Andria Cathedral (, ''Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta'') is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

Andria Andria (; Barese: ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Apulia region of Southern Italy. It is an agricultural and service center, producing wine, olives and almonds. It is the fourth-largest municipality in the Apulia region (behind ...

Apulia Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian language, Italian name Puglia (), is a Regions of Italy, region of Italy, located in the Southern Italy, southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Strait of Ot ...

, Italy, which up to 2009 was in the

Province of Bari The province of Bari (; ; ) was a province in the Apulia region of Italy. Its capital was the city of Bari. It has an area of , and a total population of 1,594,109 (2005). On 1 January 2015 it was replaced by the Metropolitan City of Bari. Lis ...

but from then onwards part of the newly formed

Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani The province of Barletta-Andria-Trani () is a provinces of Italy, province in the Apulia region of Italy. The establishment of the province took effect in June 2009, and Andria was appointed as its seat of government on 21 May 2010. It was creat ...

. It is dedicated to the

Assumption of the Virgin Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows: It leaves open the question of whether Mary died or whether she was ra ...

and is the seat of the Bishop of Andria.

Overview

The present cathedral was built by the Norman Geoffrey of Hauteville, lord of Andria, on top of an earlier small church of the 7th-8th century, which forms the present

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

. It received further extensive refurbishment and reconstruction in the mid-14th century in the Late Gothic style, and again later in the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

style. The cathedral was severely damaged by a fire in 1916 and was again restored in 1965. The frequent rebuildings have given what is basically a Norman church a predominantly Late Gothic appearance. The crypt, dedicated to the Holy Saviour (''San Salvatore'') - unlike the main cathedral, which is dedicated to the Assumption - contains the tombs of two of the wives of

Emperor Frederick II Frederick II (, , , ; 26 December 1194 – 13 December 1250) was King of Sicily from 1198, King of Germany from 1212, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220 and King of Jerusalem from 1225. He was the son of Emperor Henry VI of the Ho ...

, Queen Isabella II of Jerusalem (Yolande) and

Isabella of England Isabella of England (1214 – 1 December 1241) was an English princess of the House of Plantagenet The House of Plantagenet (Help:IPA/English, /plænˈtædʒənət/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''plan-TAJ-ə-nət'') was a royal hou ...

.A brief account of the exhumation and examination of the coffins of the two empresses b
Professor Fornaciari
in 1993, when the unexpected remains of several additional bodies were discovered, i

( The cathedral owns a gold

reliquary A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', ''Chasse (casket), chasse'', or ''phylactery'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary, or the room in which one is stored, may also be called a ''feretory''. Relics may be the purported ...

of special importance, and two major 19th-century paintings by Michele de Napoli.

Notes

Sources and external links

Catholic Encyclopedia: Diocese of Andria

Apulia Tourist Board official website: brief description of cathedral and crypt
Roman Catholic cathedrals in Italy Cathedrals in Apulia Churches in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani

Cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

Gothic architecture in Apulia {{italy-RC-cathedral-stub