The Church of Santa Maria Maggiore ( it, Duomo di Mirandola; Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore, Mirandola) is a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

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 let ...

church in the center of the town of

Mirandola Mirandola ( Mirandolese: ) is a city and ''comune'' of Emilia-Romagna, Italy, in the Province of Modena, northeast of the provincial capital by railway. History Mirandola originated as a Renaissance city-fortress. For four centuries it was ...

province of Modena The Province of Modena ( it, Provincia di Modena) is a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Modena. It has an area of and a total population of about 701,000 (2015). There are 48 ''comuni'' (singular: ''co ...

, Region of

Emilia Romagna Emilia-Romagna (, , both also ; ; egl, Emégglia-Rumâgna or ''Emîlia-Rumâgna''; rgn, Emélia-Rumâgna) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy, situated in the north of the country, comprising the historical regions ...

, Italy.

History

The present church was rebuilt in the 1400s by Giovanni and Francesco Pico, the then lords of Mirandola. 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''. ...

and side walls were built at that time in the Gothic style, whereas the present Gothic façade is a recent restoration. The bell-tower towards the rear of the church is from the 17th century. The interior houses paintings by

Sante Peranda Sante Peranda (1566–1638) was an Italian painter of the late-Renaissance period. He was a pupil of the painter Leonardo Corona and later Palma il Giovane. Also known as ''Santo Peranda''. He painted a ''Descent from the cross'' for San Procol ...

. The Chapel of the Madonna di Pompei has a gilded Baroque altar of the 17th century. The church has been closed since 2012 because of damage from the 2012 Emilia earthquakes.Modena Tourism site
entry on church.

References

Roman Catholic churches in Mirandola Gothic architecture in Emilia-Romagna 15th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy {{Italy-RC-church-stub