Sarzana Cathedral ( it, Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta di Sarzana) in

Sarzana Sarzana (, ; lij, Sarzann-a) is a town, ''comune'' (municipality) and former short-lived Catholic bishopric in the Province of La Spezia, Liguria, Italy. It is east of Spezia, on the railway to Pisa, at the point where the railway to Parma div ...

Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...

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 ...

, is a co-cathedral of the Diocese of La Spezia-Sarzana-Brugnato. 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 in 1950 in his apostolic constitution '' Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows: We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by G ...

. The building is a mixture of the Romanesque and

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

styles, reflecting the length of the period of its construction, from the early 13th to the late 15th century. The cathedral is noted as the home of a relic of

St Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Pete ...

and of the

Blood of Christ Blood of Christ, also known as the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in Christian theology refers to (a) the physical blood actually shed by Jesus Christ primarily on the Cross, and the salvation which Christianity teaches was acc ...

. There is also an important Romanesque Cross of Maestro Guglielmo of 1138.

History

The cathedral was built on the site of the former

pieve In the Middle Ages, a pieve (, ; la, plebe, link=no; plural ''pievi'') was a rural church with a baptistery, upon which other churches without baptisteries depended. The Italian word ''pieve'' is descended from Latin Latin (, or , ) i ...

of San Basilio and was under construction from 1204 to 1474, when the upper part of the west front was completed by

Leonardo Riccomanni Leonardo is a masculine given name, the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese equivalent of the English, German, and Dutch name, Leonard. People Notable people with the name include: * Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Italian Renaissance scientist ...

Pietrasanta Pietrasanta is a town and ''comune'' on the coast of northern Tuscany in Italy, in the province of Lucca. Pietrasanta is part of Versilia, on the last foothills of the Apuan Alps, about north of Pisa. The town is located off the coast, where the ...

. In 1735 three statues of popes were added to the top of the façade: Saint Eutychianus in the centre between

Pope Sergius IV Pope Sergius IV (died 12 May 1012) was the bishop of Rome and nominal ruler of the Papal States from 31 July 1009 to his death. His temporal power was eclipsed by the patrician John Crescentius. Sergius IV may have called for the expulsion of M ...

and

Pope Nicholas V Pope Nicholas V ( la, Nicholaus V; it, Niccolò V; 13 November 1397 – 24 March 1455), born Tommaso Parentucelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 March 1447 until his death in March 1455. Pope Eugene made ...

. The cathedral was built as the seat of the Bishop of Luni when it was finally transferred here in 1202 after several previous moves; the bishopric was renamed after Sarzana in 1465. The Diocese of Sarzana was incorporated into the present Diocese of La Spezia-Sarzana-Brugnato (then known as the Diocese of Luni o La Spezia, Sarzana e Brugnato) in 1929.

Description

The church is in a Romanesque-Gothic style. It has a west front of white marble, featuring a portal with a small Gothic rose window above it, between two side blocks of the 17th century. To the south is the battlemented

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 (building), church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many ...

, the sole remnant of the ancient Pieve di San Basilio. The ground plan is in the form of a

Latin cross A Latin cross or ''crux immissa'' is a type of cross in which the vertical beam sticks above the crossbeam, with the three upper arms either equally long or with the vertical topmost arm shorter than the two horizontal arms, and always with a ...

. The nave is divided into three aisles by two arcades of widely spaced polygonal columns supporting high arches. The central nave terminates in the

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which s ...

and the apse, and the side aisles each terminate in a chapel; all three are roofed by cupolas. To either side of the nave is a row of four side chapels, added in the late 17th century. Each wing of the short

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building with ...

also contains a chapel. The wooden panelled ceiling was carved by

Pietro Giambelli Pietro is an Italian masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: People * Pietro I Candiano (c. 842–887), briefly the 16th Doge of Venice * Pietro Tribuno (died 912), 17th Doge of Venice, from 887 to his death * Pietro II ...

between 1662 and 1670.

Relics

The cathedral contains a famous relic of

and of the

, which is preserved in the Chapel of the Most Precious Blood ( it, Cappella del preziosissimo sangue) to the south of the choir and high altar.

Works of art

Cross of Maestro Guglielmo

Sarzana Cathedral is known as the location of the oldest dated Tuscan

crucifix A crucifix (from Latin ''cruci fixus'' meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the ''corpus'' (Lati ...

