or eight orders).The wooden building was decorated inside by the painters Magno and Jovanelli and was accessible from both land and river.The inauguration took place in the spring of 1670 with a show by Tiberio Fiorilli, who was entrusted with the entire theatrical season.Usually, the representations were allowed only during the carnival period. So d’Alibert was displeased to learn that Filippo Acciaiuoli, a frequent visitor to the drawing room of the Academy of Christina of Sweden, had obtained permission from the new pontiff, Clemente X, to represent plays outside the right period.For this reason, in order to make the set-up possible, the Tordinona theatre passed into the hands of Acciaiuoli, who rented it for one thousand two hundred and fifty scudi a year (Guzzi 1998).Under the “artistic direction” of Acciaiuoli, the stage was trodden between 1671 and 1674 also by women, and that was an absolute novelty for the time.In 1671 the plays “Amanti, che credete”, “Chi mi conoscera” di Alessandro Stradella, “Il novello Giasone” and “Scipione Africano” di Acciaiuoli; in 1672 “O ve’, che figurace” di Stradella and in 1673 “L’amor per vendetta, overo L’Alcasta” di Bernardo Pasquini, had their absolute premiere.In 1675 the theatre was closed for the celebrations of the Jubilee. From this moment on, the Teatro Tordinona suffered various vicissitudes, several times destroyed and rebuilt.There was also, in 1831, an intervention in the facade of the architect Giuseppe Valadier, commissioned by the new owner Alessandro Torlonia.During the nineteenth century the theatre rehabilitated its name, in 1870 was added a royal box, in honour of the King of Italy Vittorio Emanuele II di Savoia. In 1882 the world premiere of Donizetti’s “Le duc d’Albe” and, in 1887, of Stanislao Falchi’s “Giuditta”, were represented.Despite the success, in 1888 the works for the construction of the banks of the Tiber, whose continuous flooding affected the safety of the city and its inhabitants, made necessary the demolition of the building.Only in 1925, where once stood the theatre. a memorial stele, with an epigraph of Fausto Salvatori, was built.

The Carousel Parade at Palazzo Barberini – February 29^th, 1656

The presence of Christina offered the opportunity for the preparation of sumptuous feasts, an occasion immediately took by the most powerful families who contended for the primacy of power of which Rome was undisputed representative.

So the Barberini, recently back from France, on the occasion of the Carnival of 1656 organized an event destined to remain famous in the local chronicles, and not only.

“The Carnival Carousel is held ideologically and allegorically, in a decidedly different way from the Saracen Carousel of ’34. First of all, the chosen place: no longer a famous town square but the courtyard of the family Palace (Palazzo Barberini alle Quattro Fontane n.d.r.).
A tighter and more collected space, in its theatrical values, that proposed in terms of nostalgia the refined option of princely courts of the sixteenth and of the early seventeenth century, for more exclusive outdoor shows and courtiers. There the courtyard-square value was a decisive model for the development of the theater room itself, with the upper gallery or windows overlooking the courtyard to suggest a vertical use.
The Cortile della Cavallerizza, on which the monumental entrance to the Palazzo was on the side of the City, closed by a long wall and which was accessed through the majestic portal of Pietro da Cortona overlooking the former Piazza Grimana, now Barberini, presented himself as a real princely court. In this sense the “Teatro della Comparsa” will be set up, demolishing for the occasion also some houses.”
(cit. from Chiappara 2014, Ed’s transl.)

For the occasion Giovan Francesco Grimaldi was in charge of the project of the theatre, the costumes, the harness of the horses and the machines.
An essay on the spectacular nature of the planned program can easily be imagined from the description of the events that left to us Conte Galeazzo Gualdo Priorato in his “Historia” upon Queen Christina of Sweden:

“On February the 28th evening’s, the Carousel Joust began with the entry into the courtyard of the two teams of riders who were to face each other, with their respective wagons. They are the Romans, dressed in silver and blue, followed by the chariot of Roma-Amore pulled by the Grazie, and the Amazzoni, in red and gold dresses, followed by the chariot of Indignazione pulled by the Furie… After a music Dialogue, began the carousels of knights with rich costumes and very high hairstyles with coloured plumes. Highlight of the show is the entrance of the Hercules’ chariot, a horrifying Dragon shaped machine. This, with Hercules on his back, dressed with the skin of the lion Nimeo, accompanied by maidens who distributed golden apples of the Esperidi, vomited burning flames. Finally, the Sun Chariot triumphantly entered, represented as a shining divinity with the four seasons and the twenty-four hours at its feet”.
(cit. da Chiappara 2014, Ed’s transl.)

Evidence of the great “media” echo of the event can be found in the large painting of Filippo Gagliardi and Filippo Lauri, now in the Museum of Rome.

In February 1689, Christina became seriously ill; the certainty of a near end prompted her to write a letter to ask the pope forgiveness for all the troubles she had caused. Her strong nature kept her alive until April when, due to a bad relapse, she died at six in the morning of the 19th. In her will she named Cardinal Azzolino sole heir.  It wasn’t even two months that he followed her too, leaving the inheritance to his nephew Pompeo Azzolino.
Cristina had appointed the Pope as her will executor. He set up a four-day funeral vigil at Palazzo Riario and ordered a solemn funeral to be celebrated in the Church of Santa Maria in Vallicella .  Christina was placed on a sumptuous canopy, in the centre of the nave illuminated by three hundred torches, with the royal crown on her head, for the last farewell. Then, she was buried, always by Pope’s claim, inside the Vatican Grottoes , below Saint Peter’s Basilica 13. , next to the remains of Matilda of Canossa (1046-1115) (Lovelli 2010).

n 1696, in honour of the late sovereign, Pope Clemente XI had a monument built by the architect Carlo Fontana, to commemorate her wonderful conversion and as a sign of gratitude of the city of Rome. It was finished in 1702 and placed inside the Vatican Basilica.