San Barnaba is a deconsecrated

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 ...

-style,

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 ...

church, located on Corso Magenta #44, near Piazzale Arnaldo, in

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

, region of

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

, Italy. The church in the 20th century became an auditorium (Auditorium San Barnaba) and conference hall, and home of the Conservatorio

Luca Marenzio Luca Marenzio (also Marentio; October 18, 1553 or 1554 – August 22, 1599) was an Italian composer and singer of the late Renaissance. He was one of the most renowned composers of madrigals, and wrote some of the most famous examples of the fo ...

History

The church was originally built in 1299 under the patronage of the Bishop Berardo Maggi. It is said the church was erected atop a pagan temple to Hercules. By 1302 it was affiliated with an

Augustinian order Augustinians are members of Christian religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about 400 AD by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13 ...

convent. The Augustinians were expelled from Brescia in 1457, and replaced by a Comunità dell’Osservanza di Lombardia, which in 1490 performs reconstructions including adding an adjacent library, where

Giovanni Pietro da Cemmo Giovanni Pietro da Cemmo (15th century - 16th century) was an Italian painter. Details on the artist's life are very scarce: perhaps born in Cemmo, he was active from 1474 to 1504 in a large area including Brescia and Cremona. Giovanni Pi ...

frescoed the ''Life of St Augustine'' on the ceiling.

Angela Merici Angela Merici or Angela de Merici ( , ; 21 March 1474 – 27 January 1540) was an Italian religious educator, who is honored as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. She founded the Company of St. Ursula in 1535 in Brescia, in which women dedica ...

, later canonized as saint, who lived in the neighborhood attended mass frequently in this church. It is said that while praying during the blessing of the eucharist in this church, she would experience levitation.

Interiors

The present church was rebuilt starting in 1623. The order affiliated with the convent was expelled in 1797. An inventory from 1823 of the church, noted the following works remained:Nova guida per la citta di Brescia
by Federico Nicoli-Cristiani (1826), pages 105-109. By Paolo Brognoli *''St Augustine at the helm of a ship'' (1689) by Luca Martelli *Four canvases by

Pompeo Ghitti Pompeo Ghitti (1631–1703 or 1704) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in and in towns surrounding Brescia. Biography He was born in the village of Marone on the shores of Lake Iseo, near Brescia. He was a pupil of t ...

**''Conversion of St Augustine by the voice of an Angel'' **''St Ambrose baptizes St Augustine'' **''St Simpliciano grants St Augustine the habit of a monk'' **''St Augustine blesses a Bishop'' *''Dead Christ'' (first altar on right, anonymous) *''Madonna di Buon consiglio'' (19th century. anonymous) *''Miracle of St John of San Facondo Eremitano'' by Panfili *''Nativity" by

Girolamo Savoldo Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo, also called Girolamo da Brescia (c. 1480–1485 – after 1548), was an Italian High Renaissance painter active mostly in Venice, although he also worked in other cities in northern Italy. He is noted for his subtle use ...

*''St Charles Borromeo'' by Bernardino Gandino (above tomb of Alessandro Luzzago) *''Resurrection of Christ'' attributed to Marone or Bagnadore *''Martyrdom of St Baranabas'' (main altarpiece) signed Josephus Pamphilus *''Guardian Angel'' by anonymous painter *''Virgin of the Belt'', statue by Avogadro, surrounding frescoes by Lucchese *''St Mary of Egypt dispenses charity'' (Altar of the Virgin of the Belt) by Giuseppe Amatori *''St Mary of Egypt taken to Burial'' by Grazio Cossale *''Apostle Barnabas between saints Augustine and Monica'' by

Pietro Muttoni Pietro della Vecchia, Pietro della Vècchia or Pietro Vècchia, formerly incorrectly called Pietro MuttoniBernard Aikema. "Vecchia, Pietro della."Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 5 March 2018 (Vicenza, 1603 &nda ...

*''St Claire'' by

Francesco Paglia Francesco Paglia (1636 – c. 1714) was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque period, mainly active in Brescia. Biography He was a pupil of Guercino. He also wrote a description of paintings in Brescia, using both prose and poetry, titled ' ...

*''St Roch'' and ''St Sebastian'' (chapel of San Nicolo da Tolentino) by

Vincenzo Civerchio Vincenzo Civerchio or Civercio (c. 1470c. 1544) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance, born at Crema, Lombardy, Crema, and active also in Brescia, where there are some of his alter-pieces. One of his works is at the National Gallery of Art, W ...

*''Coena Domini'' (Sacristy) by

Vincenzo Foppa Vincenzo Foppa ( – ) was an Italian painter from the Renaissance period. While few of his works survive, he was an esteemed and influential painter during his time and is considered the preeminent leader of the Early Lombard School. He spent hi ...

*''Crucifixion with Mary, St John Evangelist and other Saints'' by Cossale *''Christ venerated by St Augustine and other Saints'' by

Antonio Gandino Antonio Gandini (1565 – 17 July 1630) was an Italian painter of the late-Renaissance period. He was a pupil of the painter Paolo Veronese. In Brescia, his pupils were Ottavio Amigoni, Francesco Barbieri (''il Legnano''), and Ambrogio Besozzi ...

*''Christ on the Road to Calvary'' by Marone

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnaba Brescia Roman Catholic churches in Brescia Baroque architecture in Brescia 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy