Urbino Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Urbino, ''Cattedrale Metropolitana di Santa Maria Assunta'') 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 ...
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 denomination ...
in the city of
Urbino,
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 ...
, dedicated to the
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Since 1986 it has been the seat of the
Archbishop of Urbino-Urbania-Sant'Angelo in Vado
In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdioc ...
, and was previously the seat of the Archbishops of Urbino.
History
The first cathedral on the site was built here in 1021, to replace an earlier one located outside the city walls. Under the patronage of Count
Federico da Montefeltro, it was rebuilt in the 15th century, based on a design attributed to
Francesco di Giorgio Martini
Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439–1501) was an Italian architect, engineer, painter, sculptor, and writer. As a painter, he belonged to the Sienese School. He was considered a visionary architectural theorist—in Nikolaus Pevsner's terms: ...
. Construction was not finished until 1604. The west front, using stone quarried from
Furlo 240px, Entrance of the Roman tunnel.
The Furlo Pass (Italian: ''Gola del Furlo'' or ''Passo del Furlo'') is a gorge on the ancient Roman road Via Flaminia in the Marche region of central Italy, where it passes near the Candigliano river, a tributa ...
, was designed by
Camillo Morigia and completed in 1782. It was ornamented with five statues, representing the three
theological virtues
Theological virtues are virtues associated in Christian theology and philosophy with salvation resulting from the grace of God. Virtues are traits or qualities which dispose one to conduct oneself in a morally good manner. Traditionally they have ...
of Faith, Hope, and Charity, between
Saint Augustine to the left and
Saint John Chrysostom to the right.
On 12 January 1789, a powerful earthquake toppled the cupola, and made a reconstruction necessary. The project was entrusted to
Giuseppe Valadier, and completed by 1801 in the present
Neoclassical style.
Interior
Valadier's Neoclassical interior is on a
Latin cross
A Latin cross or ''crux immissa'' is a type of cross in which the vertical beam sticks above the crossbeam, with the three upper arms either equally long or with the vertical topmost arm shorter than the two horizontal arms, and always with a mu ...
groundplan and has a central nave between two side aisles, under a
barrel vault
A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...
ed roof. The crossing of the
transept
A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...
supports an impressive
coffered cupola.
As to works of art, the cathedral contains two canvases by
Federigo Barocci
Federico Barocci (also written ''Barozzi'')(c. 1535 in Urbino – 1612 in Urbino) was an Italian Renaissance painter and printmaker. His original name was Federico Fiori, and he was nicknamed Il Baroccio. His work was highly esteemed and inf ...
, a ''
Saint Sebastian'' in the north aisle, and a ''
Last Supper'' in the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament. There is also an ''Assumption of the Virgin'' (circa 1707) by
Carlo Maratta
Carlo Maratta or Maratti (13 May 162515 December 1713) was an Italian painter, active mostly in Rome, and known principally for his classicizing paintings executed in a Late Baroque Classical manner. Although he is part of the classical tradition ...
, and a ''Nativity'' (1708) by
Carlo Cignani. On the pendentives of the cupola are depicted the ''
Four Evangelists'' (18th century), possibly by
Domenico Corvi
Domenico Corvi (1721–1803) was an Italian painter at the close of the 18th century, active in an early Neoclassic style in Rome and surrounding sites.
Biography
Corvi was born in Viterbo. After some early works in Viterbo and Palestrina, ...
and
Giuseppe Cades
Giuseppe Cades (March 4, 1750 – December 8, 1799) was an Italian sculptor, painter, and engraver.
Cades was born in Rome. He studied at the Accademia di San Luca under Mancini and Domenico Corvi, gaining a prize in 1765 with his picture of ...
. The main altarpiece, by
Christopher Unterberger
Christopher Unterberger, also Christoph or Cristoforo (27 May 1732 – 25 January 1798) was an Italian painter of the early- Neoclassical period.
Biography
He was born in Cavalese in County of Tyrol (today located in Trentino, Italy). He was ini ...
, represents the Madonna between the city's patron saints.
Tomb of Polydore Vergil
The
humanist scholar and
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
Polydore Vergil
Polydore Vergil or Virgil (Italian: ''Polidoro Virgili''; commonly Latinised as ''Polydorus Vergilius''; – 18 April 1555), widely known as Polydore Vergil of Urbino, was an Italian humanist scholar, historian, priest and diplomat, who spent ...
died in Urbino in 1555, and was buried in the Cathedral, in the chapel of St Andrew which he himself had endowed. It was agreed in 1613 that a memorial stone should be set over his tomb. This was eventually put in place in 1631, with an inscription stating that his fame would "live for ever in the world".
However, it is believed to have been lost in the 1789 earthquake.
Gallery
File:Urbino-duomo05.jpg, Apse exterior
File:Urbino-duomo02.jpg, Apse interior
File:Urbino-duomo03.jpg, Cupola
File:SanCrescentinoDuomo.jpg, Statue of San Crescentino in front of the cathedral
References
Sources
* Negroni, F., 1993: ''Il Duomo di Urbino''. Urbino
{{Coord, 43, 43, 30, N, 12, 38, 11, E, region:IT_type:adm2nd_source:kolossus-nlwiki, display=title
Roman Catholic churches in Urbino
Cathedrals in the Marche
Roman Catholic cathedrals in Italy
Roman Catholic churches completed in 1782
1780s establishments in Italy
Neoclassical architecture in le Marche
1782 establishments in Europe
18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy
Neoclassical church buildings in Italy