Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica: mosaics, Pope Francis's tomb and visiting tips

The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (St Mary Major) crowns the Esquiline Hill, 500 metres from Termini station. It is one of Rome's four papal basilicas and the only one to have kept its 5th-century early Christian structure, with the nave mosaics commissioned by Pope Sixtus III (432-440). Entry is free, daily from 7am to 7pm; the museum area (loggia, museum, Bernini staircase) requires a ticket. Allow 45 minutes for the basilica and the tomb of Pope Francis, buried here on 26 April 2025, and another hour for the loggia and the museum. The Holy Door opened for the 2025 Jubilee was closed on 25 December 2025 and walled up in January 2026.

Highlights

The mosaics

The panels of the nave, above the columns, and the triumphal arch date from the pontificate of Sixtus III (432-440): they are among the oldest Christian mosaics in Rome. In the apse, the Coronation of the Virgin was commissioned from Jacopo Torriti by Pope Nicholas IV (1288-1292). Bring binoculars or a zoom lens: the Old Testament scenes in the nave are small and set high up.

The nave, the ceiling and the papal altar

The cipollino marble columns come from ancient buildings, the floor is Cosmatesque and the gilded wooden coffered ceiling was designed by Giuliano and Antonio da Sangallo. Beneath the papal altar, the confessio holds the relic of the Holy Crib (Sacra Culla), pieces of wood venerated as those of the Bethlehem manger.

The tomb of Pope Francis

Pope Francis lies in the left aisle, between the Pauline Chapel and the Sforza Chapel, under a simple slab inscribed "Franciscus". Access is free and needs no booking during the basilica's opening hours; keep silent and do not linger in front of the tomb when it is busy.

The Pauline Chapel and the Salus Populi Romani

The Borghese, or Pauline, Chapel holds the icon of the Salus Populi Romani, the Virgin who protects Rome, where Pope Francis came to pray before and after each of his journeys. Opposite, the Sistine Chapel (not to be confused with the Vatican one) was built for Sixtus V. The Bernini family tomb, including Gian Lorenzo's, is a plain slab in the right aisle.

The façade, the loggia and the column

The present façade was built by Ferdinando Fuga for the 1750 Jubilee; its Benediction Loggia shelters a late 13th-century mosaic signed by Filippo Rusuti, which tells the Miracle of the Snow. On the square, the Column of Peace, a monolith brought from the Basilica of Maxentius in the Forum, carries a bronze Virgin from 1614. The Romanesque bell tower is the tallest in Rome.

Opening hours and tickets

Basilica: daily from 7am to 7pm, free entry, no booking, with a security check at the entrance. Liberian Museum Area (museum, Benediction Loggia, Hall of the Popes, Bernini staircase): Monday to Saturday from 8am to 6:30pm (last entry 6pm), Sunday from 12:30pm to 5pm, closed on 1 January, Easter Sunday, 15 August and 25 December. Tickets are sold at the welcome desk under the portico or on the Vatican Museums' online ticket office, which also offers the panoramic terraces and a tour with the basilica's art historian.

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