Tag: Agostino Avanzo in Brescia

The Summer Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, also known as Duomo Nuovo (New Cathedral), is the main church of Brescia, located in Piazza Paolo VI.   SHORT HISTORY In 1603, the architect Agostino Avanzo demolished the ancient Basilica of San Pietro de Dom, to make room for the construction of a new cathedral, more suited to the new architectural needs dictated by the Counter-Reformation. Avanzo presented a first project for the cathedral, with a Latin cross plan, with three naves and a transept, protruding side altars and a large central dome. The architect Giovanni Battista Lantana presented a similar project, but more modern and with greater structural attention. Both ideas, however, were rejected. Lantana presented a new project, with a Greek cross plan, a large central dome surrounded by four minor domes and a protruding apse, but this was also rejected. Finally, Lantana proposed a third project, with some modifications compared to the second, which was approved. The first stone of the cathedral was laid in 1604, but the controversy, however, didn’t diminished. The architect Pier Maria Bagnadore proposed an alternative project, practically a copy of the definitive one of Lantana, with the only addition of a span towards the Read more [...]