St. Catherine Cathedral (Alexandria)

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St. Catherine Cathedral. 2013
Sanctuary
Former burial place of the Italian King Viktor Emanuel III. behind the main altar of St. Catherine's Cathedral

The Cathedral of St. Catherine in Alexandria is the episcopal church of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Vicariate Alexandria in Egypt and the church of the local Franciscan monastery , to which the Ordinary belongs. The neo-baroque basilica was built from 1847 to 1856 according to plans by the Franciscan architect Serafino da Baceno .

History and architecture

Franciscans had been present in Alexandria since the 17th century. They mainly cared for European pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land . In the 1840s, new convent buildings and a school were built. The new church, a classicistic domed basilica , was also designed as a cathedral for the Apostolic Vicariate built in 1839 . She received the name of the Alexandrian martyr Catherine . The consecration was on November 24, 1850.

In 1927, according to plans by Mario Avena , the church was given today's lavish display facade in the Roman Baroque style .

On December 28, 1947, the abdicated King of Italy Viktor Emanuel III died. in exile in Alexandria. He was buried "temporarily" in St. Catherine's Cathedral, where he rested behind the main altar until he was transferred to Italy in December 2017. Since he was reburied in the Roman pantheon repeatedly met with broad resistance from the Italian public, he was transferred to the pilgrimage church of Vicoforte in Piedmont .

Around 70,000 Catholic Italians lived in Alexandria until the 1950s, and French, Maltese and converted Arabs also visited the cathedral. As a result of Nasserism , there are only about 50 indigenous Catholic families left today, and the worship congregation is largely made up of tourists.

In 2003 a Franciscan priest rediscovered the long-abandoned, walled-up and forgotten church of the convent school next to the cathedral, which had been built around the same time. One found in her wall paintings with unusual motifs.

Web links

Commons : St. Catherine's Cathedral (Alexandria)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Cristina Pallini: Italian Architects and Modern Egypt (PDF; 396 kB), p. 3
  2. ^ Art Varieties in the Italian Architecture of Alexandria
  3. Quella tomba dimenticata di Vittorio Emanuele III , Corriere della Sera , February 3, 2001
  4. Chiesta la sepoltura dei Re d'Italia Vittorio Emanuele III e Umberto II nel Pantheon in Roma ( Memento of July 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), reset-italia.net, July 4, 2013
  5. La Stampa December 17, 2017 (Italian), accessed December 17, 2017
  6. Nella piazza dei fantasmi di Alessandria d'Egitto ( Memento July 21, 2013 Internet Archive ), ilfoglio.it, January 5, 2011
  7. ^ Priest discovered in Alexandria Church with pyramid drawings , Der Standard , June 24, 2003

Coordinates: 31 ° 11 ′ 40.7 ″  N , 29 ° 53 ′ 40.5 ″  E