The Sant’Andrea al Quirinale is an exploration of Baroque art and architecture, located at a short distance from the San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane. The church was dedicated to the recently appointed saints of Jesuits and was originally intended as part of a monastic complex. It contains a unique centralized oval space dominated by a shorter axis. Bernini centered the entrance at the shorter axis of the transverse oval which juts outward as a curved canopy in the concave-shaped piazza. The church was pushed back to create the small piazza which mirrors the shape of the central oval inside.
From the transverse plan, a series of chapels fill the body of the wall towards the central axis where pairs of marble columns mark the location of the apse dedicated to St. Andrew. The squarish chapels house four other saints on both sides of the principal cross-axis. The section exposes the direct relationship between the hexagonal-coffered dome and the space below. To illuminate the space, a concealed window streams light down into the apse as the dome presides over the oval plan with golden decorations.
