250px, Façade. Santa Maria del Regno is a Romanesque church in Ardara,

province of Sassari The province of Sassari ( it, provincia di Sassari, sc, provìntzia de Tàtari, sdc, prubìnzia di Sàssari, ca, província de Sàsser, french: province de Sassari, co, pruvincia di Sassari) is a province in the autonomous island region of Sa ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

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 ...

History

The church, together with the annexed castle of which ruins remain today, was built in the 11th century by Giorgia, daughter of the Giudice of Torres, as a Palace Chapel. The church is mentioned in the ''Libellus Judicum Turritanorum'' of the 13th century.

Overview

The church was built in dark

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...

stone by Pisan workers (the island in the Middle Ages was under strong influence from the maritime

Republic of Pisa The Republic of Pisa ( it, Repubblica di Pisa) was an independent state centered on the Tuscan city of Pisa, which existed from the 11th to the 15th century. It rose to become an economic powerhouse, a commercial center whose merchants dominated ...

). The façade is divided into five sectors and has a salient-shaped façade. In the middle is the portal, surmounted by a double

mullioned window A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

. The whole exterior of the edifice is characterized by false columns (

lesene A lesene, also called a pilaster strip, is an architectural term for a narrow, low-relief vertical pillar on a wall. It resembles a pilaster, but does not have a base or capital. It is typical in Lombardic and Rijnlandish architectural building ...

s) and

Lombard band A Lombard band is a decorative blind arcade, usually located on the exterior of building. It was frequently used during the Romanesque and Gothic periods of Western architecture. It resembles a frieze of arches. Lombard bands are believed to h ...

s; on the right are the remains of the square bell tower, which is missing the upper part. The interior, on a rectangular plan, has a nave and two aisles divided by columns whose capitals have flower motifs. The nave has a wooden

truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembl ...

es ceiling, while the aisles are

groin vault A groin vault or groined vault (also sometimes known as a double barrel vault or cross vault) is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. Honour, H. and J. Fleming, (2009) ''A World History of Art''. 7th edn. London: Lau ...

ed. In the semi-circular apse is the large

retablo A retablo is a devotional painting, especially a small popular or folk art one using iconography derived from traditional Catholic church art. More generally ''retablo'' is also the Spanish term for a retable or reredos above an altar, whether ...

, the largest 16th-century polyptych in Sardinia,URL visited on January 24, 2009
/ref> located behind the high altar. The table portrays several prophets and saints, as well as episodes in the life of the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

. In the middle, within a niche, is the wooden statue of ''Nostra Signora del Regno'', a "Madonna with Child" wearing royal symbols. The polyptych is dated 1515. The church's columns have 17th-century paintings with Apostles and other Saints, while also present is a lesser retablo from the same school, a carved wooden pulpit and an epigraph celebrating the consecration of the church on May 7, 1107.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maria del Regno Sardinia Churches in the province of Sassari 11th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Romanesque architecture in Sardinia