Santa Maria Maggiore (Trieste)

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Santa Maria Maggiore in Trieste
inside view

Santa Maria Maggiore is a Catholic parish church in the northern Italian city of Trieste . The baroque church was built in the 17th century by the Trieste Jesuit parish and has been looked after by the Franciscan order since 1922 .

Surname

The house of God is consecrated to the Mother of God . Because of the history of its origins, the church is popularly known as Chiesa dei Gesuiti ( Jesuit Church ).

location

The church is located in Via del Collegio at the foot of the San Giusto hill, next to the Basilica of San Silvestro, in the immediate vicinity of the old town of Trieste.

Building history

Look into the dome

The history of the origins of the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore is closely related to the Jesuit parish in Trieste.

In 1619 the first two Jesuits, Giuseppe Mezler and Gregorio Salateo, came to Trieste. Thanks to its good relationship with the Trieste authorities, the Jesuit order had developed within a very short time in such a way that it was able to commission the construction of a school. The Jesuit College is located right next to today's Santa Maria Maggiore Church. A little later it was decided to build the church, which was to be dedicated to the Holy Mother of God and which was to be the largest sacred building in the city at that time.

The foundation stone was laid on October 10, 1627 by the Trieste Bishop Rinaldo Scarlicchio . The completion of the church building, however, took decades. When the church was inaugurated on October 11, 1682 by the Trieste Bishop Giacomo II Ferdinando Gorizutti , the roof of the building was still partly uncovered. In November of the same year the wooden church dome was destroyed by a fire that broke out in a neighboring oil press. When the Jesuit order was dissolved in 1773, the church was not yet completed. The church dome, two altars and other elements inside the church were missing. The dome was not completed until 1817.

Due to the few surviving documents about the building of the church, it is unclear today to whom the entire building project or individual elements inside the church are due. It is believed that Giacomo Briani (1589–1649), a Jesuit from Modena, can be attributed a significant part of the interior design. The facade of the building was completed around 1701 and is believed to be the work of the Trentino Jesuit Andrea Pozzo (1642–1709).

Facility

High altar and apse

The high altar in the round apse of the central nave is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary . It was built between 1672 and 1717. Some restorations took place in the 19th century. On both sides of the tabernacle there are marble statues of the holy Jesuits Ignatius von Loyola , Aloysius ( Luigi Gonzaga ), Francis Borgia and Francis Saverio. The altar is optically continued in the wall painting of the apse with a representation of the Immaculate .

gallery

Web links

Commons : Santa Maria Maggiore  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

literature

  • Bruno Fachin (2005): Triest - An art-historical travel guide (Bruno Fachin Editore), Triest.

Coordinates: 45 ° 38 ′ 52.8 "  N , 13 ° 46 ′ 9.9"  E