250px, Santa Giusta Cathedral Santa Giusta Cathedral, now 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 ...

( it, Basilica di Santa Giusta) is the former

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 ...

of the abolished Diocese of Santa Giusta, in

Santa Giusta Santa Giusta (; sc, Santa Justa) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Oristano in the Italian region of Sardinia, located about northwest of Cagliari and about southeast of Oristano in the Campidano area. History The site of the ...

province of Oristano The province of Oristano ( it, provincia di Oristano, sc, provìntzia de Aristanis) is a province in the autonomous island region of Sardinia in Italy. Its capital is the city of Oristano. It has an area of , a total population of 160,746 (2016), ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

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 ...

. The dedication is to Saint Justa of Cagliari who, according to the tradition, was

martyred A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

here at the time of the Roman emperor Diocletian, with her companions Saints Justina and Aenidina. Almost entirely built in

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

, it is considered one of the most important examples of Sardinian

Romanesque architecture Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque style, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 11th century, this lat ...

History

The cathedral was erected in the early 12th century by local and Pisan workers, the latter with experience from

Pisa Cathedral Pisa Cathedral ( it, Cattedrale Metropolitana Primaziale di Santa Maria Assunta; Duomo di Pisa) is a medieval Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, in the Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa, Italy, the oldest of the t ...

. Some art historians have supposed that another church existed on the site previously, but this has not been definitely proven. In the 16th-17th centuries the south wall was demolished to allow creation of two chapels. In 1503 the Diocese of Santa Giusta was abolished and annexed to that of

Oristano Oristano (; sc, Aristanis ) is an Italian city and ''comune'', and capital of the Province of Oristano in the central-western part of the island of Sardinia. It is located on the northern part of the Campidano plain. It was established as the pr ...

. In 1847 a marble enclosure was built to encircle the presbytery, while a pulpit was added in 1876. In 1860 the former sail-shaped bell tower collapsed, and was replaced by a square bell tower in neo-Romanesque style, finished in 1906.

Overview

The basilica has a façade in undecorated sandstone, with three bays corresponding to the interior's nave and two aisles. The central one has the main portal, surmounted by a triple

mullioned window A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

. The façade is topped by a tympanum also divided into three parts, the central one featuring a

lozenge Lozenge or losange may refer to: * Lozenge (shape), a type of rhombus *Throat lozenge, a tablet intended to be dissolved slowly in the mouth to suppress throat ailments *Lozenge (heraldry), a diamond-shaped object that can be placed on the field of ...

. Near the pilasters flanking the portal are two old columns, leading to the hypothesis that the church once had a portico or similar structure. The side walls are divided into blind arches with

Lombard bands A Lombard band is a decorative blind arcade, usually located on the exterior of building. It was frequently used during the Romanesque and Gothic periods of Western architecture. It resembles a frieze of arches. Lombard bands are believed to ha ...

, but have few decorations otherwise. More numerous are the features of the

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...

, with semi-columns supported by

plinth A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ...

s and ending in leaf-shaped capitals, Lombard bands and six single-mullioned windows (the three lower ones lighting the church's crypt). In the interior the aisles and the nave are divided by seven columns with arcades, made of material from ancient settlements of the area. The aisles are covered by

groin vault A groin vault or groined vault (also sometimes known as a double barrel vault or cross vault) is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. Honour, H. and J. Fleming, (2009) ''A World History of Art''. 7th edn. London: Lau ...

s, while the nave has

truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembl ...

es. The columns in the crypt are original.

Sources

* {{Authority control Churches in the province of Oristano Roman Catholic cathedrals in Italy 12th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Romanesque architecture in Sardinia Cathedrals in Sardinia