La Spezia Cathedral ( it, Duomo della Spezia; Cattedrale di Cristo Re; "Cathedral of Christ King") is a Roman Catholic

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 ...

La Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest city ...

, Italy. It is the cathedral of the

Diocese of La Spezia-Sarzana-Brugnato The Diocese of La Spezia-Sarzana-Brugnato ( la, Dioecesis Spediensis-Sarzanensis-Brugnatensis) is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Liguria, northern Italy, created in 1929. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Genoa. The historic ...

. It was built between 1956 and 1975 to designs by

Adalberto Libera Adalberto Libera (; 16 July 1903 – 17 March 1963) was one of the most representative architects of the Italian Modern movement.Adalberto Libera at DARC (Dept. of Architecture and Contemporary Art, Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage) Biog ...

History

La Spezia became an episcopal seat in 1927, when

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fro ...

created the new Diocese of La Spezia-Sarzana-Brugnato. The ancient church of the Abbey of Santa Maria Assunta was elevated to the status of

pro-cathedral A pro-cathedral or procathedral is a parish church that temporarily serves as the cathedral or co-cathedral of a diocese, or a church that has the same function in a Catholic missionary jurisdiction (such as an apostolic prefecture or apostolic ...

for the new diocese on 19 March 1929, but the project of the construction of a new cathedral was immediately set in motion. The chosen site was on a hilltop cleared at that time in order to link the historic districts in the centre of the town with those to the east, where previously had stood a Capuchin

friary A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

The project

A competition was announced, in which the winning entry was that of the architect Brenno Del Giudice, but the works were postponed by more than 25 years until the mid-1950s, and Del Giudice's designs were never implemented. In the revived project of 1956, the Rationalist architect

was chosen, who availed himself of the potential of the elevated site on the vast Piazza Europa to emphasise the monumentality of the religious building. On the death of Libera in 1963, the building was still unfinished and its completion was entrusted to the local architect Cesare Galeazzi who resumed construction, incorporating some variations of his own. In 1975 the works were completed and the cathedral was consecrated and dedicated to Christ King of the Ages (''Cristo Re dei Secoli'').

Architecture

The exterior of the imposing structure is strongly characterised by its circular plan and by the external wall, in the shape of a

hyperboloid of one sheet In geometry, a hyperboloid of revolution, sometimes called a circular hyperboloid, is the surface generated by rotating a hyperbola around one of its principal axes. A hyperboloid is the surface obtained from a hyperboloid of revolution by defo ...

, without any openings. The large churchyard, in part a garden, faces uphill and onto it open three entrance portals. The interior receives light from the opening in the centre of the vast

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

, with a diameter of 50 metres, supported by 12 massive columns symbolising the

Apostles An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...

. A second source of light comes from a band of

stained glass window Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

s running around the perimeter of the main space. The pavement of white and grey marble, slightly sloping, converges towards the central altar of white marble, while the presbytery, paved in red marble, is slightly raised. In the vaulted

crypt A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...

are preserved 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 ...

of San Venerio (Saint

Venerius the Hermit Saint Venerius ( San Venerio) (ca. 560–630) was a monk and hermit. He is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church and is the patron saint of the Gulf of La Spezia and, as of 1961, the patron saint of lighthouse keepers. Life Venerius wa ...

) and the tombs of Itala Mela (a mystic of La Spezia) and of the first bishops of the diocese, Monsignor (bishop from 1929 to 1943) and Monsignor (1898-1989, bishop from 1943 to 1975); in a space adjoining the sacristy of the crypt is the tomb of the third bishop, Monsignor Siro Silvestri (1913-1997, bishop from 1975 to 1989).

Works of art

At the centre of the main space is a wooden

crucifix A crucifix (from Latin ''cruci fixus'' meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the ''corpus'' (Lati ...

of the 18th century. The altar, the

ambo Ambo may refer to: Places * Ambo, Kiribati * Ambo Province, Huanuco Region, Peru ** Ambo District ** Ambo, Peru, capital of Ambo District * Ambo Town, a town in Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia ** Ambo, Ethiopia, a capital of West Shewa Zone ...

and the

tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle ( he, מִשְׁכַּן, mīškān, residence, dwelling place), also known as the Tent of the Congregation ( he, link=no, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ōhel mō‘ēḏ, also Tent of Meeting, etc.), ...

Carrara marble Carrara marble, Luna marble to the Romans, is a type of white or blue-grey marble popular for use in sculpture and building decor. It has been quarried since Roman times in the mountains just outside the city of Carrara in the province of Massa ...

are all works of the sculptress Lia Godano. The

baptistry In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned structure surrounding the baptismal ...

, the

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

, the pews and the confessional are to the designs of Cesare Galeazzi. The ''

Deposition of Christ The Descent from the Cross ( el, Ἀποκαθήλωσις, ''Apokathelosis''), or Deposition of Christ, is the scene, as depicted in art, from the Gospels' accounts of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus taking Christ down from the cross after hi ...

'' is a bronze by Angiolo Del Santo.

References

External links

Architetturadelmoderno.it: Cattedrale i Cristo Re

WelcomeSpezia.it Photos of the cathedral

LaSpeziaCronaca4.it, 15 May 2015 - ''I quarant'anni della cattedrale di Cristo Re''

Bibliography

* P. Cevini: ''Le città della Liguria - La Spezia.'' Sagep:Genova 1984 * A. Alieri, M. Clerici, F. Palpacelli, G. Vaccaro: ''Adalberto Libera (1903-1963)'', in ''L'architettura. Cronache e storia'', n anno XII n. 6, 1966 {{coord, 44, 06, 29.98, N, 9, 49, 39.88, E, display=title Roman Catholic cathedrals in Italy Cathedrals in Liguria Churches in the province of La Spezia La Spezia 1975 establishments in Italy Roman Catholic churches completed in 1975 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy