The Church of Saints John and Paul (, ) is the main place of Catholic worship in

Muggia Muggia (; ; ) is an Italian (municipality) in the Province of Trieste, regional decentralization entity of Trieste, in the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia on the border with Slovenia. It has 12,703 inhabitants. Lying on the eastern flank of th ...

, in the province of

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

, seat of the homonymous parish belonging to the

diocese of Trieste The Diocese of Trieste () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in the Triveneto. It has existed since no later than 524, and in its current form since 1977. The bishop's seat is in the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Justus Martyr. It is a suffr ...

History

The church, dedicated to Saints

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

and

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

, was built on the remains of a previous sacred building with three

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

and was consecrated by the

Bishop of Trieste The Diocese of Trieste () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in the Triveneto. It has existed since no later than 524, and in its current form since 1977. The bishop's seat is in the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Justus Martyr. It is a suffr ...

Arlongo dei Visgoni on 29 December 1263. The Romanesque building was augmented, in the middle of the 15th century, by the cladding of the facade in white

stone slabs In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks form the Earth's o ...

, an example of

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

- Venetian style. The church underwent a total remodeling between 1444 and 1467. In 1865 the facade, lying off-axis, was rebuilt from the

rose window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' wa ...

upwards and lowered by half a metre. The choir was lengthened in 1873 and a new high altar was consecrated in 1877.

Description

Facade

The facade is in white stone with reliefs in the

lunette A lunette (French ''lunette'', 'little moon') is a crescent- or half-moon–shaped or semi-circular architectural space or feature, variously filled with sculpture, painted, glazed, filled with recessed masonry, or void. A lunette may also be ...

of the portal; the whole is dominated by an imposing

in typical

Gothic style Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved from Romanesque ar ...

. The upper part has the shape of a

tribble Tribbles are a fictional alien species in the ''Star Trek'' universe. They were conceived by screenwriter David Gerrold and first appeared in 1967, in the fifteenth episode of the second season of '' Star Trek: The Original Series'', titled "The ...

. The same motif is present in the arches of the rose window, in the

mullioned windows 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 ...

of the large windows and in the two windows discovered in 1937 under the mortar on the flank. The facade has a rose window in the upper part with the image of the

Madonna and Child In Christian art, a Madonna () is a religious depiction of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a singular form or sometimes accompanied by the Child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word ...

in the center surrounded by three epigraphs. The one on the left recalls the restoration of 1865, the one above the beginning of works on the facade under Bishop Nicolò (perhaps belonging to the Aldegardi family) while the one on the right mentions the ''

podestà (), also potestate or podesta in English, was the name given to the holder of the highest civil office in the government of the cities of central and northern Italy during the Late Middle Ages. Sometimes, it meant the chief magistrate of a c ...

'' Pietro

Dandolo The House of Dandolo () was a patrician family of the Republic of Venice, which produced four Doges of Venice. The progenitor of the family was a merchant named Domenico. The family became more successful by the beginning of the 12th century. M ...

(1466 - 1467), who followed the completion of the works. In the lower part, two elegant and slender Gothic windows flank the portal, on which is superimposed a

with an inflected arch, inside which an original representation of the

Holy Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...

adored by Saints John and Paul is located in high relief.

Interior

The interior, divided into three

naves The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type b ...

, was restored to its original state at the end of the 1930s, after the consolidations, the restorations and the removal of the lateral

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 ...

altars. A fragment of the exceptional 14th-century

fresco Fresco ( 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 plaster, the painting become ...

can be seen which once occupied the central nave. Along the walls are some of the processional lights from the 18th and 19th centuries belonging to the old brotherhoods. On the counterfacade choir loft is the Mascioni ''opus 939''

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

, built in 1971; with mixed transmission (mechanical for the manuals and the pedal, electric for the registers), it also has 16 registers on its two manuals and pedal. It was restored and expanded to 18 registers in 1991.

Bell tower

The

bell tower 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 to ...

consists of a square base, on which the building stands to a height of 35 metres. It is divided into 4 floors, embellished with

Euganean The Euganei (fr. Lat. ''Euganei'', ''Euganeorum''; cf. Gr. ''εὐγενής'' (eugenēs) 'well-born') were a group of populations, difficult to define, settled in the flat and mountainous areas of Northeast Italy, between the Eastern Alps and t ...

trachyte Trachyte () is an extrusive igneous rock composed mostly of alkali feldspar. It is usually light-colored and aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained), with minor amounts of mafic minerals, and is formed by the rapid cooling of lava (or shallow intrus ...

frames, while the last one is embellished with

. In all likelihood its construction dates back to well before the raising of the current cathedral. Indeed, the current clock has been present since the 14th century.

Parish priests and administrators

* can. Pietro Buran (November 1811-June 1819); * can. Giambattista Zaccaria (June 1819- January 1820), parish administrator; * Floriano Ubaldini (January 1820-March 1835), parish administrator; * Giovanni Ubaldini (March 1835-May 1856),

parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

; * Pietro Degrassi (May-December 1856), parish administrator; * Giuseppe Calice (December 1856-December 1859), parish priest; * Giovanni Maria Derossi (December 1859-December 1860), parish administrator; * Carlo Mecchia (December 1860-September 1888), parish priest; * Clemente Seubla (September 1888-November 1889), parish priest; * Sebastiano Merlato (November 1889-April 1890), parish administrator; * Antonio Urbanaz (April 1890-May 1905), parish priest; * Teobaldo Beacco (May 1905-February 1906) parish administrator; * Antonio Germek (February 1906-February 1912) parish administrator; * Giovanni Manega (February-November 1912) parish administrator; * Giuseppe Ziac then Ziani (November 1912-June 1928), parish administrator; * Mario Mizzan (June 1928-October 1962) parish priest; * Giorgio Apollonio (June 1962- September 1996) parish priest; * Giorgio Petrarcheni (September 1, 1996-October 10, 2010) parish priest; * Silvano Latin (10 October 2010- September 2020) parish priest; * Andrea Destradi (September 6, 2020-) parish priest.

Sources

* *

References

{{reflist 13th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy 15th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Churches in the province of Trieste Buildings and structures in Trieste