What is happening here every day? ⤵️ Enter the Church of the Gesù at 5:30PM.. Here you will find the fabulous Macchina Barocca (Baroque Machine)! 🤩 What is it? It was a way of evangelizing through spectacular and sensational theatrical shows People entering this church would enter a sort of ecstatic state and feel transported into the story and faith of St Ignatius A little bit of context.. 🔸The Church of the Gesù (Chiesa del Gesù, in Italian) is the mother church of the Jesuit order, whose founder was Ignazio di Loyola 🔸The Jesuit have always been very successful at evangelizing, because of their great communications skills. They knew how to get to the hearts of the people. And here you can have an idea of that 😊 🔸This church that we see today was built in the 1600s. After the period of the Counter Reformation (when people got away from the Church of Rome due to scandals and loss of trust) the Church of Rome aimed at bringing as many people back to church. 🔸And the Baroque Machine was one of the ways to do so 🔸Since the 1600s, every day at 5:30PM the show starts! On the left nave music starts, with a voice narrating the story of St Ignazio di Loyola. 🔸The painting on top of the altar starts sliding down, revealing the super precious statue of St Ignazio 🔸Today we have speakers playing music, but originally the music and the narration would be played LIVE! 🤩 🔸Imagine.. there were musicians, singers, funambulists lighting the candles.. what an incredible show it must have been! 🔸At the end of the show the whole church is illuminated, revealing the incredible paintings and frescoes of the dome and the ceilings! 🤩 🔸Be on time, and you will be rewarded for your visit!😉 🔸Have you ever heard of the Baroque Machine? Add it to your bucket list next time you’re in Rome! 😉 ➡️Want to discover more hidden gems, itineraries and tours of Rome? Go to our link in bio! #rome #hiddengems #rometours #rometravel #romeplaces #rometips #thingstodo #thingstodoinrome #thingstoseeinrome