Irsina Cathedral ( it, Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, ''Duomo di Irsina''), formerly Montepeloso Cathedral, is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

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 ...

dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, located in

Irsina Irsina, until 1895 called Montepeloso (in local dialect: or ), is a town, ''comune'' (municipality) and former Latin bishopric in the province of Matera, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. The town Irsina is an agricultural town pe ...

in the region of

Basilicata it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...

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 ...

. Since 1977 it has been a co-cathedral of the Archdiocese of Matera-Irsina, and was previously, from 1818, a co-cathedral of the Diocese of Gravina-Irsina. Before that it was the seat of the Diocese of Montepeloso. The present building was constructed in the 13th century and remodelled in 1777. It has 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 ...

façade and a

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campanile A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

. It contains a

baptismal font A baptismal font is an article of church furniture used for baptism. Aspersion and affusion fonts The fonts of many Christian denominations are for baptisms using a non-immersive method, such as aspersion (sprinkling) or affusion (pouring). ...

of red marble and a number of 18th-century paintings of the

Neapolitan School In music history, the Neapolitan School is a group, associated with opera, of 17th and 18th-century composers who studied or worked in Naples, Italy,Don Michael Randel (2003). ''The Harvard Dictionary of Music'', p. 549. . the best known of whom is ...

. The cathedral also contains a well-known marble statue of

Saint Euphemia Euphemia ( el, Εὐφημία; "well-spoken f), known as the All-praised in the Eastern Orthodox Church, was a virgin, who was martyred for her faith at Chalcedon in 303 AD. According to tradition, Euphemia was arrested for refusing to offer ...

. This has been attributed by some critics to

Mantegna Mantegna is a surname. Notable people with the name include: * Andrea Mantegna ( – 1506), Italian painter * Gia Mantegna (born 1990), American actress * Joe Mantegna (born 1947), American actor See also * Mantegna Tarocchi The Mantegna Tarocc ...

, and was exhibited as his at Mantua in 2009. Others however, including Giovanni Agosti, curator of the Mantegna exhibition at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

, attribute it to Pietro Lombardo. The discussion continues. The festival of Saint Euphemia, patron of Irsina, takes place on 14–17 September. On 16 September the keys of the city are offered to the archbishop on the altar of the cathedral, and by him to Saint Euphemia. A long procession then takes place through the streets of the town carrying the statue of the saint, the

reliquary A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', by the French term ''châsse'', and historically including ''wikt:phylactery, phylacteries'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a ''fereter'', and a chapel in which it i ...

containing her arm and the icon of Our Lady of Divine Providence.

Notes

Sources

Catholic Hierarchy: Archdiocese of Matera-Irsina

Comune di Irsina official website: Cattedrale

References

Roman Catholic cathedrals in Italy Cathedrals in Basilicata Churches in the province of Matera Gothic architecture in Italy Roman Catholic churches completed in 1777 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Neoclassical church buildings in Italy {{Italy-RC-cathedral-stub