Ragusa Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Ragusa, Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista) 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 ...

Ragusa Ragusa is the historical name of Dubrovnik. It may also refer to: Places Croatia * the Republic of Ragusa (or Republic of Dubrovnik), the maritime city-state of Ragusa * Cavtat (historically ' in Italian), a town in Dubrovnik-Neretva County, Cro ...

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

, dedicated to Saint

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

. The present church dates from the early 18th century. It has been the seat of the Bishops of Ragusa since the establishment of the diocese in 1950.

History

A church of San Giovanni Battista stood before the

1693 Sicily earthquake The 1693 Sicily earthquake struck parts of southern Italy near Sicily, Calabria, and Malta on January 11 at around 21:00 local time. This earthquake was preceded by a damaging foreshock on January 9. The main quake had an estimated magnitude of 7. ...

in the west of the old town of Ragusa (

Ragusa Ibla Ragusa (; scn, Rausa ; la, Ragusia) is a city and ''comune'' in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Ragusa, on the island of Sicily, with 73,288 inhabitants in 2016. It is built on a wide limestone hill between two deep valley ...

) under the walls of a medieval castle, where there now stands the church of St. Agnes.Giuseppe Antoci. ''I monumenti del tardo barocco di Ragusa''. Nonsolografica editrice, 2003. Severely damaged by the earthquake, it was rebuilt at the center of the new upper town of Ragusa in the district of "Patro". On 15 April 1694 the foundation stone was laid. The church was finished after just four months, so that on 16 August the same year it was opened for worship in a solemn ceremony which was attended by all the elders of the county. The short time it took for the building indicates that it was a small church, inadequate to the needs of the new district. In 1718, therefore, the construction on the site of a larger church began. Two

master builder A master builder or master mason is a central figure leading construction projects in pre-modern times (a precursor to the modern architect and engineer). Historically, the term has generally referred to "the head of a construction project in the ...

s of

Acireale Acireale (; scn, Jaciriali, locally shortened to ''Jaci'' or ''Aci'') is a coastal city and ''comune'' in the north-east of the Metropolitan City of Catania, Sicily, southern Italy, at the foot of Mount Etna, on the coast facing the Ionian Sea. ...

, Giuseppe Recupero and Giovanni Arcidiacono, oversaw the project, and some architectural details of the church of San Giovanni are typical of the

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 ...

monuments of Acireale and

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

, such as the monumental Baroque main entrance with rusticated columns, which has significant similarities with the marble door of

Acireale Cathedral Acireale Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Acireale, ''Cattedrale Maria Santissima Annunziata'') is a Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the city of Acireale in Sicily, province of Catania, Italy. It was de ...

. The interior dates from the 19th and 20th centuries. Giuseppe Bellafiore. ''La civiltà artistica della Sicilia dalla preistoria ad oggi''. Le Monnier 1963. p. 234. In 1950 the church became the cathedral of the newly created Diocese of Ragusa.

References

External links

Catholic Hierarchy: Diocese of Ragusa
{{Coord, 36.9257, N, 14.7287, E, type:landmark_region:IT, display=title Roman Catholic cathedrals in Italy Cathedrals in Sicily Roman Catholic churches in Ragusa Baroque architecture in Ragusa Roman Catholic churches completed in 1718 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy