One of Pope Paul V's Enterprises
Santa Maria Maggiore Fountain
Following the completion of his massive project to bring the Aqua Paola to Rome and the construction of the two large fountains, one on top of the Janiculum Hill and one at the bottom at the end of the Via Giulia, Pope Paul V soon moved on to new enterprises involving water. As well as the gardens and courtyards of the papal residences (which included an enormous number of fountains) he put his mind to supplying water to a district that so far had none at all, the Borgo. The Borgo is the area squeezed between the Tiber and the Vatican. I am going to ignore this area, whose fountains have now vanished, and, for the moment, I shall put off dealing with a number of the Roman Vatican fountains. Now I want to look at those built by Paul V, using the Aqua Felice, to ornament the square in front of the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major).
Sixtus V had already raised almost all the ancient obelisks that had been lying about all over Rome, so between 1613 and May of the following year, Pope Paul V made do with putting up a fluted column (14.3m high) taken from the already meager remains of Constantine's basilica in the Forum. On top of the column Paul V placed the statue of Her Most High Majesty the Queen of Heaven, inside a half-moon, with her Son Jesus Christ Our Lord in her arms. The statue was made in all gilded bronze. The architectural model had been made by the French sculptor Guillaume Berthelot and the person in charge of construction was Carlo Maderno, who at that time was also very busy elsewhere. Maderno also served as an architect of the Reverend Fabric of St. Peter's. He was heavily involved with building the imposing facade of the Vatican basilica.
