Basilica di Santa Croce ( Italian for '

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 ...

of the Holy Cross') is a

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

style

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

that was completed in 1695 in

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the province ...

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

, Italy.

History

Walter VI, Count of Brienne Walter VI of Brienne (c. 1304 – 19 September 1356) was a French nobleman and crusader. He was the count of Brienne in France, the count of Conversano and Lecce in southern Italy and claimant to the Duchy of Athens in Frankish Greece. Lif ...

, had founded in the current church's location a monastery in the 14th century. In 1549, a new church was begun, using, among the others, houses from Jews who had been ousted from Lecce in 1510. The construction dragged on for two centuries; by 1582, the lower façade had been finished, while the dome was completed in 1590. The portals were added starting in 1606, under the direction of

Francesco Antonio Zimbalo Francesco Antonio Zimbalo (Lecce, 1567 – Lecce, 1631) was an Italian architect. He was a prominent architects during the Baroque period in the town of Lecce in southern Italy. He designed the three portals of the façade and the altar of San Fr ...

. The church was completed by his successors Cesare Penna (upper façade and the

rose window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' w ...

) and

Giuseppe Zimbalo Giuseppe Zimbalo (1620–1710) was an Italian architect and sculptor. Known as ''Lo Zingarello'' ("Tiny Gypsy"), he was one of the most prominent artists in the so-called Baroque of Lecce, his hometown in southern Italy. Here he designed part of ...

(decoration of the upper façade).

Exterior

The church has a richly decorated façade, with six smooth columns supporting an entablature, with

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...

s, grotesque figures and vegetables, and has a large

. The main portal has a pair of Corinthian columns and the coats of arms of Philip III of Spain,

Mary of Enghien Mary of Enghien, also Maria d'Enghien (1367 or 1370 – 9 May 1446), was Countess of Lecce from 1384 to 1446 and Queen of Naples as well as titular Queen of Sicily, Jerusalem, and Hungary by marriage to Ladislaus of Naples from 1406 to 1414. ...

and Walter VI of Brienne, while on the side portals are those of the Celestines. Several atlantes would represent the Turk prisoners made by the Christian League at the Battle of Lepanto (1571).Manieri Elia, ''Il barocco leccese'' The animals under the balustrade would symbolize the Christian powers which participated in the battle: the dragon was the symbol of the Boncompagni, family of Pope Gregory XIII; the griffon the

Republic of Genoa The Republic of Genoa ( lij, Repúbrica de Zêna ; it, Repubblica di Genova; la, Res Publica Ianuensis) was a medieval and early modern maritime republic from the 11th century to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast. During the Lat ...

, Hercules the Grand Duke of Tuscany

Interior

The interior, on the Latin cross plan, had originally a nave and four aisles, two of which were turned into side chapels in the 18th century. The church has seventeen altars: the main one has a decorated portal with the coat of arms of the Adorni family, whose tombs were inside the basilica. Notable is also that of St. Francis of Paola, a Baroque piece of art by

. The nave has a rich wooden caisson ceiling.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Basilica Di Santa Croce (Lecce) Baroque architecture in Apulia Churches in the province of Lecce Religious buildings and structures in Lecce Roman Catholic churches completed in 1695 Santa Croce, Basilica di 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy 1695 establishments in Italy