, the Cross of Maestro Guglielmo, dated 1138, a central work of Romanesque painting, despite some re-touching of the face and body in the 14th century. The crucifix is a prime example of the

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

of the ''Christus triumphans'' type that preceded the establishment of the iconography of the ''Christus patiens'', which represents a more human and suffering Jesus. The crucifix is now set up in the baroque Chapel of the Cross to the north of the choir and high altar.

Other works of art

The cathedral contains a painting by

Francesco Solimena Francesco Solimena (4 October 1657 – 3 April 1747) was a prolific Italian painter of the Baroque era, one of an established family of painters and draughtsmen. Biography Francesco Solimena was born in Canale di Serino in the province of ...

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...

sculptures including altarpieces of the Purification and the

Coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of o ...

, by Leonardo and Francesco Riccomanni, a

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, terracotta i ...

of the school of

Luca Della Robbia Luca della Robbia (, also , ; 1399/1400–1482) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor from Florence. Della Robbia is noted for his colorful, tin-glazed terracotta statuary, a technique which he invented and passed on to his nephew Andrea della ...

and two marble busts, of

Pope Clement XI Pope Clement XI ( la, Clemens XI; it, Clemente XI; 23 July 1649 – 19 March 1721), born Giovanni Francesco Albani, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 November 1700 to his death in March 1721. Clement XI w ...

and

Pope Innocent XI Pope Innocent XI ( la, Innocentius XI; it, Innocenzo XI; 16 May 1611 – 12 August 1689), born Benedetto Odescalchi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 21 September 1676 to his death on August 12, 1689. Poli ...

, by Giovanni Baratta. 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''. ...

contains a ''Glory of the Virgin'', a Baroque scenography reminiscent of

Bernini Gian Lorenzo (or Gianlorenzo) Bernini (, , ; Italian Giovanni Lorenzo; 7 December 159828 November 1680) was an Italian sculptor and architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prominently the leading sculptor of his ...

, beneath an elaborate cupola. The 17th-century sculptures in the Chapel of Saint Augustine are by the Carrarese

Giovanni Antonio Cybei Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...

Domenico Fiasella Domenico Fiasella (12 August 1589 – 19 October 1669) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, mainly active in Genoa. He was nicknamed ''Il Sarzana'', after his birthplace. Biography He was born in c, the son of Giovanni Fiasella, a silver ...

has a number of works in the church, including: • ''Glory of the Most Precious Blood'' in the Chapel of the Relics • ''Massacre of the Innocents'' (1653) • ''Martyrdom of St Andrew'' • 'Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth'' • ''Saints Lazarus, Nicholas and George'' • ''Saints Apollonia, Lucia and Cecilia''.

Other

The cathedral was declared a

basilica minor In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular b ...

on 28 November 1947.GCatholic.org
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Gallery

File:Crucifix de Sarzana (Ligurie, Italie).jpg, The painted crucifix dated 1138 File:Sarzana-cattedrale-organo.jpg, Nave looking west, showing the organ File:Sarzana-cattedrale-altare1.jpg, Altar, by Cybei, in the Chapel of Saint Augustine, showing

Saint Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afri ...

between

Saint John Nepomuk John of Nepomuk (or John Nepomucene) ( cs, Jan Nepomucký; german: Johannes Nepomuk; la, Ioannes Nepomucenus) ( 1345 – 20 March 1393) was the saint of Bohemia ( Czech Republic) who was drowned in the Vltava river at the behest of Wenceslaus ...

and

Saint Catherine of Genoa Catherine of Genoa (Caterina Fieschi Adorno, 1447 – 15 September 1510) was an Italian Roman Catholic saint and mystic, admired for her work among the sick and the poor and remembered because of various writings describing both these acti ...

File:Sarzana-cattedrale-altare maggiore3.jpg, High altar File:Sarzana-cattedrale-soffitto altare maggiore.jpg, Ceiling and cupola over the choir and high altar

Notes

Sources

Sarzana Cathedral official website
{{coord, 44, 06, 44, N, 9, 57, 45, E, source:kolossus-itwiki, display=title Roman Catholic cathedrals in Italy Cathedrals in Liguria Roman Catholic churches in Sarzana 13th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Romanesque architecture in Liguria Gothic architecture in Liguria Roman Catholic churches completed in 1474