San Giacomo Maggiore, Bologna

Coordinates: 44°29′44.01″N 11°20′56.05″E / 44.4955583°N 11.3489028°E / 44.4955583; 11.3489028
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
San Giacomo Maggiore
)

44°29′44.01″N 11°20′56.05″E / 44.4955583°N 11.3489028°E / 44.4955583; 11.3489028

Basilica of San Giacomo Maggiore
Year consecrated
1344
Location
LocationVia Zamboni 15,
Bologna (BO), Italy
Architecture
StyleRomanesque-Gothic
Groundbreaking1267
Completed1315
MaterialsIstrian stone

The

Augustinian friars.[1] It was built starting in 1267 and houses, among the rest, the Bentivoglio
Chapel, featuring numerous Renaissance artworks.

History

A community of

Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, with one of their number being elected the first Prior General of the new Order. As they then needed a larger religious complex within the walls, in 1267 construction was undertaken of the new church in the present location. The edifice was finished in 1315, but its consecration took place in 1344, with the completion of the apse section. The church, built in sober Romanesque style (with some Gothic elements such as the ogival windows), had a single nave with visible trusses
and ended with a polygonal apse-chapel and two square chapel.

In the 15th century the

Bentivoglio family built their family chapel in the church (1463–1468), and also added a long portico on the Via San Donato (1477–1481). Across the church is the flank of the 1560 Palazzo Malvezzi de' Medici, Bologna
. In 1471 the bell tower was raised and, from 1483 to 1498, the interior was largely renovated with a new cover and a dome. New chapels were created in the side walls, which were eventually decorated with Renaissance and Baroque altars and paintings.

The Augustinian friars were expelled during the

anti-clerical laws again suppressing religious orders legislated by the new Kingdom of Italy
, the friars gave up the monastery, keeping only possession of the church.

Description

Apse and bell tower.

Exterior

The facade is the oldest part of the church, with its late-Romanesque proportions. The decorations in Istrian stone on the ogival windows, in Venetian style, were added by Lombardy masters in 1295. The four funerary cells were added in the early 14th century, shortly after those in the portico, which date to the 13th century and had frescoes (now inside the church); the original entrance protyrus was modified in the same period.

The Triumph over Death by Lorenzo Costa the Elder (1490).

The portico, traditionally attributed to

Oratory of Santa Cecilia within the monastery cloister. The oratory includes frescoed panels by the Renaissance painters Francesco Francia, Lorenzo Costa, and Amico Aspertini. The 15th-century portico built by the Bentivoglio family
and the bell tower.

The church has a Renaissance dome designed by Antonio Morandi.

Interior

The interior has Renaissance and Baroque decorations. The vaults have frescoes executed in 1495 by Francia and

Lorenzo Costa's workshops. There are numerous chapels: the main ones include the Poggi Chapel, with artworks by Pellegrino Tibaldi
, and the Bentivoglio Chapel.

Bentivoglio Chapel

This element of the basilica was designed by

Anton Galeazzo Bentivoglio was sculpted by Jacopo della Quercia
in 1438.

Poggi Chapel

This chapel was built by

papal nuncio to Spain, while the one on the right shows him later in his career, as a cardinal.[4]

Other

Other artworks include Polyptych of the Holy Cross Relic by Paolo Veneziano, a Virgin in Glory by Bartolomeo Cesi (late 16th century), and an early 15th-century late Gothic crucifix in the Malvezzi Chapel.

Notes

  1. ^ "Parrochia: San Giacomo Maggiore". L'Arcidiocesi di Bologna (in Italian).
  2. ^ Farquhar, Maria (1855). Biographical catalogue of the principal Italian painters, by a lady [M. Farquhar] ed. by R.O. Wornum. p. 179. Retrieved 2013-01-13.
  3. ISBN 978-1-58839-379-1
    . Retrieved 2013-01-13.
  4. ISBN 978-0-549-89968-6
    . Retrieved 2013-01-13.

References

  • Raule, Angelo (1999). San Giacomo Maggiore in Bologna. Bologna: A. Nanni.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=San_Giacomo_Maggiore,_Bologna&oldid=1143555699"