The Basilica di Sant'Elia is a

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

Castel Sant'Elia Castel Sant'Elia (locally ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Viterbo, Latium, central Italy, located about north of Rome and about southeast of Viterbo. Main sights Castel Sant'Elia's main attraction is the Basilica of Sant'Eli ...

, northern

Latium Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire. Definition Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil (Old Latium) on whi ...

, central Italy.

History

The church originates from a monastery founded here in 520 by Anastasius, a notary in the Roman court. In the early 11th century the abbot Elia built here a basilica which was mentioned, among the others, by

Pope Gregory VII Pope Gregory VII ( la, Gregorius VII; 1015 – 25 May 1085), born Hildebrand of Sovana ( it, Ildebrando di Soana), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 April 1073 to his death in 1085. He is venerated as a saint ...

in 1176 and by

Innocent III Pope Innocent III ( la, Innocentius III; 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 to his death in 16 J ...

in 1211. In 1607 a fallen

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...

rock damaged the left side wall, and the church was subsequently restored at the expenses of the

Farnese family The House of Farnese family (, also , ) was an influential family in Renaissance Italy. The titles of Duke of Parma and Piacenza and Duke of Castro were held by various members of the family. Its most important members included Pope Paul I ...

, who owned the basilica from 1540 and 1649. In 1740 a period of decline began, due to the construction of a parish church in the town, which ended in the 19th century when

Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...

had architect Virginio Vespignani restore the edifice. Other restorations date to 1960 (frescoes and ceiling), 1997 (mosaic pavement) and 2003 (apse and crypt pavement).

Description

The basilica of Sant'Elia is a Romanesque structure with a nave and two aisles, and a

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

. The columns separating the nave's bays were likely taken from ancient Roman buildings. The raised transept is accessed through three steps from three arcades. The façade has three portals, the central one having remains of a painting in its

lunette A lunette (French ''lunette'', "little moon") is a half-moon shaped architectural space, variously filled with sculpture, painted, glazed, filled with recessed masonry, or void. A lunette may also be segmental, and the arch may be an arc take ...

. The apse was entirely frescoed around 1000. The paintings feature the Redeemer with Saints (including Paul, Peter and two unidentified ones). Below them are twelve lambs, symbolizing the apostles, who walk towards the

Lamb of God Lamb of God ( el, Ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, Amnòs toû Theoû; la, Agnus Dei, ) is a title for Jesus that appears in the Gospel of John. It appears at John 1:29, where John the Baptist sees Jesus and exclaims, "Behold the Lamb of God wh ...

. The lower part is occupied by a procession of Virgins with crowns, which were originally offered to the Madonna: this part of the fresco is now lost, only two archangels remaining. The right side of the transept lost its frescoes after the 17th century reconstruction, while the left section had frescoes of the Apocalypse with, below, a procession of prophets and Old Men who raise veiled golden cups and march towards the Lamb of God. Other scenes includes the death of St. Anastasius and the Archangel Michael calling Anastasius The high altar is surmounted by a ciborium decorated with a Cosmatesque cross and four columns. Of the

Schola Cantorum The Schola Cantorum de Paris is a private conservatory in Paris. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Bordes, Alexandre Guilmant and Vincent d'Indy as a counterbalance to the Paris Conservatoire's emphasis on opera. History La Schola was founded i ...

, only the

ambo Ambo may refer to: Places * Ambo, Kiribati * Ambo Province, Huanuco Region, Peru ** Ambo District ** Ambo, Peru, capital of Ambo District * Ambo Town, a town in Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia ** Ambo, Ethiopia, a capital of West Shewa Zone ...

survives today. The transept and part of the nave feature a Cosmatesque pavement. The crypt has two rooms, the largest housing Anastasius' tomb. The church had originally a large bell tower, built in 1260 by the canons of

Santo Spirito in Sassia Church of the Holy Spirit in the Saxon District (Italian: ''La chiesa di Santo Spirito in Sassia'') is a 12th-century titular church in Rome, Italy. It is in '' Borgo Santo Spirito'', a street which got its name from the church, placed in the sou ...

who had received the monastery by Pope Alexander IV two years before. It was destroyed in 1855.

External links

Page at Castel Sant'Elia official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Basilica Di Sant Elia 12th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Romanesque architecture in Lazio Minor basilicas in Lazio