Tag: chiesa in Brescia

The Church of San Zeno al Foro is a church in Brescia, located in Piazza del Foro, along Via dei Musei, near the Capitolium. The church is dedicated to San Zeno, the eighth bishop of Verona during the second half of the 4th century.   SHORT HISTORY A first church was built on this site in the Middle Ages, probably during the 12th century. The church was rebuilt in Baroque style at the behest of the young parish priest Giovanni Pietro Dolfin, a noble Venetian patrician, who later also rebuilt the Church of San Lorenzo. The new structure was completed in 1745.   ARCHITECTURE The Church of San Zeno al Foro is a very coherent example of Baroque structure in Brescia. The building is preceded by a short churchyard bordered by a Baroque iron gate with marble pillars surmounted by cherubs and pairs of twisted dolphins. The facade, very simple, is divided in two architectural orders of Composite pilasters, crowned by a curvilinear tympanum. Today, only the polygonal Romanesque apse in terracotta, decorated with small arches, remains of the original medieval structure. The church has a longitudinal layout, with a single nave without a transept, and two chapels on each Read more [...]

Rich in pictorial and sculptural works of art, the Church of San Lorenzo, dedicated to Saint Lawrence, is one of the most important churches in Brescia.   SHORT HISTORY The first mention of the church can be found in a document dating back to the 11th century, but the place of worship was probably built long before this time. The first important interventions on the ancient structure took place at the end of the 15th century, at the behest of the provost Bernardino Fabio. At the beginning of the 16th century, Girolamo Romani, better known as Romanino, was commissioned to paint the Lamentation over the Dead Christ for the Chapel of the Passion. The painting remained in the chapel until 1871, and then was sold and transferred to various private collections in Italy and England. Today, the work is found in Venice, in Gallerie dell’Accademia. From this moment on, many other artists worked in the church, including Callisto Piazza, Lattanzio Gambara, Pietro Marone and Prospero Rabaglio. In the 17th century, with the spread of the cult of Saint Carlo Borromeo, the church was enriched with an altar dedicated to him, decorated with an altarpiece by Francesco Giugno. The other two Read more [...]

The Winter Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, also known as Duomo Vecchio (Old Cathedral) or La Rotonda because of its round layout, is a Romanesque church in Brescia. The Old Cathedral is located near the New Cathedral (Duomo Nuovo), in Piazza Paolo VI.   SHORT HISTORY The history of the Old Cathedral begins with the demolition of the ancient Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore de Dom, an early Christian structure built perhaps in the 7th century. The construction of the Cathedral began in the 11th century and was completed in the first half of the 12th century. Towards the end of the 13th century, Berardo Maggi, bishop of Brescia, made an enlargement of the presbytery and had the interiors decorated. Between the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century, the architect Bernardino da Martinengo extended the presbytery to the east, covering it with cross vaults in Gothic style. Around the same time, the transept was also added, completed with the Chapel of the Holy Crosses on the left side. In this phase of construction, Filippo Grassi, the future architect of Palazzo della Loggia, also participated. The keystones are the work of the sculptor Gasparo Cairano, Read more [...]

The Church of San Francesco d’Assisi is a church in Brescia, dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi. The church, located in the homonymous street, is flanked by an ancient Franciscan convent dating back to the 14th century.   SHORT HISTORY The church was completed in 1265, but it was not frescoed until the early 14th century. In the 15th century, the church was enriched with 5 altars, two of which painted by Moretto (Alessandro Bonvicino) and Romanino (Girolamo Romani), great masters of the early Renaissance in Brescia. In the 16th century, in the left nave of the church, the Chapel of the Immaculate was built in Renaissance style. With the advent of the French in 1797, the church and the adjoining convent underwent a phase of decadence in which archives were destroyed and many rooms were ruined. Only in 1839, thanks to the architect Rodolfo Vantini, the church was the subject of renovation work, taking on some Neoclassical elements. In 1928, the Friars Minor returned to live in both the convent and the church, and thanks to various restorations, they were able to recover a part of the ancient artistic heritage.   ART AND ARCHITECTURE The facade of the church, Read more [...]