Object Description
216 PIUS IX Mastai-Ferretti, Pope 1846-78 1854
Obv. Bust to left, wearing skullcap, mozzetta and stole. Around, PIVS IX . PONT . MAX . ; below, I . BIANCHI F .
Rev. Interior of Basilica of Saint Paul. Around, PIVS . IX . P . M . BASILICAM . PAVLI . APOST . AB . INCENDIO . REFECTAM . SOLEMNI . RITV . CONSECRAVIT . IV . ID . DEC . MDCCCLIV *; below, I . BIANCHI . F . ; in exergue, AL . POLETTI . ARCH . INV .
Bronze, struck, 82 mm.
The Basilica of Saint Paul, which had burned in 1823, was rebuilt under Pius and his predecessors. Although a team of architects was employed, most of the work was done by Luigi Poletti (1793-1869), beginning in 1833. This medal commemorates the reconsecration of the church in 1854.
Bibl.: Mazio (1885), no. 730; Martinori, fasc. xxiii-xxiv, p. 138.