Nostra Signora di Tergu is a parish church in Tergu,

province of Sassari The province of Sassari (; ; ; ; ) was a province in the autonomous island region of Sardinia, Italy. Its capital was the city of Sassari. On 1 April 2025, the province was suppressed in favor of the new Metropolitan City of Sassari, which corres ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. One of the most outstanding examples of

Romanesque architecture Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe that was predominant in the 11th and 12th centuries. The style eventually developed into the Gothic style with the shape of the arches providing a simple distinction: the Ro ...

in the island, the church and the remains of the annexed abbey are located in a countryside area outside the village. The construction of the church is attributed to the ''Giudice'' of Torres Marianus I, who reigned from 1065 to 1082. In 1122 it was a possession of the abbey of Montecassino. It is mentioned in the ''Pseudocondaghe of Santa Maria di Tergu'' as having been consecrated in 1117, and built by workers from

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

and

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

. In 1444 the church and the monastery became part of the archdiocese of Torres.

Overview

The church was built using slabs of red

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 ...

and of brighter limestone for the decorations. The façade, which is missing the upper part (crumbled down during the centuries) is divided into two levels. The lower one has two corner

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s and two semicolumns supporting two arches with finely decorated

archivolt An archivolt (or voussure) is an ornamental Molding (decorative), moulding or band following the curve on the underside of an arch. It is composed of bands of ornamental mouldings (or other architectural elements) surrounding an arched opening, ...

s in limestone. The central portal has an architrave with capitals, also in limestone, sculpted with acanthus motifs. The vegetable motifs are also present in the white frames of the upper level, showing a blind

loggia In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior Long gallery, gallery or corridor, often on an upper level, sometimes on the ground level of a building. The corridor is open to the elements because its outer wall is only parti ...

with five arcades, in which are contained unusual geometrical decorations. Also particular are the side columns, having a

zigzag A zigzag is a pattern made up of small corners at variable angles, though constant within the zigzag, tracing a path between two parallel lines; it can be described as both jagged and fairly regular. In geometry, this pattern is described as a ...

pattern. The central arcade houses a small

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 ...

. The exterior sides are characterized by false columns with Lombard bands. On the northern side is the square, sturdy bell tower. The interior is on the Latin cross plan, with a nave and a

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

. The

apse 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 (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

, with a quadrangular plan, was rebuilt in 1664. To the same age dated the

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

of nave, which has been replaced by the current wooden

truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as Beam (structure), 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 ...

es.

References

* {{coord, 40, 52, 16, N, 8, 43, 13, E, type:landmark, display=title Churches in Sardinia 11th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Romanesque architecture in Sardinia Buildings and structures completed in 1117 Churches completed in the 1110s

Overview

See also

References