71 ROME SILENT BEAUTY THE DOMINICAN CHURCHOF SANTA MARIA SOPRA MINERVA IS NAMED AFTER THE TEMPLE THAT WAS BELIEVED TO BE DEDICATED TO THE GODDESS MINERVA, UPONWHOSE RUINS THE CHURCHWAS BUILT IN THE LATE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. IT IS THE ONLY CHURCH IN ROME TOHAVE PARTIALLY PRESERVED ITS GOTHIC INTERIORS, WHICHWERE LATER CONSIDERABLY RESTORED IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. WHAT ESPECIALLY STANDS OUT IN THE SQUARE IS THE ELEPHANT WITH A SIXTH-CENTURY BC EGYPTIANOBELISK ON ITS BACK. IT IS A SCULPTURE OF ASTONISHING PROWESS AND BEAUTY, EXECUTED PERHAPS BY ERCOLE FERRATA TO A DRAWING BY GIAN LORENZO BERNINI IN 1667. AROUND THE BASE OF THE SCULPTURE A LATIN INSCRIPTION BOASTS OF THE ENDLESS KNOWLEDGE OF THE EGYPTIANS, WHICHWAS THEN ABSORBED BY THE ROMAN CIVILIZATION, REACHING ALL THEWAY TO THE BAROQUE AGEWHEN THE BABY ELEPHANT, REFERRED TO BY THE PEOPLE OF ROME TODAY AS “MINERVA’S CHICK,” WAS FINISHED AND POSITIONED.
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