Cappella del Pontificio Collegio Scozzese is the mid 20th century private chapel of the Pontifical Scots College, and is located at Via Cassia 481. This is just before that road enters the suburb of Tomba di Nerone, 8 km from the city centre.
History[]
The Pontifical Scots College used to be located next to the national Scots church of Sant'Andrea degli Scozzesi on the Via delle Quattro Fontane, but moved to this site in 1964. The former church was abandoned and deconsecrated, an act which is now seriously regretted. This chapel is private, and not a national church; the Scots do not now have one in Rome.
Appearance[]
The plan is an irregular heptagon (seven-sided). There is no entrance façade, since the chapel is attached to the main block and entrance is through the latter. To either side of the entrance line is a short wall at a very slight angle, then two long main walls and finally two walls that meet at a point behind the altar.
The walls are blank red brick, decorated with Greek crosses formed of bricks in relief. The roof is double-pitched, having a gentle slope increasing to a steeper one towards the ridge, and has a raised gable over the altar. The satellite photos show the exposed concrete roof-beams shaped like inverted Y's with the stems rising to the ridge. There are five pairs of these.
The fenestration is a strip under the rooflines at the sides, plus two right angles separated by a brick pillar in the prominent gable which faces the road. Unusually for a seminary chapel, this one has a public profile and is a landmark on the highway. The gable roofline has a wide inverted V-shaped bargeboard in pale brown, bearing the large inscription Salva me bona crux ("Save me, good cross") with a Greek cross in outline in the apex.
The chapel has a crypt, which has a subsidiary altar dedicated to St Margaret of Scotland. The stained glass behind the altar depicts events in the history of the college.
External links[]
College website (pictures of chapel awaited)