Chiesa di San Luca Evangelista al Prenestino

It was built between 1955 and 1958 based on a design by architects Lucio and Vincenzo Passarelli, and solemnly inaugurated by Monsignor Luigi Traglia on June 20, 1957. The church is a parish church, erected on January 2, 1956 with the decree of Cardinal Vicar Clemente Micara Neminem sane latet. It is also the seat of the cardinal title of San Luca a Via Prenestina, established by Pope Paul VI on April 29, 1969. The church was visited by John Paul II on November 4, 1979. Since 1996, it has undergone major renovations that have greatly altered its appearance. In fact, originally the body of the sacred building was not divided, as it appears today, by a horizontal floor to create a lower hall, completely altering the spatial relationships. It is one of the first churches of the 1950s, which react to the monumental academicism still of fascist heritage and propose the modern style in religious architecture, in which the adoption of exposed reinforced concrete goes beyond the purely technical meaning, imposing itself as a formal fact, in close connection with the structural one. (G. Carpaneto, op. cit., p. 229) The façade is divided into three parts: the central part is in red brick, in which a modern porch stands out, with a high relief made of enameled clay and cement, the work of Angelo Biancini, where biblical and historical episodes and figures are represented, including, on the right, Saint Luke; and two lateral parts, mirroring each other, composed of a large full-height glass window. The church is flanked by a tall bell structure. The low entrance portal leads into an atrium from which you can directly access the crypt, and, via a flight of stairs, the church above. The crypt and church have a slightly sloping floor towards their respective altars. The interior of the church has a rectangular plan, with three naves, divided by concrete pillars, placed very close to the walls, so as to reduce the two lateral naves to a minimum and give ample space to the central nave. The pillars support the concrete beams of the ceiling, whose wavy structures create a plastic effect of movement and chiaroscuro. The presbytery and the back wall are entirely covered with mosaics. On the back wall, the Holy Spirit and God the Father are depicted at the top; in the center a large cross from which a bronze Christ emerges; and on its sides the figures of Mary and John. Behind the seat, there is a mosaic with a blessing Christ Pantocrator, flanked by representations of architecture and landscapes in the style of Leonardo. On the sides of these, there is an icon depicting the Virgin with child on the right; on the left is the tabernacle, whose door, also in mosaic, depicts the symbols of the loaves and fishes. To the right of the main altar is the baptismal font, composed of a circular basin covered with a mosaic with aquatic motifs; to the left is the pulpit with the depiction, in mosaic, of the symbols of the four evangelists. Behind the baptismal font and the pulpit, the apostles are depicted in two separate mosaics. On the side walls, paintings with figures of saints are hung; in the right aisle is a large wooden statue of Saint Luke, while in the left aisle are devotional statues. On the pillars of the aisles you can see the panels of the Via Crucis in enameled ceramic, and in the right aisle a triptych, also in ceramic, depicting the Annunciation; both works are by Angelo Biancini.