The Church of Saints Nazarius and Celsus () is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church near

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

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 ...

. 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 rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

. It is an important example of the

Romanesque architecture Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe that was predominant in the 11th and 12th centuries. The style eventually developed into the Gothic style with the shape of the arches providing a simple distinction: the Ro ...

Montferrat Montferrat ( , ; ; , ; ) is a historical region of Piedmont, in northern Italy. It comprises roughly (and its extent has varied over time) the modern provinces of Province of Alessandria, Alessandria and Province of Asti, Asti. Montferrat ...

History

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 architectural conservation term for a reconstruction technique whereby a ruined building or monument is re-erected using the original architectural ...

. 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