Siena Cathedral: The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Very High
- Country
- Italy
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire, Republic of Siena
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Cathedral
On this page26 sections
History
Siena Cathedral is the principal Roman Catholic church of Siena, Italy, and the episcopal seat of the Archdiocese of Siena-Colle di Val d’Elsa-Montalcino. Dedicated to the Assumption of Mary, it combines Tuscan Romanesque forms with Italian Gothic decoration and has served as a religious and civic landmark since the Middle Ages.
Early foundations and the medieval cathedral
The origins of the site are uncertain. A church and the bishop’s residence stood on the hill by the ninth century, while an earlier church may have occupied the location of a hypothetical temple of Minerva. Another tradition connects an earlier church on the hilltop settlement of Castelvecchio with Saint Boniface. In 1058, a synod held at the church elected Nicholas II and deposed the antipope Benedict X.
A new cathedral appears to have been begun around the middle of the twelfth century over the earlier building. Masses were being celebrated in the new church by 1215. The surviving financial evidence begins in December 1226 or 1227, when Siena’s Biccherna, the city’s civic financial office, entered payments for construction and decoration.
From 1196, construction was directed by the Opera di Santa Maria, an institution responsible for the cathedral’s building work, maintenance, and artistic commissions. Monks of San Galgano administered it from 1238 to 1285. By 1263, the choir, central hexagon, and dome had been completed, while the long body of the church was probably finished between about 1280 and 1284.
The cathedral’s medieval decoration developed alongside its structure. Nicola Pisano and other artists produced the pulpit between 1265 and 1268, and Duccio di Buoninsegna designed and made the great circular choir window in 1287 and 1288. Work on the west facade began around 1284. Giovanni Pisano supervised its lower section until about 1297, and Camaino di Crescentino completed the upper part between about 1299 and 1317. The facade was complete by May 1317, although the chronology and attribution of some upper elements have been debated.
The campanile was completed in 1313. From 1317, the eastern end was enlarged with two additional choir bays, a third aisle in the transept, and an extra bay in each transept arm. The central nave was also raised to align with the finished facade. The old cathedral was completed under Domenico di Agostino, with the work finished by about 1370.
The Duomo Nuovo and the fourteenth-century crisis
Siena approved the Duomo Nuovo project in 1339 because the existing cathedral was considered too small for the city’s growing population, wealth, and civic ambitions. The plan would have transformed the existing church into the transept of a much larger building, adding three naves, a broad semicircular apse, an ambulatory, and radial chapels.
Lando di Pietro was appointed to the project, and Giovanni di Agostino supervised the work from 1340. Structural failures weakened the undertaking, and the plague of 1348 further disrupted Siena’s resources and population. Construction stopped in 1357, and the new cathedral was abandoned in the middle of the fourteenth century. Its unfinished structures survive as the Duomo Nuovo, including the incomplete facade known as the Facciatone.
Archiepiscopal status and later history
In 1459, the Sienese bishop Enea Silvio Piccolomini became Pope Pius II and raised the Diocese of Siena to archiepiscopal status. The cathedral consequently acquired the title “Metropolitan.” The Piccolomini family continued to shape the building’s artistic history. Cardinal Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini, later Pope Pius III, commissioned an altarpiece in honor of Pius II, while the cathedral’s library was created to house Pius II’s books.
The building also remained closely connected with Siena’s civic and religious traditions. The Palio, the historic horse race between the city’s contrade, includes the ceremonial presentation of the August banner in the cathedral. After the race, the victorious neighborhood association returns to sing the Te Deum of thanksgiving to the Assumption. The Chapel of the Madonna del Voto, also called the Chigi Chapel, remained under Chigi family patronage until 1988, when it passed to the canons of the Metropolitan Chapter.
A fire in 1870 destroyed the external wooden dome and part of the wooden nave roof. Both were restored. The cathedral became part of the Historic Centre of Siena UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. Restoration work in 1999 also led to the rediscovery of a decorated underground room with unusually vivid late-thirteenth-century frescoes showing scenes from the Old and New Testaments, including the Passion.
Remains
Siena Cathedral is a Latin-cross church raised on a platform of eleven steps. Its plan includes three aisles, a two-aisled transept, a deep choir, an apse, and a dome over the crossing. White and dark green or black marble form alternating bands across the exterior and interior, with red marble used especially on the facade. The colors refer to Siena’s civic identity. The interior measures approximately 89.4 metres in length, 24.37 metres across the nave aisles, and 54.48 metres across the crossing.
Exterior and unfinished expansion
West facade
The west facade reflects two major building phases. Giovanni Pisano’s lower section has three portals and two lateral towers enriched with twisted columns, foliage capitals, keystones carved as satyr heads, Gothic gables, and sculptural figures. Fourteen human figures represent prophets, patriarchs, pagan philosophers, and prophetesses announcing the coming of Christ. The original facade statues are preserved in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, while copies occupy the exterior.
