Santa Maria di Collemaggio
| Santa Maria di Collemaggio | |
|---|---|
The façade of Santa Maria di Collemaggio
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| Basic information | |
| Location | L'Aquila, Italy |
| Geographic coordinates | 42°20′34.07″N 13°24′16.74″E / 42.3427972°N 13.4046500°ECoordinates: 42°20′34.07″N 13°24′16.74″E / 42.3427972°N 13.4046500°E |
| Affiliation | Roman Catholic Church |
| Province | Archdiocese of L'Aquila |
| Country | Italy |
| Ecclesiastical or organizational status | Basilica |
| Architectural description | |
| Architectural type | Church |
| Architectural style | Romanesque, Gothic |
| Groundbreaking | 1287 |
S. Maria di Collemaggio is a large medieval church in L'Aquila, central Italy. It was the site of the original Papal Jubilee, a penitential observation devised by Pope Celestine V, who is buried there. The church, which therefore ranks as a basilica because of its importance in religious history, sits in isolation at the end of a long rectangular sward of grass at the southwest edge of the town.
The church is a masterpiece of Abruzzese Romanesque and Gothic architecture and one of the chief sights of L'Aquila. The striking jewel-box effect of the exterior is due to a pattern of blocks of alternating pink and white stone; the interior, on the other hand, is massive and austere. Outbuildings include a colonnaded cloister, with the central fountain typical of many other similar Italian cloisters, and the former monastic refectory.
Parts of the structure were significantly damaged in the 2009 earthquake in L'Aquila. While the church's front is intact, its cupola, transept vaults and the triumphal arches have collapsed
In 1274, while traveling through L'Aquila, a hermit from Morrone named Pietro, founder of the Celestine Order, spent the night on a nearby hill, the Colle di Maggio, and had a dream in which the Virgin Mary, surrounded by angels at the top of a golden stairway, asked him to build a church there in her honor. In 1287 the Celestines bought the land, started construction the following year, and consecrated the still-unfinished church in 1289. The hill that gave its name to the church no longer exists, the valley between it and the city having been filled in during the 19th century; further adjustments to the local topography were made in the 1930s to improve accessibility to the church.
On August 29, 1294, Pietro da Morrone was crowned Pope there, as Celestine V, and as part of his coronation instituted a plenary pardon of sins for all who would visit the church, confessed and repentant, on 28 and 29 August of any year. The "Pardon of St. Celestine" (in Italian: Perdonanza di S. Celestino) is widely viewed by church historians as the immediate ancestor of the Jubilee and Holy Year instituted only six years later by Pope Boniface VIII; and it is still celebrated at the church, thousands of pilgrims converging on L'Aquila for it every year. A Holy Door similar to the one in Rome was added to the church in the 14th century; a fresco in the lunette appropriately depicts the Virgin and Child, St. John the Baptist and St. Celestine.
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