Santa Maria del Popolo
Soon after its transfer to the prestigious Lombard Congregation Santa Maria del Popolo was reconstructed between 1472 and 1477 on the orders of Pope Sixtus IV. This was part of the ambitious urban renovation program of the pope who presented himself as "Urbis Restaurator" of Rome. The medieval church was entirely demolished and a new three-aisled, Latin cross shaped basilica was built with four identical chapels on both sides, an octagonal dome above the crossing and a tall Lombard style bell-tower at the end of the right transept. The result of this reconstruction was an early and excellent example of Italian Renaissance architecture in Rome. In spite of the many later changes the basilica essentially kept its Sistine form until today.
Monuments in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo
Another Renaissance monument on the same pillar is composed of a single table of inscription set in a coloured marble aedicula which is crowned by an arched pediment. The only sculpted parts are the upper frieze with the finely carved head of a winged cherub and a folded drapery in low relief between the giallo antico corbels of the lower part. The simple monument was built for Geronimo de Borgne, a priest from the Diocese of Cambrai who held the positions of cubicularius, scutifer and scriptor in the Roman Curia. He left some of his wealth to the basilica with the condition of celebrating two masses for the salvation of his soul every day. He died in 1589 at the age of 75 years.