Scenes from the life of the Virgin fill the architrave above the central portal, and are attributed to Tino di Camaino. The gables contain seventeenth-century busts of the Sienese blessed Giovanni Colombini, Ambrogio Sansedoni, and Andrea Gallerani, made by Tommaso Redi. The upper facade, attributed to Camaino di Crescentino, has three gables, a large central oculus, Gothic niches with busts of Christ’s ancestors, and two levels of open galleries.
Three gilded mosaics made in Venice in 1878 after designs by Alessandro Franchi represent the Presentation of Mary in the Temple, the Coronation of the Virgin, and the Nativity of Jesus. The oculus contains a stained-glass Last Supper by Pastorino dei Pastorini, dated 1549.
Rear facade and campanile
The rear facade faces northeast and also forms the elevation of the Baptistery of San Giovanni. Its lower order has three splayed portals, while the upper order contains blind hanging arches and three splayed two-light windows. The four-pitched crown at the top remains unfinished.
The Romanesque campanile is faced with alternating marble bands and rises approximately 77 metres. Its six levels of windows progress from single openings at the base to six-light openings at the upper levels.
Facciatone
The incomplete Facciatone, attributed to Giovanni d’Agostino, belongs to the abandoned Duomo Nuovo. Its associated lateral pointed portal is dated 1345. A copy of a blessing Redeemer occupies the lunette, while the original sculpture is preserved in the Museo dell’Opera.
Interior structure and medieval decoration
Nave, crossing, and dome
Polystyle piers and light semicircular arches divide the interior. The bays of the aisles are square, while those of the central nave are rectangular. Rib vaults cover the aisles, whose blue surfaces are decorated with stars. Above the lower arcades, a high clerestory contains pointed arches and elaborate three-light windows. Two-light windows illuminate the transept, and large rose windows light the interior of the facade and the choir.
The crossing is formed by a hexagon that supports a dome with a dodecagonal interior base and eight externally visible ribs. Including the cross, the dome reaches approximately 48 metres. Its brick hemisphere is covered with lead plates and surrounded by two levels of open galleries. The dome was completed by 1263 or 1264, when Rosso Padellaio supplied the copper sphere at its summit. Barna di Turino rebuilt the summit in 1385, and the present lantern was installed in 1666 or 1667 from a design by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
The lantern’s vault contains a carved dove of the Holy Spirit by Cornelius Talboom. Its gilded frame was made by Andrea Ferrari and Pietro Cremoni. Inside the dome, blue coffers carry gilded copper stars dating from 1481 to 1494. Six gilded stucco statues beneath the pendentives represent Ansanus, Sabinus, Crescentius, Victor, Catherine of Siena, and Bernardino. Monochrome paintings of patriarchs and prophets in the drum were produced around 1481.
Choir and presbytery
The nave and choir are topped by a cornice and a sequence of 171 plaster busts of popes made between 1497 and 1502. Thirty-six unidentified imperial busts occupy the arches below them. Numerous historiated capitals are attributed to Nicola Pisano or his school, while most capitals in the choir are attributed to Giovanni di Agostino.
Thirty-six wooden choir stalls survive from a group decorated between 1363 and 1397. Fra Giovanni da Verona carved their backs around 1503, and the central stalls were made between 1567 and 1570 after designs by the Riccio. The choir and presbytery were reorganized from 1506 onward. Domenico Beccafumi frescoed the apse between 1535 and 1544, while Ventura Salimbeni painted the choir between 1608 and 1611.
Choir window and pulpit
The circular polychrome choir window was designed and made by Duccio in 1287 and 1288. Approximately 5.6 metres in diameter, it shows the Virgin in a mandorla, the Coronation and Death of the Virgin, Siena’s four patron saints, and the four Evangelists. The original is preserved in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, and a copy now occupies the cathedral’s window opening.
Nicola Pisano and his collaborators made the octagonal pulpit, or ambo, between 1265 and 1268. Eight columns support it, with four resting on lions, and its relief panels show scenes from the life of Christ and the Last Judgment. Bernardino di Giacomo made the staircase and access bridge in 1536 to 1539. The pulpit was installed in its present position in 1532.
Counter-facade and holy-water fonts
The counter-facade contains a seventeenth-century marble portal complex assembled with reused fifteenth-century material. Reliefs from the Chapel of the Madonna delle Grazie and the dismantled altar of Saint Ansanus were incorporated into the arrangement.
Near the entrance to the central nave are two white Carrara-marble holy-water fonts made by Antonio Federighi between 1458 and 1467. Their allegorical imagery sets the Fall of Man against the theme of redemption.
Altars, chapels, and monuments
High altar
Baldassarre Peruzzi designed the present high altar from 1530, and it was completed in 1541. The large bronze Eucharistic structure above it, the ciborium, was made by Vecchietta between 1467 and 1472. It was transferred from the Hospital of Santa Maria della Scala to the cathedral in 1506. Bronze angels beside it were made by Giovanni di Stefano and Francesco di Giorgio Martini.
Until 1506, Duccio’s Maesta occupied the high altar. Its replacement reflected Renaissance taste and a stronger emphasis on the Eucharistic body and blood of Christ.
