Church of St. Ignatius (Model)
Model of the Church of St. Ignatius, approximately as it would have been in the year 1870. Fr. Angelo Secchi SJ, director of the Observatory of the Roman College from 1848-1878, constructed an observatory on the roof of the church, with the telescopes supported directly atop the solid columns intended for the nonexistent church dome.
This solid support meant a stable platform from which Secchi could do very sensitive work, including stellar spectroscopy. With a prism mounted to the Merz telescope (in the main dome), he classified more than 4000 stars based on their spectral features. He also studied other areas of astronomy and astrophysics including solar physics, planetary science, and terrestrial magnetism. He had an entire terrestrial magnetism laboratory installed just under the roof in the transept above the altar of St. Aloysius Gonzaga (opposite the domes). His offices and library were under the roof on the other transept, above the altar of St. John Berchmans.
This solid support meant a stable platform from which Secchi could do very sensitive work, including stellar spectroscopy. With a prism mounted to the Merz telescope (in the main dome), he classified more than 4000 stars based on their spectral features. He also studied other areas of astronomy and astrophysics including solar physics, planetary science, and terrestrial magnetism. He had an entire terrestrial magnetism laboratory installed just under the roof in the transept above the altar of St. Aloysius Gonzaga (opposite the domes). His offices and library were under the roof on the other transept, above the altar of St. John Berchmans.
On the model are:
• Large dome: Merz refractor
• Oval shaped dome: Meridian telescope
• Small cylindrical dome: the Cauchy refractor, one of the telescopes from the original Observatory of the Roman College
• Pole just behind the cross: A ball that would be dropped every day at noon. Observers from Castel Sant’Angelo would see the ball drop and would fire a cannon to announce noon to the city.
This model was constructed in 2021 by Br. Robert Macke SJ, curator of meteorites at the Vatican Observatory. Details of the build can be found on his YouTube channel, Macke MakerSpace.