Urbino Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Urbino, ''Cattedrale Metropolitana di Santa Maria Assunta'') is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played 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 ...

in the city of

Urbino Urbino ( ; ; Romagnol: ''Urbìn'') is a walled city in the Marche region of Italy, south-west of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially under the patronage of ...

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 ...

, dedicated to the

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution ''Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows: We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by Go ...

. Since 1986 it has been the seat of the

Archbishop of Urbino-Urbania-Sant'Angelo in Vado In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

, and was previously the seat of the Archbishops of Urbino.

History

The first cathedral on the site was built here in 1021, to replace an earlier one located outside the city walls. Under the patronage of Count

Federico da Montefeltro Federico da Montefeltro, also known as Federico III da Montefeltro KG (7 June 1422 – 10 September 1482), was one of the most successful mercenary captains (''condottieri'') of the Italian Renaissance, and lord of Urbino from 1444 (as Duke fr ...

, it was rebuilt in the 15th century, based on a design attributed to

Francesco di Giorgio Martini Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439–1501) was an Italian architect, engineer, painter, sculptor, and writer. As a painter, he belonged to the Sienese School. He was considered a visionary architectural theorist—in Nikolaus Pevsner's terms: ...

. Construction was not finished until 1604. The west front, using stone quarried from

Furlo 240px, Entrance of the Roman tunnel. The Furlo Pass (Italian: ''Gola del Furlo'' or ''Passo del Furlo'') is a gorge on the ancient Roman road Via Flaminia in the Marche region of central Italy, where it passes near the Candigliano river, a tributa ...

, was designed by

Camillo Morigia Camillo Morigia (15 September 1743, Ravenna - 16 January 1795, Ravenna) was a north-Italian neo-classical architect. He is most notable for his designs for the Tomb of Dante and the facade of Santa Maria in Porto Basilica, both in his home-town ...

and completed in 1782. It was ornamented with five statues, representing the three

theological virtues Theological virtues are virtues associated in Christian theology and philosophy with salvation resulting from the grace of God. Virtues are traits or qualities which dispose one to conduct oneself in a morally good manner. Traditionally they have ...

of Faith, Hope, and Charity, between

Saint Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...

to the left and

Saint John Chrysostom John Chrysostom (; gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος; 14 September 407) was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of ab ...

to the right. Urbino-DuomoInterno

On 12 January 1789, a powerful earthquake toppled the cupola, and made a reconstruction necessary. The project was entrusted to

Giuseppe Valadier Giuseppe Valadier (April 14, 1762 – February 1, 1839) was an Italian architect and designer, urban planner and archaeologist and a chief exponent of Neoclassicism in Italy. Biography The son of a goldsmith, Luigi (1726–1785), Valadier was born ...

, and completed by 1801 in the present Neoclassical style.

Interior

Valadier's Neoclassical interior is on a

Latin cross A Latin cross or ''crux immissa'' is a type of cross in which the vertical beam sticks above the crossbeam, with the three upper arms either equally long or with the vertical topmost arm shorter than the two horizontal arms, and always with a mu ...

groundplan and has a central nave between two side aisles, under a

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

ed roof. The crossing of the

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 ...

supports an impressive

coffer A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault. A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, also c ...

ed cupola. As to works of art, the cathedral contains two canvases by

Federigo Barocci Federico Barocci (also written ''Barozzi'')(c. 1535 in Urbino – 1612 in Urbino) was an Italian Renaissance painter and printmaker. His original name was Federico Fiori, and he was nicknamed Il Baroccio. His work was highly esteemed and inf ...

, a ''

Saint Sebastian Saint Sebastian (in Latin: ''Sebastianus''; Narbo, Gallia Narbonensis, Roman Empire c. AD 255 – Rome, Italia, Roman Empire c. AD 288) was an early Christian saint and martyr. According to traditional belief, he was killed during the Dioclet ...

'' in the north aisle, and a ''

Last Supper Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...

'' in the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament. There is also an ''Assumption of the Virgin'' (circa 1707) by

Carlo Maratta Carlo Maratta or Maratti (13 May 162515 December 1713) was an Italian painter, active mostly in Rome, and known principally for his classicizing paintings executed in a Late Baroque Classical manner. Although he is part of the classical tradition ...

, and a ''Nativity'' (1708) by

Carlo Cignani Carlo Cignani (15 May 1628 – 8 September 1719) was an Italian painter. His innovative style referred to as his 'new manner' introduced a reflective, intimate mood of painting and presaged the later pictures of Guido Reni and Guercino, as well ...

. On the pendentives of the cupola are depicted the '' Four Evangelists'' (18th century), possibly by

Domenico Corvi Domenico Corvi (1721–1803) was an Italian painter at the close of the 18th century, active in an early Neoclassic style in Rome and surrounding sites. Biography Corvi was born in Viterbo. After some early works in Viterbo and Palestrina, ...

and Giuseppe Cades. The main altarpiece, by

Christopher Unterberger Christopher Unterberger, also Christoph or Cristoforo (27 May 1732 – 25 January 1798) was an Italian painter of the early- Neoclassical period. Biography He was born in Cavalese in County of Tyrol (today located in Trentino, Italy). He was ini ...

, represents the Madonna between the city's patron saints.

Tomb of Polydore Vergil

The

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

scholar and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

Polydore Vergil Polydore Vergil or Virgil (Italian: ''Polidoro Virgili''; commonly Latinised as ''Polydorus Vergilius''; – 18 April 1555), widely known as Polydore Vergil of Urbino, was an Italian humanist scholar, historian, priest and diplomat, who spent ...

died in Urbino in 1555, and was buried in the Cathedral, in the chapel of St Andrew which he himself had endowed. It was agreed in 1613 that a memorial stone should be set over his tomb. This was eventually put in place in 1631, with an inscription stating that his fame would "live for ever in the world". However, it is believed to have been lost in the 1789 earthquake.

Gallery

File:Urbino-duomo05.jpg, Apse exterior File:Urbino-duomo02.jpg, Apse interior File:Urbino-duomo03.jpg, Cupola File:SanCrescentinoDuomo.jpg, Statue of San Crescentino in front of the cathedral

References

Sources

* Negroni, F., 1993: ''Il Duomo di Urbino''. Urbino {{Coord, 43, 43, 30, N, 12, 38, 11, E, region:IT_type:adm2nd_source:kolossus-nlwiki, display=title Roman Catholic churches in Urbino Cathedrals in the Marche Roman Catholic cathedrals in Italy Roman Catholic churches completed in 1782 1780s establishments in Italy Neoclassical architecture in le Marche 1782 establishments in Europe 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Neoclassical church buildings in Italy