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At the end of the left aisle of the Santa Maria Maggiore, right across from the Sistine Chapel, is the Pauline Chapel, which seems a twin to the other even though it was inaugurated about 25 years later. Built by Flaminio Ponzio for Paul V (1605-1621) of the Borghese family, it too is on a Greek cross plan, covered by a dome and faced with extravagant marble decorations. It holds on the altar an ancient and precious icon to which the Roman people have been devoted for numerous centuries, invoked by the name of Salus populi romani (Salvation of the Roman people).
To the sides, funerary monuments to Clement VIII and Paul V, designed by Flaminio Ponzio, were realized in imitation of the two monuments in the Sistine Chapel.
Numerous artists, such as for example the Cavalier d'Arpino, author of the lunette above the altar and the pendentives of the dome, and Guido Reni, who painted the vaults, contributed to the embellishment of the chapel, which in opulence and splendour was meant to exceed every other decoration of the basilica's interior.
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