Messina Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Messina; Basilica Cattedrale metropolitana di Santa Maria Assunta) 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 ...

located in

Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. Formerly the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Messina, it became in 1986 the archiepiscopal seat of the

Archdiocese of Messina-Lipari-Santa Lucia del Mela The Archdiocese of Messina ( la, Archidioecesis Messanensis-Liparensis-Sanctae Luciae) was founded as the Diocese of Messina but was raised to the level of an archdiocese on 30 September 1986 with the merging with the former Diocese of Lipari ( ...

. In June 1947

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...

granted it the status of a

minor basilica In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular ...

. Built by the Normans, it was consecrated in 1197 by the Archbishop Berardo.

Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI (German: ''Heinrich VI.''; November 1165 – 28 September 1197), a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was King of Germany ( King of the Romans) from 1169 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1191 until his death. From 1194 he was also King of S ...

and Constance I of Sicily were present to witness the ceremony. The current building is the final result of some twentieth-century reconstructions, which took place following the disastrous earthquake that struck Messina in 1908 and the considerable damage that resulted from the heavy aerial bombardment in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

.Giovanni Bonanno. ''Cattedrali di Sicilia''. M. Grispo, 2000. Only the perimeter walls, the Gothic portal and an apse remained standing after the catastrophic earthquake which also destroyed surrounding edifices in Piazza Duomo. In 1943 incendiary bombs fell on the restored roof destroying much of its interior. Only an original mosaic and statue survived. The tower houses the

Messina astronomical clock The astronomical clock of Messina is an astronomical clock constructed by the Ungerer Company of Strasbourg in 1933. It is built into the campanile of Messina Cathedral. The mechanism was designed by Frédéric Klinghammer, with the artistic de ...

, the largest astronomical clock in the world. Messina Duomo apses cropped 15-2-21

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Churches completed in 1197 Roman Catholic cathedrals in Italy Roman Catholic churches in Messina Cathedrals in Sicily Minor basilicas in Sicily Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor {{Italy-RC-cathedral-stub

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