View source for Giovanni Ciampini

{{Short description|Italian historian and archeologist (1633–1698)}}
{{No footnotes|date=January 2024}}
{{infobox person/Wikidata|fetchwikidata=ALL|birth_place=[[Rome]], [[Papal States]]|death_place=[[Rome]], [[Papal States]]|nationality=[[Italy|Italian]]|parents=Antonio Ciampini and Margherita Ciampini (née Taglietti)| education        = [[University of Macerata]] {{nowrap|([[LL.D.]], 1657)}}}}
'''Giovanni Giustino Ciampini''' (born [[Rome]], 1633 – died 1698 in Rome) was an ecclesiastical [[archaeologist]].

== Biography ==
He graduated from the [[University of Macerata]] as a student of law but soon devoted himself to archaeological interests, which an important office (Magister brevium gratiæ) in the [[Apostolic Chancery]] permitted him to pursue. He devoted himself to the collection of books, coins, and statues, and to the creation of scientific circles for the development of [[antiquarian]] learning; thus he founded, in 1671, a society for ecclesiastical history and, in 1679, an academy of the sciences, the latter under the patronage of his friend, [[Queen Christina of Sweden]].

He continued the school of archaeological research begun by [[Onofrio Panvinio]] and [[Antonio Bosio]], and carried on a smaller scale by [[Raffaello Fabretti|Fabretti]], [[Boldetti]], and [[Giovanni Gaetano Bottari|Bottari]], and later Alarchi and [[Giovanni Battista de Rossi]]. Apart from some minor archaeological studies (1693), he has left two illustrated works:

* "''De sacris aedificiis a Constantino magno constructis''", published in 1693 in Rome, is a history of the ancient churches East and West built by Emperor [[Constantine the Great]]
* "''Vetera monimenta in quibus praecipua . . . musiva opera . . . illustrantur''", published in two volumes in 1690–99 in Rome, is a history of the art of mosaics

Both works contain good illustrations of many ancient Christian edifices and mosaics that have since perished or suffered change and deterioration. Many of his drawings were copies or based on previous works, such as by [[Giacomo Grimaldi]]. His works were edited (Rome, 1747) in three volumes by [[Carlo Giannini (publisher)|Carlo Giannini]].

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:De sacris aedificiis a Costantino Magno constructis synopsis historica pag. 17 Tab. V.jpg|View of the [[Lateran]], from "''De sacris...''" (1693)
File:De sacris aedificiis a Costantino Magno constructis synopsis historica pag. 56 Tab. XV.jpg|Interior of [[old St. Peter's Basilica]], from "''De sacris...''" (1693)
</gallery>

==References==
* {{Catholic|wstitle=Giovanni Giustino Ciampini}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Middleton |first1=William E. Knowles |title=Science in Rome, 1675-1700, and the Accademia Fisicomatematica of Giovanni Giustino Ciampini |date=1975 |journal=[[The British Journal for the History of Science]] |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=138–154 |doi=10.1017/S0007087400013972 |jstor=4025638 }}

== External links ==
{{commonscat-inline|Giovanni Giustino Ciampini}}
* {{DBI |title= CIAMPINI, Giovanni Giustino |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/giovanni-giustino-ciampini_(Dizionario-Biografico)|last= Grassi Fiorentino|first= Silvia|volume= 25}}

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[[Category:1633 births]]
[[Category:1698 deaths]]
[[Category:Italian archaeologists]]