Quick facts

432 AD

Year of founding under Pope Sixtus III

30+

Popes who substantially patronised the basilica

4

Papal chapels within the basilica

1st

Basilica to hold a Holy Door in the Jubilee tradition

From Sixtus III, who raised the original structure to honour the Council of Ephesus's declaration of Mary as Theotokos, to Francis, who visited here to pray before and after every pontifical journey, the basilica has been a thread woven through 1,600 years of papal history. Every apse, every chapel, every gilded ceiling carries the mark of a pope.

This is not merely a church. It is the autobiography of the papacy, written in stone, mosaic, and marble.

Basilica as a palimpsest of popes

Each century brought a new pontiff who left his mark; a chapel here, a ceiling there; transforming the basilica into a layered record of papal ambition, piety, and taste.

Pope Liberius - 352 AD

The legendary first foundation

Architecture

According to tradition, Liberius commissioned the first church on this site following a miraculous August snowfall that outlined its footprint. The feast of Our Lady of the Snows (August 5) commemorates this event to this day.

Pope Sixtus III - 432–440 AD

The triumphal arch mosaics

Mosaic · Theology

Following the Council of Ephesus (431), Sixtus rebuilt the basilica and commissioned its most celebrated feature — the 5th-century triumphal arch mosaics proclaiming Mary's divine motherhood. These remain among the oldest intact mosaic programmes in Christendom.

Pope Paschal I - 817–824 AD

The apse mosaic & relic translation

Mosaic · Relics

Paschal remodelled the apse and installed the stunning gold-ground mosaic of Mary Enthroned — depicting her crowned and imperial. He also transferred the relics of numerous martyrs, solidifying the basilica's sacred geography.

Pope Nicholas IV - 1288–1292

The nave & apse mosaic by Torriti

Mosaic · Franciscan Patronage

The first Franciscan pope commissioned Jacopo Torriti to create the magnificent apse mosaic — the Coronation of the Virgin — still visible today. He also contributed substantially to the nave's Cosmatesque floor.

Pope Sixtus V - 1585–1590

The Sistine Chapel of the Basilica

Architecture · Funerary

Not to be confused with the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican, Sixtus V built the lavish Cappella Sistina here as his own mausoleum and as a reliquary chapel for the sacred crib. Domenico Fontana designed it as a Greek-cross chapel encrusted with precious marble, frescoes, and the papal tombs of Sixtus V himself.

Pope Paul V - 1611–1614

The Pauline Chapel (Borghese Chapel)

Architecture · Marian icon

Paul V built the opulent Cappella Paolina as a deliberate counterpart to the Sistine Chapel across the nave. It houses the revered Salus Populi Romani icon in a jewelled frame and contains the tombs of Paul V and Clement VIII, making it one of the most sumptuously decorated spaces in all of Rome.

Pope Benedict XIV - 1741–1750

The new apse & baroque additions

Architecture · Facade

Benedict commissioned Ferdinando Fuga to design the baroque loggia facade visible today, preserving the 13th-century mosaics by Filippo Rusuti in the upper tier. This act of conservation-within-transformation typifies the basilica's layered history.

Paul VI to Francis - 1964-2025

The modern papal devotion

Living tradition

Every modern pope has maintained a devotional relationship with the basilica. John Paul II visited regularly; Francis prayed before the Salus Populi Romani before and after every international journey, a practise that became one of the most photographed rituals of the contemporary papacy.