The Basilica di San Domenico in Siena, also known as Basilica Cateriniana, is one of the most important churches in the city, with its imposing Gothic architecture and Renaissance works. It is dedicated to Dominique de Guzman, founder of the Dominican order, also very close to Saint Catherine of Siena.
It has vast dimensions, 77 meters long and almost 30 meters wide, with a large single nave majestic and quite empty. It still preserves some very beautiful frescoes of Sodoma and the relics of Saint Catherine, especially the Cappella delle Volte and the Cappella Santa Caterina.
The church is located in a panoramic position, near the Medici fortress and the sanctuary of Saint Catherine, originally the family home of Catherine of Siena.
Its construction lasted from 1226 to 1465. The first phase, from 1225 and 1265, was enlarged in the 14th century, with simple and imposing forms. The work was quickly disturbed, with several major fires in 1443, 1456 and 1531, followed by renovations.
Exterior description
On the very clean brick façade, the only ornament is the rose window by Giovanni Pisano. It has large openings to illuminate its vast interior
The double-span roof rises 27 meters at the highest point.
Inside
The single nave is large and bright, covered by a double-sloped roof and some pointed crosses.
Sodoma Frescoes
It preserves beautiful Renaissance frescoes by Sodoma between 1525 and 1530. On the left wall, a fresco depicts the beheading of Nicolas de Tuldo, unjustly sentenced to death, who found peace by being converted by Catherine shortly before his execution in 1377.
In the Sainte-Catherine chapel, there are frescoes of the ecstasy of Sainte-Catherine and that of the fainting caused by the stigmata, made in 1526.
In the upper part of the church are seen Saints Luke and Jerome.
Cappella delle Volte
Against the counter-facade, on a raised space, the Cappella delle Volte also known as Chapel of the Miracles, is an ancient place of prayer for the Dominican nuns, Related to the life of Catherine of Siena.
It was here that Catherine put on the habit of the Third Order of Saint Dominic and lived his ecstasies during prayers.
At the centre of the right wall is the Canonization of St. Catherine by Mattia Preti (1673).
A painting of Saint Catherine by Andrea Vanni was painted during the life of the saint, after 1 April 1375 when she received the stigmata in Pisa. On the opposite wall the two paintings represent the main miraculous episodes that occurred inside this chapel, by Crescenzio Gambarelli, dated 1602. Other paintings depict episodes of the saint’s life.
Sainte-Catherine Chapel
The Chapel of Saint Catherine built on the initiative of Niccolò Bensi in 1466, skillfully coloured, preserves the reliquary with the head and thumb of the saint brought to Rome in 1384 by Raymond of Capua, decorated with paintings by Sodoma (1526), and opposite that of Francesco Vanni (1593-96) where Catherine releases a demon bondswoman.
It is provided with a precious marble floor of the fifteenth century, with Orpheus and the animals, the splendid altar in marble carved in 1466 by Giovanni di Stefano.
The two famous masterpiece of Sodoma represent the mystical fading of the stigmata and the ecstasy of the saint.
Other works, chapels and crypts
The left wall of the nave bears, among other things, a Madonna with Child by Francesco di Vannuccio and a predella with fifteen episodes from the New Testament by Antonio Magagna.
The altars on the right side are decorated with an Apparition of the Virgin by Stefano Volpi (1630) and a Nativity of the Virgin by Alessandro Casolani (1585).
On the right wall are a fresco by Pietro Lorenzetti, the Adoration of the Shepherds by Francesco di Giorgio, a lunette by Matteo di Giovanni and a predella by Bernardino Fungai. Along the wall are also reliquaries of Saint Catherine.
In the right transept is an altar by Ambrogio Sansedoni. The left transept ends with the altar of St. Dominic.
The high altar has a ciborium with two angels by Benedetto da Maiano (1475-1480), while in the apse is a Martyrdom of Saint Peter by Arcangelo Salimbeni (1579) and a Saint Thomas by Galgano Perpignani.
The gothic crypt houses a crucifix by Sano di Pietro and a Crucifixion signed by Ventura Salimbeni (1600).
Where is San Domenico Basilica in Siena, map
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Sources and links
- Official websites : www.basilicacateriniana.it, santacaterina.siena.it
- Informations : en.wikipedia.org
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