San Domenico is a basilica church in Perugia

Perugia

Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area....

, Umbria

Umbria

Umbria is a region of modern central Italy. It is one of the smallest Italian regions and the only peninsular region that is landlocked.Its capital is Perugia.Assisi and Norcia are historical towns associated with St. Francis of Assisi, and St...

, central Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. It is the largest religious building in the whole Umbria.

Description

The church shows externally a late 16th century portal and a double Baroque

Baroque architecture

Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...

 staircase. The original building dates to 1304, and was constructed over a pre-existing one (known as San Domenico Vecchio), which had become inadequate after the growth of the Dominican Order

Dominican Order

The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...

. According to Giorgio Vasari

Giorgio Vasari

Giorgio Vasari was an Italian painter, writer, historian, and architect, who is famous today for his biographies of Italian artists, considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing.-Biography:...

, it was designed by Giovanni Pisano

Giovanni Pisano

Giovanni Pisano was an Italian sculptor, painter and architect. Son of the famous sculptor Nicola Pisano, he received his training in the workshop of his father....

 The church was consecrated in 1459. Based on the Hallenkirche northern-European scheme, it ruined in 1614-1615. The interior was thus renovated in 1629-1632 by Carlo Maderno

Carlo Maderno

Carlo Maderno was a Swiss-Italian architect, born in Ticino, who is remembered as one of the fathers of Baroque architecture. His façades of Santa Susanna, St. Peter's Basilica and Sant'Andrea della Valle were of key importance in the evolution of the Italian Baroque...

, and shows similarities with the nave of St. Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's Basilica

The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter , officially known in Italian as ' and commonly known as Saint Peter's Basilica, is a Late Renaissance church located within the Vatican City. Saint Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world...

, also by him, aside from the absence of windows. The new designed included a nave and two aisles.

Of the original edifice, today the cloister (1455–1579) and a very large Gothic window (21 x 8.5 m) near the choir, executed by Bartolomeo di Pietro in 1411, remain. This window is also shown in a fresco now in the Palazzo dei Priori

Palazzo dei Priori

The Palazzo dei Priori is a historical building in Perugia, Umbria, central Italy.As in other Italian medieval communes, it was the seat of the priori . This magistrature was established in Perugia in 1303: the palazzo had been called the Palazzo Nuovo del Popolo to that point...

 of Perugia. The bell tower was built in 1454-1500 by the Lombard

Lombardy

Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...

 architect Gasperino di Antonio. Originally it was taller than its current appearance, but it was later reduced for stability reasons.

In the interior of the church are a funerary monument to Pope Benedict XI

Pope Benedict XI

Blessed Pope Benedict XI , born Nicola Boccasini, was Pope from 1303 to 1304.Born in Treviso, he succeeded Pope Boniface VIII , but was unable to carry out his policies...

, who died at Perugia in 1304 (perhaps executed by a pupil of Arnolfo di Cambio

Arnolfo di Cambio

Arnolfo di Cambio was an Italian architect and sculptor.-Biography:Arnolfo was born in Colle Val d'Elsa, Tuscany....

), the Rosary Altar by Agostino di Duccio

Agostino di Duccio

Agostino di Duccio was an Italian early Renaissance sculptor.Born in Florence, he worked in Prato with Donatello and Michelozzo, who influenced him greatly. In 1441, he was accused of stealing precious materials from a monastery in Florence and was banished from his native city as a result...

 and the wood choir, dating to the late 14th century. The church once housed also the Perugia Altarpiece

Perugia Altarpiece

The Perugia Altarpiece is a painting by the Italian early Renaissance painter Fra Angelico, housed in the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria of Perugia, Italy.-History:...

 by Fra Angelico

Fra Angelico

Fra Angelico , born Guido di Pietro, was an Early Italian Renaissance painter described by Vasari in his Lives of the Artists as having "a rare and perfect talent"...

, now in the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria

Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria

The Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria is the Italian national paintings collection of Umbria, housed in the Palazzo dei Priori, Perugia, in central Italy. Its collection comprises the greatest representation of the Umbrian School of painting, ranging from the 13th to the 19th century, strongest in the...

.

The annexed cloister houses the National Archaeological Museum of Umbria, with pre-historic, Roman and Etruscan items excavated in Umbria.

Sources