Santa Tecla, Este
Santa Tecla is the
, Italy.History
A church at the site dates likely to the 4th or 5th centuries, when a church was erected upon the ruins of a former pagan temple, and dedicated to Saint
After an earthquake in 1688 damaged the church, and a complete reconstruction was promoted by the town archpriest Marco Marchetti, using designs for an elliptical nave with a tall cupola, by the Venetian architect
The main altarpiece is a masterwork by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, depicting Santa Tecla prays for the Liberation of Este from the Plague (1759). In the right of the presbytery, in the Chapel of the Holiest Sacrament, is a marble sculptural group depicting the Triumph of the Eucharist by Antonio Corradini, including a veiled female representing Faith. In the left chapel, is a 17th-century wooden crucifix by Francesco Terilli. The marble statues at the base, depicting Mary Magdalen hugging the cross with the Madonna upheld by Maria Salome, were sculpted about a century later by Bernardo Falconi. The nave ceiling has a depiction of the Martyrdom of Santa Tecla by Jacopo Amigoni.
In the second altar to the right of the entrance is a glass urn with the body of the blessed Beatrice I d'Este (1191-1226). Upon the altar, is a 19th-century canvas depicting the Virgin, St John the Baptist and the Blessed Beatrice d'Este, by
Other paintings are housed in the Sacristy and in the Oratory of San Valentino, which is connected by a formal stairs and vestibule, and include a Madonna by
References
- ^ La patria; geografia dell' Italia: provincie di Verona, Vicenza, e Padova, 1890, by Gustavo Chiesi and compiled Gustavo Strafforello page 436.
- ^ Colli Euganei Tourism site, entry on church.
- ^ G. Chiesi, page 436.