Language Beyond Metaphor: The Structural Symbolism of Borromini's Sant'ivo Alla Sapienza

Abstract

This paper focuses on Francesco Borromini's church Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza, and the relation between Solomonic symbolism and Hebrew linguistics to the structure of the church. Kabbalistic influence during the Renaissance is explored, as well as Borromini's intellectual involvement with the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher. The Solomonic influence present within Borromini?s church is examined through the comparison of architectural features within Sant'Ivo, to the descriptions of the First Temple of Jerusalem described within the book of Kings. Within the book of Kings, there is a specific passage that becomes a clue into an arcane interpretation of Hebrew scripture known as Gematria. Through Gematria, the language of this scripture is thought of as something beyond a method of description; it becomes a cosmological framework by which to interpret the Solomonic meaning of Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza.