novel's main character meets an elephant made of stone carrying an obelisk, and the accompanying woodcut illustration in the book is quite similar to Bernini's design for the base for the obelisk. The curious placement of the obelisk through the body of the elephant is identical. The sturdy appearance of the structure earned it the popular nickname of "Porcino" ("Piggy") for a while. The name for the structure eventually changed to Pulcino, the Italian for a small or little "chick". This may have been a reference to the comparatively short height of the obelisk or, an obscure reference to the major charity of the Dominicans to assist young women needing dowries, who made a procession in the courtyard every year. The latter were once depicted in a local painting as three tiny figures with the Virgin Mary presenting purses to them. Cultural references The elephant and obelisk monument and the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva feature in the novel 'The Tomb of Alexander' by Sean Hemingway. In the novel it is claimed that a secret passageway beneath the church leads to a chamber beneath the elephant monument which contains the body of Alexander the Great, placed there in the 17th century by Pope Alexander VII. This is entirely a work of fiction and the theory is unproven. Dali's painting 'Les Elephants' includes two elephants with long spindly legs that appear to be carrying obelisks; on closer inspection, the obelisks are floating. Dali also utilizes this motif in Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening (1944) and The Temptation of Saint Anthony (1946). See Monica Bowen's blog Alberti's Window. Gallery See also Roman Catholic Marian churches References Notes Citations Bibliography Silvia Koci Montanari, Le Chiese papali a Roma: sulle tracce dei sepolcri dei Papi (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2000), pp. 243 ff. Giancarlo Palmerio and Gabriella Villetti, Storia edilizia di S. Maria sopra Minerva in Roma, 1275-1870 (Roma: Viella, 1989). Gianfranco Spagnesi, Antonio da Sangallo il giovane: la vita e l'opera (Roma: Centro di studi per la storia dell'architettura, 1986), pp. 109–115 (tombs of Leo X and Clement VII). External links Santa Maria sopra Minerva: official site June Hager, "Santa Maria sopra Minerva" Woodcut elephant that inspired Bernini Maria Minerva Maria sopra Minerva Dominican churches Sites of papal elections Burial places of popes 13th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Conversion