Sant'Agostino is a

Gothic architecture Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved f ...

, deconsecrated

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 ...

church located on Piazza Giovenale #7 in the northwestern corner of

Orvieto Orvieto () is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy, situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff. The city rises dramatically above the almost-vertical faces of tuff cliffs that are compl ...

, region of

Umbria Umbria ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region of central Italy. It includes Lake Trasimeno and Cascata delle Marmore, Marmore Falls, and is crossed by the Tiber. It is the only landlocked region on the Italian Peninsula, Apennine Peninsula. The re ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. This building, as well as the church of Santi Apostoli, now serves as a display hall for ''MODO'' (Museum of the Opera del Duomo of Orvieto).

History and description

Monks of the

Augustinian order Augustinians are members of several religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written about 400 A.D. by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13th ...

had been introduced into Orvieto by about 1156, and soon after they had entered in possession of the convent and church of Santa Lucia at this site, belonging to the

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular in the Catholic Chur ...

order. This church was razed to erect a larger one, and in 1264 Cardinal Ancherio Pantaleone, nephew of

Pope Urban IV Pope Urban IV (; c. 1195 – 2 October 1264), born Jacques Pantaléon, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1261 to his death three years later. He was elected pope without being a cardinal; he was the fi ...

consecrated the first stone. The well-preserved ogival portal of the church was completed in the 13th century. The church remained incomplete until 1724. The monastery here had various transitions, and by 1462 had dwindled to three monks, leading to its suppression by

pope Pius II Pope Pius II (, ), born Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini (; 18 October 1405 – 14 August 1464), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 August 1458 to his death in 1464. Aeneas Silvius was an author, diplomat, ...

Piccolomini. Construction continued on the church and monastery. In the 19th-century, the monastery was converted into barracks; the church was suppressed in the 19th-century.Guida Storico-artistica della citta di Orvieto
by Tomasso Piccolomini Adami, Tipografia Bernadini, Siena (1883); pages 204-208.

References

Roman Catholic churches in Orvieto 13th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Gothic architecture in Umbria {{Umbria-RC-church-stub