Page 7 - monument

CHIESA DI SAN GIORGIO AL VELABRO E ARCO DEGLI ARGENTARI
The church is one of the oldest in Rome.
Its construction, by Greek monks dedicated to collecting charity and distributing it to the poor, began as early as 600 AD. incorporating Roman constructions of the III century. One hundred years later it was definitively consecrated to St. George, the holy warrior killed in Cappadocia, placing the relic of the skull under the altar.
There were nume- rous restorations also due to fre- quent flooding, due to the nearby sewer Massima which carried the river water when it rose in level.
It is one of the few
churches in Rome
that have kept the
same facade since
the Middle Ages
but, unfortunately,
in 1993, a bomb
completely de-
stroyed the portico. It was meticulously reconstructed piece by piece identical to the original inclu- ding the inscription that surrounds it which says: "Stefano dalla Stella, wishing to obtain eternity, park in eloquence and famous for the light of virtue, spending gold, renewed the pronaos, with he made his possessions for you or St. George of which this cleric was prior of this church, this place near the Veil in the forename is called gold "
On the right side of the façade we literally find a marble arch known as the “argentari”.
It was in 204 A.D. by bankers in honor of Septimius Severus and his family.
His son, Caracalla, not only killed his younger sister Geta but also condemned her to the so-called "Damnatio memoriae", that is, her name and her effigy were removed from all the monuments. Insi- de, on the right side we can see in the bas-relief the third figure on the right canceled and replaced with a frieze.
In the Middle Ages there was the legend of a treasure hidden inside and in fact it was pierced seve- ral times from all sides in its vain search. This can be clearly seen inside on its left side.
At the top left, in the corner there is the bas-relief of a demigod very revered in these parts: Hercules