Cathedral of Cosenza: The Archdiocesan Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.7
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Italy
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Classical, Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Italian, Kingdom of Naples, Kingdom of Sicily, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Roman, Spanish
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Cathedral
On this page21 sections
History
Cathedral of Cosenza, formally the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, is the principal Roman Catholic church in Cosenza, Italy, and the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Cosenza-Bisignano. The medieval replacement for an eleventh-century church was completed in 1222, and the building now combines Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque, Neo-Gothic, and Neo-Romanesque elements. It also serves as the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Pilerio.
The medieval cathedral
An earlier church occupied the site during the eleventh century. The earthquake of 1184 almost completely destroyed it, leading to the construction of a replacement several years later. This rebuilding took place during the episcopate of Luca Campano, a former Cistercian monk and secretary of Joachim of Fiore. The new cathedral was completed in 1222.
On 30 January 1222, Nicola de’ Chiaromonti, Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati and an apostolic delegate, solemnly consecrated the church. Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen attended the ceremony and presented Cosenza with the Stauroteca, a reliquary associated with a relic of the True Cross. The object is now kept in the nearby Diocesan Museum.
Baroque transformation and later restoration
Major changes began in 1748, when Baroque superstructures concealed much of the medieval appearance and numerous works of art disappeared from the cathedral. A new sacristy was added in 1756. Much of the Baroque decoration and furniture was later donated or sold to other churches. The cathedra, the bishop’s ceremonial seat, went to Salerno Cathedral, while the high altar and pipe organ were transferred to Santa Maria in Gerusalemme in San Pietro in Guarano.
The facade was remade during the first half of the nineteenth century in a hybrid Neo-Gothic style. Restoration begun in that century continued into the twentieth century under Archbishop Aniello Calcara, with the stated aim of recovering the building’s earlier external and internal appearance. Late-nineteenth-century work also restored the original thirteenth-century form of the transepts and apse.
Archaeology and modern recognition
Recent renovation and reconsecration work in the presbytery brought to light remains from the Roman, Bruttian, late antique, and early Christian periods. An archaeological area was also uncovered behind the cathedral in Piazzetta Toscano, near the apse and between it and Piazza Parrasio in front of the Curia. The building’s historical role was further recognized on 12 October 2011, when UNESCO described it as a witness to a culture of peace through cooperation among the Cosenza UNESCO Club, the cathedral, and the archdiocesan communications office.
Pope John Paul II visited the cathedral on 6 October 1984 and venerated the icon of the Madonna del Pilerio. The cathedral is also linked to the archiepiscopal curia in the fifteenth-century Palazzo Cicala by the Tragitto, a suspended passage carried over arches. Monsignor Domenico Narni-Mancinelli created it during the first half of the nineteenth century.
Remains
The cathedral stands in Cosenza’s historic center on Piazza Duomo along Corso Telesio, at an elevation of 251 meters above sea level. Its Latin-cross plan has three naves divided into eight bays by two rows of pillars with carved capitals. The presbytery, transepts, and apse rise above the level of the naves, while two Baroque chapels open from the left nave.
Facade and dome
Tripartite facade
The facade has three ascending sections corresponding to the interior division of the church. Four piers separate its three portals, with the central entrance larger than the two lateral ones. Each portal is associated with a rose window, and the central rose window is the largest. An iron cross crowns the highest point, while a broad staircase joins the entrance platform to Piazza Duomo.
Dome covering
A Neo-Gothic tiburium, an exterior structure enclosing a dome, covers the dome above the high altar. Architect Giuseppe Pisanti designed it, and it was built at the end of the nineteenth century. The structure aligns visually with the squat bell tower and is visible from the surrounding hills.
Chapels and interior spaces
Chapel of the Madonna del Pilerio
The Chapel of the Madonna del Pilerio contains a Byzantine icon from the twelfth century showing the Virgin nursing the Child. Its marble altar dates from the eighteenth century and was made by the Neapolitan sculptor Giuseppe Sammartino.
Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament
The Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament belongs to the Confraternity of Prayer and Death, a religious association whose members shared devotional, charitable, and funerary responsibilities. It contains a funerary monument to members of the Cosenza anti-Bourbon insurrection of 15 March 1844, an uprising against the Bourbon monarchy of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. A large wooden choir extends along both side walls. Attilio and Emilio Bandiera were first buried in the chapel, but their remains were transferred in 1867 to the Church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice.
Chapel of the Assumption
The rectangular Chapel of the Assumption is built with tuff masonry. It forms a single vaulted room with a very narrow presbytery, separated from the nave by a round-headed triumphal arch. Cement tiles cover the floor, while the walls and vault are plastered. A masonry choir loft occupies the entrance wall, and a marble altar with a statue of the Assumption stands on the opposite wall.
The three naves have trussed roofs, except for the final bay of the left nave, which has a ribbed cross-vault. These structural forms coexist with the later chapel interiors and the raised liturgical areas of the presbytery, transepts, and apse.
Tombs and commemorative features
Mausoleum of Henry VII
The right nave contains the mausoleum of Henry VII of Hohenstaufen, a medieval German king and Holy Roman Emperor. Its sarcophagus is a reused Hellenistic-period piece decorated with a low-relief scene of a boar hunt led by the hero Meleager and the huntress Atalanta.
Tomb of Isabella of Aragon
A Gothic tomb for Isabella of Aragon stands in the left transept. Its sculptural group, concealed for centuries beneath Baroque alterations, represented Isabella and her husband kneeling on either side of the Virgin and Child. After Isabella’s body was transferred to the Basilica of Saint-Denis in Paris, the tomb was reportedly left with only the fetus preserved inside. The burials of Louis III of Anjou, who died in 1434, and the Cosenza philosopher and naturalist Bernardino Telesio, who died in 1588, were concealed or possibly removed during the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century restorations.
Apse and organ
Apse furnishings and paintings
The deep apse contains a modern marble high altar in Neo-Romanesque style and a valuable fifteenth-century wooden Crucifix from the demolished Telesio Chapel. Beneath the apse vault, polychrome frescoes fill pointed-arched niches supported by small columns. They depict the Assumption with the Twelve Apostles at either side. Domenico Morelli and Paolo Veltri created the frescoes in the nineteenth century.
Mascioni pipe organ
The right transept contains the Mascioni opus 1169 pipe organ, built in 2005. Its transmission is mechanical for the manuals and pedal and electric for the stops. The console has three 61-note keyboards and a straight 32-note pedalboard. Its wooden case alternates five towers with smaller winged fronts.
Archaeological remains and the Tragitto
Archaeological area
Archaeological remains within the cathedral include traces from Roman, Bruttian, late antique, and early Christian periods. Behind the apse, the area in Piazzetta Toscano exposes building remains described as extending back into the pre-Roman period.
Suspended passage
The Tragitto is a suspended corridor carried on arches between the cathedral and the archiepiscopal curia in Palazzo Cicala. It bears the pastoral coat of arms of Domenico Narni-Mancinelli, who created the passage during the first half of the nineteenth century.
Nearby sites
