Chiesa Parrocchiale di Sant'Agostino is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

parish church on Piazza Sant'Agostino in central

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

, Italy.

History and description

Founded in the 14th century by the Order of

Augustinian Hermits The Order of Saint Augustine (), abbreviated OSA, is a mendicant religious order of the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1244 by bringing together several eremitical groups in the Tuscany region who were following the Rule of Saint Augustine, ...

, the church was rapidly refurbished between 1662 and 1663 by the Duchess Regent Laura Martinozzi for the funeral of her husband, Alfonso IV. The new church was designed by the architect ''Gian Giacomo Monti'' and became the Este Pantheon for the celebration of Este family funerals. The rich series of decorations was designed by the Jesuit ''Domenico Gamberti'' who in 1659 had also overseen the funeral of '' Francesco I Este'', the first duke to be commemorated in the Church. During Duke Francesco's funeral, as was customary at the time, the church was completely transformed by a series of sumptuous temporary decorations. In the case of Alfonso IV these became permanent, a unique event in the history of European funerary art. The rich plasterwork and paintings depict an impressive series of monarchs, empresses, kings and queens, saints and holy men, bishops and popes linked to the House of Este. The most important artists at court were commissioned, including '' Olivier Dauphin, Sigismondo Caula, Francesco Stringa, Lattanzio Maschio'' and '' Giovanni Lazzoni''. Reopened to the public in 2018 after the 2012 earthquake, the church houses numerous masterpieces including the 16th-century terracotta Lamentation by '' Antonio Begarelli'' and a fragment of a 14th-century fresco of a Madonna and Child attributed to ''Tomaso da Modena''. The rather simple brick facade does not reflect the elaborately decorated interior. The basilica layout has a wide nave with protruding side altars. The ceiling holds framed canvases and is heavily encrusted with stucco sculpture.Tourism office of the Comune of Modena.
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History and description

References

Further reading