Collegiata di Sant'Agata

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The facade from the 14th century

The Collegiata di Sant'Agata is a collegiate church in the Tuscan town of Asciano . Despite its small size, it is the main church in the town. Well known is that of St. Church dedicated to Agatha of Catania for two frescoes and a painting by well-known artists as well as the unusual dome design. The collegiate church has the rank of a minor basilica .

Location, naming and building history

The church is located in the historic center of Asciano on a small forecourt at the transition from Via Goffredo Mamelli to Via Roma, directly at the former southern city gate. The building dates back to the Romanesque without a doubt , although the start of construction is not entirely clear. One art-historical opinion wants to see this in connection with the subjugation of Asciano by Siena in 1168, another puts the start of construction as early as the 11th century as the successor church to the church Pieve di Sant'Ippolito in its function as the main church of Asciano from 1029. The direct to the The campanile attached to the church is late Romanesque, the latest component is the facade, which was only completed at the transition to Gothic at the beginning of the 14th century.

facade

View through the crossing to the choir. The two pillars on the edges of the picture stand independently in the room

The facade is two-story and three-axis on the lower floor. The three blind arches on the lower floor are already slightly pointed arches , a sign of the approaching Gothic. The pilasters separating the arches basically follow the Tuscan order , the capitals are additionally decorated. The two middle pilasters are much narrower than those towards the facade edges. The actual portal in the middle blind arch is staggered twice, small corner pilasters under double arches frame the entrance. A narrow, ornate cornice separates the floors, and a large, simple round window is inserted on the upper floor. A frieze of small pointed arches on spiers closes the gable vertically. The facade was made of travertine .

The design of the campanile with the two-story program of pilaster strips and arched friezes as well as the battlements follows classic late Romanesque architectural forms based on Lombard models.

Interior

The interior of the church is initially a single-nave hall church, the nave is not covered with a vault. The basic structure of the church is based on the shape of a Latin cross . The two cross arms are covered with groin vaults. The dome construction is unusual and striking. The crossing over which the dome rises above squinches is not as formed in the classical church from the corner edges of nave and transept, but stands to the longhouse out on specially in the space provided pillars . The dome drum is broken through by four narrow windows. Not visible from the inside, the dome drum and lantern are octagonal on the outside . The choir is also vaulted with groin vaults, the choir and transverse arms are each closed with apses with a round arched window. The apse of the northern transverse arm cannot be seen from the outside due to a later construction.

Furnishing

The fresco of Sodoma from the first half of the 16th century

Most of the church is not plastered or frescoed, most of the components such as pillars, pilasters, arches, vaults and the dome are in love with the raw masonry. However, there are two frescoes from the 16th century: on the one hand, a representation of Our Lady with the child flanked by the archangels Raphael with Tobias and Michael and at the feet of the archangel Raphael, the founder figure. The fresco is a work from the first half of the 16th century by the famous Sodoma . The other fresco depicts a Pietà and was created by Bartolomeo Neroni , also known as “Il Riccio”.

One of the altarpieces is a painting by Francesco Vanni , made around 1600. It represents the Blessed Mother with the child, the hll. Francis of Assisi and Agata and an angel making music. The church patron saint carries a bowl with her breasts, which, according to tradition, were cut off when she suffered martyrdom.

literature

Web links

Commons : Sant'Agata (Asciano)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Schomann: Kunstdenkmäler in der Toskana , p. 390, states 1285, probably errors there.
  2. ↑ Mehling (Ed.): Knaurs Kulturführer - Florenz und Toskana , p. 23.
  3. ↑ Schomann: Art Monuments in Tuscany , p. 391.
  4. ↑ Mehling (Ed.): Knaurs Kulturführer - Florenz und Toskana , p. 23.
  5. ↑ Schomann: Art Monuments in Tuscany , p. 391.

Coordinates: 43 ° 14 '3.6 "  N , 11 ° 33" 39.7 "  E