Castelsardo Cathedral ( it, Concattedrale di Sant'Antonio abate) is a

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

Castelsardo Castelsardo ( sdc, Castheddu; sc, Casteddu Sardu) is a town and ''comune'' in Sardinia, Italy, located in the northwest of the island within the Province of Sassari, at the east end of the Gulf of Asinara. History Archaeological excavations have ...

, northern

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, and is dedicated to

Saint Anthony the Great Anthony the Great ( grc-gre, Ἀντώνιος ''Antṓnios''; ar, القديس أنطونيوس الكبير; la, Antonius; ; c. 12 January 251 – 17 January 356), was a Christian monk from Egypt, revered since his death as a saint. He is d ...

. It became the seat of the

bishop of Ampurias The Diocese of Tempio-Ampurias ( la, Dioecesis Templensis-Ampuriensis) is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Sardinia, Italy. Until 1986 it was known as Diocese of Ampurias e Tempio. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Sassari It h ...

in 1503. In 1839 the diocese of Ampurias was merged into that of Tempio, and the episcopal seat moved to Tempio Cathedral, when that of Castelsardo became a co-cathedral, as it remains in the present

diocese of Tempio-Ampurias The Diocese of Tempio-Ampurias ( la, Dioecesis Templensis-Ampuriensis) is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Sardinia, Italy. Until 1986 it was known as Diocese of Ampurias e Tempio. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Sassari It ...

Description

The current building dates from the reconstruction begun in 1597 that lasted until the 18th century. The cathedral is a mixture of Catalan

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

and Renaissance elements, and overlooks the sea directly. The interior is on the Latin cross plan, with a single nave with barrel vaults, side chapels and

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 crossing has a

cross vault A groin vault or groined vault (also sometimes known as a double barrel vault or cross vault) is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. Honour, H. and J. Fleming, (2009) ''A World History of Art''. 7th edn. London: Lau ...

on four pilasters with sculpted capitals. The church has a tall bell-tower, topped by a small dome decorated with majolica. The presbytery is raised, and has a marble balustrade. The apse, with a cross vault decorated with stars, houses the marble high altar of 1810, characterized by the church's main attraction, the ''Enthroned Madonna and Child'', a painting of the 15th century, attributed to the

Master of Castelsardo The Master of Castelsardo was a painter active in Sardinia at the end of the 15th and the beginning of the sixteenth century. His name comes from a painting of the Madonna and Child currently in the cathedral of Castelsardo; other than that, th ...

. Also by the latter artist is a ''St. Michael the Archangel'', displayed in the crypt, now home to the diocesan museum. Churches in the province of Sassari Roman Catholic cathedrals in Italy Gothic architecture in Sardinia Renaissance architecture in Sardinia Cathedrals in Sardinia {{Italy-RC-cathedral-stub