Bridge of Angels
Angel Carrying the Sponge
Ponte Sant'Angelo Angels
Castel Sant'Angelo
Rome Italy
2016

According to the gospels of Matthew and Mark, one of the soldiers who crucified Jesus placed a sponge smeared in vinegar on a stick and pressed it to Jesus' lips right before he died. The ninth angel, by Antonio Giorgetti, is shown observing the scene with deep sorrow. The inscription reads, “They gave me vinegar to drink.”

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The Ponte Sant'Angelo is an ancient Roman bridge made up of five stone arches with five main spans of around 18 meters each, all supported by seven-meter-high piers. Built by Roman Emperor Hadrian, the bridge was originally called Aelian Bridge or Pons Aelius.
Pope Clement VII erected statues of Saints Peter and Paul, in the 16th century at the ends of the bridge. The parapets were adorned with ten more angel statues created by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1688. In today's world, these statues are extremely valuable and noteworthy.

Pope Clement VII erected a toll on Ponte Sant'Angelo in the 16th century and used the proceeds to erect statues of St. Peter and St. Paul. The bridge was embellished in 1688 with ten angel statues, five on either side of the bridge, all sculpted by Lorenzo Bernini. Each angel carries an emblem of Jesus' death and suffering.



Ponte Sant'Angelo, once the Aelian Bridge or Pons Aelius, meaning the Bridge of Hadrian, is a Roman bridge in Rome, Italy, completed in 134 AD by Roman Emperor Hadrian, to span the Tiber, from the city center to his newly constructed mausoleum, now the towering Castel Sant'Angelo. The bridge is faced with travertine marble and spans the Tiber with five arches, three of which are Roman; it was approached by means of ramp from the river. The bridge is now solely pedestrian, and provides a photogenic vista of the Castel Sant'Angelo. It links the rioni of Ponte (which was named after the bridge itself), and Borgo, to whom the bridge administratively belongs.