Piccolomini Altarpiece and Library
Cardinal Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini commissioned the Piccolomini Altarpiece to honor Pope Pius II. Andrea Bregno made it between 1481 and 1485, although the ensemble remained incomplete. Michelangelo added four statues between 1501 and 1504. The upper Madonna and Child is attributed to Giovanni di Cecco, while the altarpiece also contains a Saint Francis by Pietro Torrigiani and a painted Madonna and Child by Paolo di Giovanni Fei.
The Piccolomini Library was commissioned in 1492 to house the library of Pope Pius II. Lorenzo di Mariano created its marble facade. Pinturicchio and his assistants decorated the room in two campaigns, from 1502 to 1503 and from 1505 to 1507, with frescoes showing episodes from Pius II’s life. A Roman copy of the Three Graces is also housed there.
Chapel of Saint John the Baptist
The Chapel of Saint John the Baptist occupies the left transept. Giovanni di Stefano designed it, and construction began in 1482 to house the right arm of Saint John the Baptist. Pinturicchio painted much of its decoration in 1504 and 1505. The chapel contains Donatello’s bronze Saint John the Baptist, Giovanni di Stefano’s Saint Ansanus, and Neroccio di Bartolomeo de’ Landi’s Saint Catherine of Alexandria.
Chapel of Saint Ansanus
The Chapel of Saint Ansanus contains the saint’s reliquary and Francesco Vanni’s painting of Saint Ansanus Baptizing the Sienese. It also holds the suspended tomb monument of Cardinal Riccardo Petroni by Tino di Camaino and Donatello’s bronze tomb slab for Bishop Giovanni Pecci.
Chigi Chapel
The Chapel of the Madonna del Voto, also called the Chigi Chapel, was built between 1659 and 1661 for Pope Alexander VII. Gian Lorenzo Bernini designed the circular Baroque chapel, and Giovan Paolo Schor constructed it. Its works include the Madonna del Voto, Bernini’s Saints Jerome and Mary Magdalene, Saint Bernardino by Antonio Raggi, and Saint Catherine of Siena by Ercole Ferrata.
Other chapels and monuments
The Chapel of the Most Holy Sacrament contains Alessandro Casolani’s Adoration of the Shepherds, dated 1594 to 1596, and five relief panels from the lost Pulpit of the Sermons. The right transept contains statues of the Sienese popes Alexander VII and Alexander III, a bronze Crucifix made by Massimo Lippi in 1990, the Agati-Tronci organ, and tomb slabs for Carlo Bartoli and Francesco Tolomei.
The cathedral also contains a memorial monument to Marc’Antonio Zondadari, Grand Master of the Order of Malta, made by Giuseppe Mazzuoli and completed by Bartolomeo Mazzuoli between 1723 and 1726. Other memorials include the monument to Pietro Gambagini Galletti by Tito Sarrocchi, the tomb of Tommaso del Testa Piccolomini by Neroccio di Bartolomeo de’ Landi, and the monument to the poet Bernardino Perfetti.
A bronze statue titled The Gratitude was commissioned by Guido Chigi Saracini after his recovery from illness during the First World War. Arturo Viligiardi completed it in 1926, and it was installed in 1927. A bronze candle-holder measuring 202 centimetres was made between 1932 and 1933 for the civic candle offered on 14 August. A second Easter-candle pedestal by Pierluigi Olla was installed in 2005.
Crypt, baptistery, pavement, and organs
Crypt
The crypt lies beneath the cathedral near the baptistery. Its walls and two supporting pillars carry approximately forty-five late-thirteenth-century fresco scenes from the Old and New Testaments. The subjects include the Passion, Crucifixion, Deposition, Visitation, Nativity, and saints. A decorated underground room rediscovered during restoration in 1999 contains another group of unusually vivid late-thirteenth-century frescoes, including scenes from the Passion.
Baptistery
The Baptistery of San Giovanni occupies the level beneath the eastern choir bays. Its principal feature is a hexagonal baptismal font decorated with sculpture and reliefs by Donatello, Jacopo della Quercia, and Lorenzo Ghiberti.
Marble pavement
The marble-inlaid pavement covers approximately 3,000 square metres and is arranged in 56 panels, including 37 major compositions. More than forty artists worked on it from the fourteenth through the nineteenth centuries. Its imagery includes Sibyls, prophetic female figures from classical and late antique tradition, as well as Old Testament scenes, virtues, allegories, and figures from the ancient world. Domenico Beccafumi worked on the pavement from 1518 to 1547 and created thirty-five scenes.
Organs and historic poles
The cathedral has two organs. The major Tamburini organ, opus 520, was built in 1966 with electric action, 72 stops, four keyboards, and a 32-note pedalboard. The chapel organ was reconstructed by Agati-Tronci in 1894 and has mechanical action, eleven stops, one keyboard, and a pedalboard.
Two poles more than 16 metres long stand against the last two piers. Tradition identifies them with Siena’s carroccio, the communal war wagon associated with the Battle of Montaperti in 1260, a major conflict between Siena and Florence. Another interpretation identifies them as parts of a sixteenth-century ship’s mast, perhaps from a vessel involved in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.
