Santa Maria delle Carceri (Prato)

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Santa Maria delle Carceri from the west

Santa Maria delle Carceri is a church in the Tuscan city ​​of Prato . The building was built in the early Renaissance and is one of Giuliano da Sangallo's masterpieces . The church has been a minor basilica since 1939 .

Location and naming

The church is located in the historic city center of Prato, right next to the Castello dell'Imperatore on the Piazza Santa Maria delle Carceri named after it . It takes its name from the dungeons originally located here ( ital . : carceri ).

Building history

Giuliano da Sangallo built the church on behalf of Lorenzo il Magnifico from 1484 to 1495. The reason was that a picture of Mary on a dungeon wall was miraculous. Da Sangallo based its construction on Filippo Brunelleschi's buildings. Nevertheless, the upper floor remained without the cladding of white and green marble until 1885, when it was completed, albeit unfinished, until that year.

One of the clays of the dome wraps depicts the Evangelist John

facade

The facades of the cross arms are uniaxial and two-storey. They are bordered by double pilasters at the respective corners, following the Doric order in the basement and the Ionic order on the upper floor . The portals are covered by simple triangular gables . In the upper third of the area of ​​the basement, marble incrustations divided into three sections divide the walls, while on the short sides of the cross arms they are single-section. On the upper floor, a window placed in the middle of each cross arm breaks through the walls, here the structure is simply on both sides of the window. The marble fields follow Florentine models, for example the local baptistery . The triangular gable crowning the arms is kept simple and slightly cranked . The dome drum, pierced by round windows, rises above the arms of the cross with the lantern at the end .

Floor plan and interior

According to the basic structure, the church was built on the plan of a Greek cross . The cross arms are separated from the central area by strong belt arches , they are covered by barrel vaults. The interior of the central dome is kept simple. The capitals of the pilasters on the wall follow a fine variant of the Corinthian order , since Sangallo used a similar capital shape in the inner courtyard of the Palazzo Gondi in Florence.

A special feature is the surrounding frieze made of majolica tiles . This, as well as the figures of the four evangelists in the pendentives of the dome, are works by Andrea della Robbia from 1492.

The church itself became a model for other central buildings of the High Renaissance , for example San Biagio near Montepulciano is mentioned .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Semrau: The Art of the Renaissance in Italy and in the North , p. 27.
  2. ↑ Schomann: Art Monuments in Tuscany , p. 458.
  3. ^ Zimmermanns: Toscana - The hill country and the historic city centers , p. 133.
  4. ^ Zimmermanns: Toscana - The hill country and the historic city centers , p. 133.
  5. ↑ Schomann: Art Monuments in Tuscany , p. 458.
  6. ↑ Semrau: The Art of the Renaissance in Italy and in the North , p. 27.
  7. ^ Zimmermanns: Toscana - The hill country and the historic city centers , p. 133.
  8. ^ Zimmermanns: Toscana - The hill country and the historic city centers , p. 133.

literature

  • Max Semrau: The art of the Renaissance in Italy and in the north , 3rd edition, Vol. III from Wilhelm Lübke, Grundriss der Kunstgeschichte , 14th edition, Paul Neff Verlag, Esslingen 1912
  • Heinz Schomann : Art Monuments in Tuscany , Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1990
  • Klaus Zimmermanns: Toscana - The hill country and the historic city centers , 9th edition, Du Mont Buchverlag, Cologne 1986 ISBN 3-7701-1050-1

Web links

Commons : Santa Maria delle Carceri  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 43 ° 52 '45.9 "  N , 11 ° 5' 54.4"  E