Santa Maria della Consolazione is a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

-style

pilgrimage church A pilgrimage church (german: Wallfahrtskirche) is a church to which pilgrimages are regularly made, or a church along a pilgrimage route, like the Way of St. James, that is visited by pilgrims. Pilgrimage churches are often located by the graves ...

Todi Todi () is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) of the province of Perugia (region of Umbria) in central Italy. It is perched on a tall two-crested hill overlooking the east bank of the river Tiber, commanding distant views in every direction. I ...

, Italy. The centralized, symmetric plan, surmounted by a tall dome, distinguishes this

church, from the more common elongated

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

or Latin-cross designs. The original project is attributed to Donato Bramante, despite the absence of documentation. Cola da Caprarola, supposedly aided by Baldassarre Peruzzi, began construction in 1508 on the flank of the city hill, just outside the walls. The design is often erroneously attributed to

Bramante Donato Bramante ( , , ; 1444 – 11 April 1514), born as Donato di Pascuccio d'Antonio and also known as Bramante Lazzari, was an Italian architect and painter. He introduced Renaissance architecture to Milan and the High Renaissance style ...

. It has a Greek cross plan: three apses are polygonal and the one on the north side is semicircular. Other architects who helped bring the work to completion were Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Galeazzo Alessi,

Michele Sanmicheli Michele Sanmicheli (also spelled ''Sanmmicheli'', ''Sanmichele'' or ''Sammichele'') (1484–1559), was a Venetian architect and urban planner of Mannerist-style, among the greatest of his era. A tireless worker, he was in charge of designing bui ...

, Vignola and

Ippolito Scalza Ippolito or Eppolito is an Italian surname and given name, and the Italian form of the name of Saint Hippolytus of Rome. It may refer to: Given name * Ippolito Adobrandini, birth name of Pope Clement VIII (1536–1605) * Ippolito Aldobrandini (card ...

. The church was completed only by 1607. The apse is surmounted by a square terrace with four eagles at the corners, from which the dome rises. Legend holds that a worker, who was blind in one eye, had the sight of that eye restored when he wiped it with a cloth that had cleaned an icon of the

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

. The church was built at the site where the icon had been housed, and now contains the icon at the altar. Twelve niches in the first three apses house giant statues of 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 ...

. Also noteworthy is the wooden statue of Pope Martin I, a native of the Todi area.Text in part derived from

entry

Gallery

File:Pianta.Consolazione.Todi.jpg, Base plan of church File:L’Architecture de la Renaissance - Fig. 2.PNG, Interior plan File:Tempio di Santa Maria della Consolazione Interno.jpg, Interior File:Santa Maria della Consolazione - Stefani.jpg, Exterior File:Consolazione 3.JPG, Wide shot File:Emme 3.JPG, Surrounding view

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maria della Consolazione, San Maria Renaissance architecture in Umbria 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Roman Catholic churches completed in 1607 Centralized-plan churches in Italy 1607 establishments in Italy Donato Bramante church buildings

See also

Gallery

Sources