Bologna Cathedral ( it, Cattedrale Metropolitana di San Pietro, ''Cattedrale di Bologna''), dedicated to

Saint Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupat ...

, is the

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations ...

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different na ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, and the seat and the metropolitan cathedral of the

Archbishop of Bologna The Archdiocese of Bologna is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Northern Italy. The cathedra is in the cathedral church of San Pietro, Bologna. The current archbishop is Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, ...

. Most of the present building dates from the 17th century, with a few parts from the late 16th century.

History

There was already a cathedral on the site (on the present Via Indipendenza) in 1028, accompanied by a pre- Romanesque

campanile A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tow ...

with a circular base (in the architectural tradition of

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the c ...

). This church was destroyed by a devastating fire in 1141. It was reconstructed, and consecrated by

Pope Lucius III Pope Lucius III (c. 1097 – 25 November 1185), born Ubaldo Allucingoli, reigned from 1 September 1181 to his death in 1185. Born of an aristocratic family of Lucca, prior to being elected pope, he had a long career as a papal diplomat. His pa ...

in 1184. In 1396 a high

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cul ...

(''protiro'') was added to the west front, which was rebuilt in 1467. From about 1477 the Ferrarese painters

Francesco del Cossa Francesco del Cossa (c. 1430 – c. 1477) was an Italian Renaissance painter of the School of Ferrara, who after 1470 worked in Bologna. Cossa is best known for his frescoes, especially his collaboration with Cosimo Tura on a cycle of the mo ...

and

Ercole de' Roberti Ercole de' Roberti (c. 1451 – 1496), also known as Ercole Ferrarese or Ercole da Ferrara, was an Italian artist of the Early Renaissance and the School of Ferrara. He was profiled in Vasari's ''Le Vite delle più eccellenti pittori, sculto ...

worked in the Garganelli Chapel on the creation of a cycle of

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plast ...

es which later had a significant influence on Niccolò dell'Arca and

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was ins ...

. The frescoes were lost in subsequent reconstruction except for a very few fragments. In 1582

Pope Gregory XIII Pope Gregory XIII ( la, Gregorius XIII; it, Gregorio XIII; 7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585), born Ugo Boncompagni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 May 1572 to his death in April 1585. He is best known for ...

elevated the Bishop of Bologna to Archbishop, and accordingly the cathedral was elevated to the rank of "metropolitan church" (a bishop's seat with jurisdiction over other bishops and dioceses in its territory). By order of Cardinal

Gabriele Paleotti Gabriele Paleotti (4 October 1522 – 22 July 1597) was an Italian cardinal and Archbishop of Bologna. He was a significant figure in, and source about, the later sessions of the Council of Trent, and much later a candidate for the papacy in 1590, ...

a radical remodelling of the interior of the building began in 1575, of which the

crypt A crypt (from Latin '' crypta'' " vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a c ...

and the Greater Chapel (''Capella Maggiore'') survive. The alterations were so extensive however as to cause the vaults to collapse in 1599, and the decision was then made to rebuild the main part of the cathedral from scratch. Work on the new building started in 1605. A new façade was added between 1743 and 1747, to designs by the architect

Alfonso Torreggiani Alfonso Torreggiani (1682–1764) was an Italian architect of the Rococo period, principally associated with Bologna. Life Torregiani was born in Budrio. An apprentice of Giuseppe Antonio Torri, he became intensely active in the city of B ...

, on the instructions of

Pope Benedict XIV Pope Benedict XIV ( la, Benedictus XIV; it, Benedetto XIV; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758. Pope Be ...

Description

The present interior is emphatically

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

, giving an impression of majesty and grandeur. Among the works of art are an ''

Annunciation The Annunciation (from Latin '), also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the biblical tale of the announcement by the ang ...

'' by Ludovico Carracci (a fresco in the central lunette of the presbytery), a Romanesque ''

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagi ...

'' in cedarwood, and a sculptured group in

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terra ...

depicting the ''Compianto su Cristo morto'' ("Lament over the Dead Christ"), by

Alfonso Lombardi Alfonso Lombardi (c. 1497–1537), also known as Lombardi da Lucca, Alfonso da Ferrara and as Alfonso Lombardo, was an Italian sculptor and medalist who was born in Ferrara, Italy in 1497, and died in Bologna in 1537. He was very active in Bol ...

, of the early 16th century. In the

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...

are early 20th-century paintings by Cesare Mauro Trebbi (1847–1931) including ''

Saint Anne According to Christian apocryphal and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come o ...

in Glory''. Cattedrale di Bologna - Lamentation for the dead Christ Alfonso Lombardi

Campanile

The early

with the circular base has never been rebuilt, although from the 13th century onwards it has often been suggested that it should be, and the ancient internal structure is still visible. The bell tower accommodates the bell known as "La Nonna", which at a weight of 3300 kilograms is the largest bell that can be rung by the Bolognese method of bell-ringing.

Notes

Sources

Website of the Archdiocese of Bologna: Cathedral

Website of the Direzione Regionale per i Beni Culturali e Paesagistici della Emilia-Romagna: Chiesa cattedrale metropolitana di San Pietro
{{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in 1148 12th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Roman Catholic churches completed in 1747 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Roman Catholic cathedrals in Italy Cathedrals in Emilia-Romagna Roman Catholic churches in Bologna