Коллегиата Санта-Мария-Ассунта: Архитектура и фрески Ренессанса в Сан-Джиминьяно

Medieval/Renaissance church with important architecture & art

The Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta or Duomo di San Gimignano is a Roman Catholic collegiate church and minor basilica in San Gimignano, in Tuscany in central Italy. It contains important cycles of Renaissance frescoes by artists including Domenico Ghirlandaio, Benozzo Gozzoli, Taddeo di Bartolo, Lippo Memmi and Bartolo di Fredi. It falls within the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the "Historic Centre of San Gimignano", with its frescoes being described by UNESCO as "works of outstanding beauty".

The first church on the site was begun in the 10th century. The event is commemorated in a plaque on the facade. It was elevated to collegiate status 20 September 1471. During the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, the church was enriched by the addition of frescos and sculpture. Girolamo Savonarola preached from the pulpit of this church in 1497. The church has an east facing facade, and chancel to the west, as at St Peter's Basilica. The architecture is 12th and 13th century Romanesque with the exception of the two chapels in the Renaissance style. The facade, which has little ornament, is approached from the square by a wide staircase and has a door into each of the side aisles, but no central portal. The doorways are surmounted by stone lintels with recessed arches above them, unusual in incorporating the stone Gabbro. To the north side of the church, in the corner of the transept and chancel, stands a severely plain campanile of square plan, with a single arched opening in each face. The campanile may be that of the earlier church, as it appears to mark the extent of the original western facade, or it may have been one of the city's many tower houses, pressed into service of the church. To the south side of the church is the Loggia of the Baptistry, a 14th century arcaded cloister with stout octagonal columns and a groin vault. Internally, the building is in the shape of a Latin Cross, with central nave and an aisle on either side, divided by arcades of seven semi circular Romanesque arches resting on columns with simplified Corinthianesque capitals. The chancel is a simple rectangle with a single arched window at the terminal end. The roofs throughout are of quadripartite vaults which date from the mid 14th century.

The upper register occupies the lunettes beneath the vault and depicts the story of Creation. The name "Barna" in relation to paintings at the Collegiate Church of San Gimignano appears to have originated in Lorenzo Ghiberti's Commentaries. In 1927 the archivist Peleo Bacci made the suggestion that Barna had never existed and that the paintings are the work of Lippo Memmi. This hypothesis received no support and little comment for fifty years. In 1976 discussion of Bacci's attribution was revived, with Moran suggesting that there had been a mis transcription of "Bartolo" as "Barna", with the name "Bartolo" referring to Bartolo di Fredi, painter of the Old Testament cycle. The attribution of the New Testament cycle to Lippo Memmi, perhaps assisted by his brother Federico Memmi and father Memmo di Filippucci, is now generally agreed. The scenes within the New Testament cycle are organised into four separate narratives, and do not follow a clear left to right pattern as do those of the left aisle. As with the left aisle, they are divided into three registers, the upper being the lunettes between the vaults.

This chapel off the right aisle, which has been described as "one of the jewels of Renaissance architecture, painting and sculpture", is dedicated to a young girl, Serafina, known as "Fina" and regarded locally as a saint.

The chapel was built in 1477 and modified in the 17th century. The side lunettes have frescoes by Niccolo di Lapi representing the Birth of the Virgin and St Philip Neri celebration mass. The vault shows the Coronation of the Virgin painted by Pietro Dandini. The altarpiece is the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception by Ludovico Cardi, late 16th century.

On the rear wall of the nave, beneath the Last Judgement is a fresco of the Martyrdom of St Sebastian painted by Benozzo Gozzoli in 1465. The work was commissioned by the people of San Gimignano as the result of a vow that they made to honour the saint, whose intervention was believed to have brought relief from an outbreak of plague in 1464. The painting shows the figure of Christ and the Virgin Mary in Glory, while below, St Sebastian, standing on a Classical plinth and bristling with arrows, suffers martyrdom and is crowned by angels. Benozzo Gozzoli received his training under Lorenzo Ghiberti while working on the Baptistry doors.

In the Baptistery Loggia to the south of the church are several small frescoes of saints, and a major work, The Annunciation, previously attributed to Ghirlandaio but now believed to be the work of Sebastiano Mainardi and dated to 1482. The crucifix of the chancel is by the Florentine sculptor, Giovanni Antonio Noferi, 1754. Noferi also designed the marble pavement of the chancel.