Palazzo Barberini  

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Barberini Faun

Palazzo Barberini is a palace in Rome, central Italy, on the piazza of the same name in Rione Trevi.

The sloping site had formerly been occupied by a garden-vineyard of the Sforza family, in which a palazzetto had been built in 1549. The sloping site had passed from one cardinal to another during the sixteenth century, with no project fully getting off the ground. When Cardinal Alessandro Sforza met financial hardships, the still semi-suburban site was purchased in 1625 by Maffeo Barberini, who had come to the papal throne as Urban VIII. Eventually, three great architects worked to create a harmonious whole.

Carlo Maderno, then at work extending the nave of St Peter's, was commissioned to enclose the Villa Sforza within a vast Renaissance block along the lines of Palazzo Farnese; however, the design quickly evolved into a precedent-setting combination of just such an urban seat of princely power combined with a garden front that had the nature of a suburban villa with semi-enclosed garden.

Maderno began in 1627, assisted by his nephew Francesco Borromini. When Maderno died in 1629, Borromini was passed over in favor of Bernini, a young prodigy then known as a sculptor. The two architects worked briefly together on this project and at the Palazzo Spada: works were ended by Bernini in 1633.

After the death of Urban VIII, the palace was confiscated under the Pamphili pope Innocent X, and returned to the Barberini only in 1653.

The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) was signed here on 4 November 1950, creating the European Court of Human Rights, and is a milestone in the protection of human rights