St. Paul's Within the Walls (Rome, Italy)
St. Paul's Within the Walls
St. Paul's Within the Walls (San Paolo dentro le Mura), also known as the American Church in Rome, is a church of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe on Via Nazionale in Castro Pretorio, Rome.
It was the first Protestant church to be built in Rome. Designed by English architect George Edmund Street in Gothic Revival style, it was built in polychrome brick and stone and completed in 1880. The church contains mosaics which are the largest works of the English Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones.
St. Paul’s prides itself as being a beating heart of musical expression in the city of Rome. The church enjoys an eclectic program of services and concerts throughout the year, being one of the most sought-after venues for classical music in the city of Rome. Space is used for concerts by a variety of external musicians Monday through Saturday and the church music department runs its own ‘Luminaria’ concert series on Sunday evenings.
The Anglican choral tradition is firmly rooted in the worship at St. Paul’s. Having grown out of the Anglican Reformation, which took place in various stages during the 16th century, music, which had always played a role in divine service, was reconsidered and underwent new developments in the light of the new liturgies and the adoption of English as the official language of worship.
The American Episcopal Church began life as a natural development of the Anglican Church in the New World. It has adopted as part of its worshiping life not only the traditional repertoire derived from musical importations from Europe but also indigenous and novel musical forms.