Santa Maria dei Rimedi
Santa Maria dei Rimedi ("St. Mary of the Remedies") is a baroque church in Palermo .
history
The founding of the church and its name are associated with the conquest of Palermo from the Arabs by Roger I. During the years of siege, an insect-borne epidemic broke out among the Norman soldiers. Our Lady, who called Roger for help, advised him to light a fire in the camp, after which the disease disappeared. After the fall of the city in 1072, Roger founded the sanctuary of the Madonna dei Rimedi .
At the beginning of the 17th century, Don Fernando Paceco, Duke of Villena, was viceroy in Palermo. In a personal emergency he called the Carmelite Dominicus a Jesu Maria from Rome and received effective support. In gratitude he donated the church and monastery to the order, which were built on the foundation walls of the dilapidated Norman building.
The complex was built by Mariano Smiriglio between 1610 and 1625 . In the course of the Risorgimento , the monastery and church were closed in 1866 and used profanely. The baroque furnishings were lost. Only through the initiative of Cardinal Ernesto Ruffini were they repaired from 1947 and repopulated with Discalced Carmelites. The cardinal donated a marble Madonna from the Gagini School for the main altar and elevated the church to a diocesan pilgrimage center for Mary. According to his wishes, he was buried in front of the main altar in 1967.
Architecture and equipment
The two-storey facade is structured by pilasters that lead to elaborately designed capitals. The blasted segment gable above the door surrounds a clover leaf cross . Above the entablature there is an ornamental frieze and two niches with the sculptures "Joseph and Jesusknabe" and "Maria" in the style of Fazio Gaggini . The facade is closed at the top by a triangular gable.
The interior of the church has the shape of a Latin cross and is decorated with paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries. The marble Madonna in the chancel also shows references to the school succession of the Gaginis.
literature
- Adriana Chirco: Palermo la città ritrovata . Flaccovio, Palermo 2002, ISBN 88-7758-469-6 .
Web links
- History of the Church and the Convention (carmelodisicilia.it, Italian)
- tanogabo.it
Coordinates: 38 ° 6 ′ 35.1 ″ N , 13 ° 21 ′ 0.2 ″ E