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  Beato Nicola de Rupe is a small deconsecrated 18th century oratory in the Palazzina del Segretario della Cifra at the east end of the Palazzo Quirinale. The postal address is Via del Quirinale 30, in the rione Trevi (the other side of the street is in the rione Monti).

The dedication was to St Nicholas von Flüe.

History[]

When the Manica Lunga of the Palazzo Quirinale was completed by Ferdinando Fuga in the reign of Pope Clement XII, a small oratory was included on the ground floor at the back of the easternmost block of the range. This block was then known as the Palazzina Fuga, after the architect.

The oratory was for the use of the detachment of the Swiss Guards on duty to guard the Pope in what was the main papal residence at Rome. However, unlike the other chapels in the palace it seems to have been open to the public because it features on the Nolli map of 1748.

The dedication was appropriately to a Swiss mystic, who was canonized only in 1947 as the patron saint of Switzerland (hence the name of the chapel has him as a beatus).

The oratory was deconsecrated very soon after the palace became the residence in Rome of the kings of Italy, after 1870.

Location[]

The Palazzina is now the Ufficio Presidenziale Polizia di Stato, and has a large entrance door on the Via del Quirinale. To get to the oratory, visitors used to walk along a passage from this entrance, passing through the entire width of the building and out into the open air again. Then they would turn left, to find the oratory which was on the ground floor in the north-west corner of the block.

The location is now inaccessible to visitors.

Appearance[]

The oratory had no separate architectural identity. It was very small, with a square ground-plan and an attached semi-circular apse. Four pilasters shown on the map indicate that there was possibly a central internal dome.

External links[]

Interactive Nolli Map Website

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