The Church of Saints Nazarius and Celsus ( it, Chiesa dei Santi Nazario e Celso) is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

church near

Montechiaro d'Asti Montechiaro d'Asti (Piedmontese: ''Monciàir'') is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Asti in the Italian region Piedmont, located about east of Turin and about northwest of Asti. Montechiaro d'Asti borders the following mu ...

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 re ...

. It is located on the side of a hill called ''Bric San Nazario'' and is easily visible in the countryside thanks to its tall bell tower and the chromatic effect due to the alternating stripes of bricks and

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 an important example of the

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 ...

Montferrat Montferrat (, ; it, Monferrato ; pms, Monfrà , locally ; la, Mons Ferratus) is part of the region of Piedmont in northern Italy. It comprises roughly (and its extent has varied over time) the modern provinces of Alessandria and Asti. Mo ...

. It was founded in around 1130 on the site of a previous settlement called ''Mairano'', which was later abandoned in the 13th century. People moved to Montechiaro, which is about 2 km far, and the church went on a slow decline. In 1847 the building was close to collapse, so it was heavily renovated: the whole church was dismantled except the façade, all the bricks and stones were numbered and catalogued and it was accurately rebuilt, following a process called

anastylosis Anastylosis (from the Ancient Greek: ; , = "again", and = "to erect stela or building) is an archaeological term for a reconstruction technique whereby a ruined building or monument is restored using the original architectural elements to t ...

. Other minor restoration processes were carried out in the following centuries.

References

{{reflist Churches in the province of Asti Roman Catholic churches in Piedmont 12th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Romanesque architecture in Piedmont Buildings and structures in the Province of Asti Montechiaro d'Asti