L'Aquila Cathedral ( it, Duomo dell'Aquila; Cattedrale metropolitana dei Santi Massimo e Giorgio) 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 let ...

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 denominatio ...

in L'Aquila, Abruzzo,

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 ...

, dedicated to Saint

Maximus of Aveia Saint Maximus of Aveia (d. ca. 250 AD) (sometimes also known as ''Saint Maximus of Aquila'') is one of the patron saints of L'Aquila, Italy. He was born in Aveia, nowadays known as Fossa. A deacon, he was martyred for his faith. The tradition s ...

and

Saint George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldie ...

. It is the episcopal seat of the Archdiocese of L'Aquila.

History

The cathedral was originally built in the 13th century and destroyed in the earthquake of 1703. It was restored in the 19th century and further restored in the 20th.''Abruzzo'', Touring Club Italiano 2015, p.93 It was seriously damaged in the earthquake of 2009, and is presently unusable (2015). From August 2013 the functions of the cathedral were temporarily transferred to the Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio, itself also damaged in the earthquake and now closed to worship for rebuilding works; and later transferred again to the Basilica of San Giuseppe Artigiano, not far from the cathedral, rebuilt and reopened after the earthquake of July 2012. As at April 2015 work on the cathedral had not yet started; it seems that they may begin in September 2015.

Notes and references

Sources

*''Abruzzo''. Guide Verdi. Touring Club Italiano, 2015. Buildings and structures in L'Aquila L'Aquila L'Aquila Neoclassical architecture in Abruzzo Neoclassical church buildings in Italy {{Italy-RC-cathedral-stub