Santa Maria Maggiore is one of the oldest and largest churches in Rome, and one of the 4 "major" basilicas in Rome. The traditional account is that in 352 the Blessed Virgin appeared to Pope Liberius in a dream and asked him to build a church in her honor on one of the seven hills of the city on which snow had fallen during the night. The next morning, August 5th, the Pope found out that snow had fallen on the Esquiline Hill and he ordered that the church be built on that hill. The mosaics in the nave were installed during the reign of Pope Sixtus III (432-440). Two chapels were added (late 1500's and early 1600's) to the original church to give it the shape of a Latin Cross. The present exterior dates from the 17th and 18th centuries. The gold on the wooden ceiling is said to be from the first gold shipped back to Europe from the New World.