San Nicolò dei Greci
San Nicolò dei Greci is the church of the Greek Orthodox community in the northern Italian port city of Trieste , which was built between 1784 and 1787. The facade of the church building was redesigned in the classicist style in 1819/1820 by the architect Matteo Pertsch .
location
The church is located on Riva November 3rd, right on the promenade of the Città Nuova .
architecture
The building is a single-nave hall church with basilica ceiling lighting .
facade
San Nicolò dei Greci has a classical facade that was designed by the German architect Matteo Pertsch . The five-axis facade is structured by Ionic pilasters and finished with a simple triangular gable. In the facade, two rectangular windows with triangular gables open up on each side, the central axis with the portal is emphasized by half a wheel window below the architrave . It is flanked by two classicist bell towers with slate-covered domes, which are based on the shapes of Austrian / Bavarian baroque churches.
There is a narrow forecourt in front of the main entrance, which is delimited by an enclosure wall.
inner space
The single-nave church interior is dominated by a richly gilded and silver-plated iconostasis , which, as is customary in Eastern churches, separate the chancel and the church interior. The overall construction comes from an unknown representative of the Empire style . The decorations on the altar wall, however, show baroque forms. The iconostasis is adorned with numerous icons at eye level . They were created between 1839 and 1856 and show, from left to right, Saints George and Spyridon , Nicholas of Myra , the Holy Mother of God with Child, Christ on the Throne, the Holy Trinity , John the Baptist and Saint Catherine of Siena . Above the images of the saints there are 24 gold-decorated frescoes by the Greek painter Giovanni Trigonis , which depict scenes from the life of Jesus from the proclamation of Mary to his Ascension . The iconostasis is rounded off by three paintings: Jesus in Getsemane , the Descent from the Cross and noli me tangere .
The painting Cristo in Gloria , which shows Jesus surrounded by angels, is attached to the ceiling . The work dates from the years 1821 to 1823 and is by an unknown Greek painter who probably learned at the school of Panagiotis Doxaras , but was also influenced by the Venetian school. Two altarpieces by Cesare Dell'Acqua , donated by the artist to the community, hang on the side walls : San Giovanni che predica nel deserto (The Sermon of John the Baptist) from 1852 and Cristo ei pargoli (Christ Among the Children) from 1854 .
Around 1905, James Joyce was so fascinated by the gloomy, golden impression of the interior that he incorporated it into the Dublin tales .
prehistory
The beginnings of the Greek community in Trieste go back to the year 1714, when the first Greek merchant, Liberal Baseo from Nafplio , settled in the port city. The declaration of Trieste as a free port in 1719 and the consciously tolerant attitude of the Habsburgs towards other religions and nations made Trieste attractive for merchants from Greece. The number of Greek traders increased continuously in the 18th century. Among them was Nicolò Mainti from Zakynthos , who came to Trieste in 1734.
Nicolò Mainti founded an Orthodox community around 1750, the majority of the members of which were Greek Orthodox, but to a lesser extent also Illyrian Orthodox (today Serbian Orthodox ). On February 20, 1751, Empress Maria Theresa gave the united Orthodox community permission to build a house of worship in Trieste. In 1753, Greeks and Serbs jointly built the church Santissima Trinità e San Spiridione on the Grand Canal in the merchant quarter of Borgo Teresiano . At the urging of the steadily growing Illyrian parishioners, the service was held in Serbian from 1769 .
Probably because of the conflict over the language used during the Holy Liturgy , the Greek Orthodox community separated in 1781 from the Serbian believers, who continued to practice their faith in the church on the Grand Canal. The Greeks, however, held their services temporarily in private homes.
Building history
On August 2, 1782, the official establishment of the exclusively Greek-Orthodox community took place, which began in 1784 to erect its own church building on the promenade at the Old Port ( Porto Vecchio ). On February 18, 1787, the first mass was held in the unfinished church. With the exception of the exterior facade, construction work was not completed until 1795. In the same year the official inauguration took place in the presence of the Trieste governor Pompeo de Brigido . The church was dedicated to Saint Nicholas , the patron saint of seafarers, and the Holy Trinity.
Due to the congregation's financial bottleneck, the facade of the church building was not completed until later. The community commissioned the German-born architect Matteo Pertsch , who had already designed the Trieste opera house Teatro Giuseppe Verdi , Palazzo Carciotti and other magnificent buildings in the city, to carry out the renovation work. Between 1819 and 1820, Pertsch gave the facade a classical expression with two small bell towers. He also made some changes in the interior.
Individual evidence
- ^ Caterina Furlan, Giuseppe Pavanello (2000): Trieste. I Musei del Territorio (Biblos), Cittadella, p. 108.
- ↑ Cristina, Benussi (2007): I Greci , in: Dentro Trieste - Ebrei, Greci, Sloveni, Serbi, Croati, Protestanti, Armeni , ed. v. Cristina Benussi et al. (Hammerle Editori), Opicina, p. 37.
Web links
Coordinates: 45 ° 39 '5.7 " N , 13 ° 46" 9.2 " E