View source for Santa Maria Maggiore, Trento

{{Short description|Church building in Italy}}
{{more footnotes|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox church
| church name        = Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore
| image              = Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore (Trento).jpg
| coordinates        = {{coord|46.0686|N|11.1194|E|source:wikidata|display=inline,title}}
| pushpin map        =
| map caption        = Location of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Trento
| architect          = Antonio Medaglia
| denomination       = [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]]
| archdiocese        = [[Archdiocese of Trento|Trento]]
| country            = [[Italy]]
| architectural type = [[Basilica]]
| dedication         = [[Blessed Virgin Mary]]
| groundbreaking     = {{start date|1520}}
| year completed     = 1524
| style              = [[Renaissance architecture|Renaissance]], [[Baroque architecture|Baroque]]
| tradition          = [[Latin Church]]
| website            = {{URL|https://www.comune.trento.it/Aree-tematiche/Turismo/Visitare/Chiese/Basilica-di-Santa-Maria-Maggiore|Santa Maria Maggiore}}
}}
The '''Church of Santa Maria Maggiore''' is an important place of worship in the city of [[Trento]], and the site of the Third Session of the Council of Trent. It was built by [[Antonio Medaglia]] on the model of the [[Basilica of Sant'Andrea, Mantua|basilica of Sant'Andrea]] in Mantua, at the wish of the Prince-Archbishop [[Bernardo Clesio]].<ref>Annali, overo croniche di Trento cive historie contenenti le prodezze de duci Trentini, li origine della citta di Trento ... gli accrescimenti fatti del cardinale Bernardo Clesio. - Trento, Zanetto 1648 p.390</ref> In November 1973 [[Pope Paul VI]] accorded it the status of minor cathedral.
== Founding, development and history ==
[[File:Elia naurizio, congregazione generale del concilio di trento in s.m. maggiore, 1633, 01.jpg|left|thumb|The [[Council of Trent]] held in Santa Maria Maggiore in a painting preserved in the Tridentine Diocesan Museum.]]
Traditionally, the foundation of the cathedral was attributed to [[Vigilius of Trent|St. Vigilius]], the third Bishop of Trento, in the late fourth of early fifth century, but archaeological investigations between 1974 and 1978 and again in 2007–2009 have cast further light on the story of the building. In the Roman period, there were public buildings, including public baths, on the site where the cathedral was later built.<ref>Andrea Baroncioni, La città di Trento tra tardo antico e alto medioevo: la genesi della città medievale e lo spazio del sacro, tesi di Dottorato in Archeologia, Università di Bologna, 2012 p.91</ref> The original cathedral itself was built somewhat later than previously thought, in the late fifth or early sixth century, and had a large space divided into three naves. The [[chancel]] of this church, which was still in use towards the end of the tenth and eleventh centuries, contains traces of an [[opus sectile]] pavement dating to late antiquity, which was later replaced with a mosaic from the middle of the sixth century.<ref>The Journal of Fasti Online, ISSN 1828-3179 Il Progetto di Santa Maria Maggiore (Trento). Relazione Preliminare: dallo scavo alla diffusione dei dati, Maria Teresa Guaitoli http://www.fastionline.org/docs/FOLDER-it-2011-238.pdf</ref>
Between the late eighth and early ninth centuries a number of building works were undertaken on the cathedral, in particular the addition of richly-decorated stone liturgical fittings, including a rood screen and a ciborium. In the late tenth or early eleventh centuries the old church was demolished, and its structure, including the [[Carolingian dynasty|Carolingian]] fittings, were used as building materials for a new church, smaller than the previous one. It had a semicircular central apse with two side-apses.
Evidence from a find of coins indicates that after 1290 a third church was built on the site of the previous one. This one had two naves ending in symmetrical apses. This building preserved, among other elements of earlier edifices, fragments of frescoes and parts of a Gothic fascicule semi-pillar at one of its entrances.
In 1520, work started on the current church, at the direction of Bernardo Clesio. Between 1899 and 1901 further works and restoration modified the renaissance façade.
Santa Maria Maggiore was the site of the Third Session of the [[Council of Trent]] (1545–1563).<ref>All Things Made New:The Reformation and Its Legacy, Diarmaid MacCulloch, Oxford University Press, 2016 p.71</ref>
After archaeological and restoration works, the church reopened to the public in April 2012 and the altar was consecrated on 30 September 2012.<ref name="fidelityhouse">{{cite web|url=http://news.fidelityhouse.eu/viaggi/chiesa-di-santa-maria-maggiore-trento-66538.html|publisher=news.fidelityhouse.eu|title=Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore a Trento|date=17 June 2015 |accessdate=2016-11-19}}</ref>
== Architecture ==
[[File:Trento, santa maria maggiore, esterno 02.jpg|left|thumb|Main façade of Santa Maria Maggiore]]
[[File:Trento-Santa Maria-portal at southern entrance.jpg|thumb|Portal of the southern entrance]]
The [[Renaissance architecture|Renaissance]] church begun in 1520 is built in red and white stone. The main façade consists of an arched entrance in renaissance style with a door commissioned by Prince-Archbishop [[Cristoforo Madruzzo]] in 1539.<ref name="originalitaly">{{cite web|url=http://www.originalitaly.it/it/editoriali/a-chiesa-di-s--maria-maggiore-a-trento|publisher=originalitaly.it|title=Chiesa di S. Maria Maggiore a Trento :: Gli editoriali di OriginalITALY - OriginalITALY.it - Il meglio in Italia|accessdate=2016-11-19}}</ref> Above the door is a [[lunette]] depicting the [[Annunciation]]. The bell tower, 53 metres high, is the tallest in the city. Constructed of white limestone, it has two rows of three-mullioned [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] windows and a polygonal cupola. Beside the church stands a column erected in 1845 memorialising the celebrations for the third centenary of the opening of the Council of Trent.
The interior of the church consists of a single nave. Along the sides are a series of chapels with marble altars in the baroque style. There are also a series of altarpieces and the baroque sarcophagus containing relics attributed to [[Pope Clement I|Saint Clement]]. Of historical significance also is the series of paintings which depict sense from the Council of Trent and some of the main figures of the [[Counter-Reformation]]. The choir is at the north end of the presbytery and consists of a large gallery with [[bas-relief]]s, held up by four finely-worked [[corbel]]s.
== Pipe organ ==
On the chancel of the presbytery there is a Mascioni pipe organ, opus 402m, built in 1928,<ref name="mascioni-organs">{{cite web|url=http://www.mascioni-organs.com/en/elenco-nuovi|publisher=mascioni-organs.com|title=Elenco Nuovi – Mascioni Organs|accessdate=2016-11-19}}</ref> which re-used the casing of the old 1536 organ. It was restored and widened in 1953 following damage during the second world war. The instrument is electrically powered and has three keyboards, each of 58 notes, 30 pedals, and a total of 58 registers. The casing, with a [[Sebastiano Serlio|Serlian]] arch structure, displays the pipes in a single cusp on each side and three cusps in the centre.
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==References==
{{reflist}}
==Bibliography==
* Andrea Baroncioni, La città di Trento tra tardo antico e alto medioevo: la genesi della città medievale e lo spazio del sacro, tesi di Dottorato in Archeologia, Università di Bologna, 2012.
* Michelle Beghelli, Scultura altomedievale dagli scavi di Santa Maria Maggiore a Trento. Dal reperto al contesto, Bologna, BraDypUS, 2013. {{ISBN|9788898392001}}.
* Ruggero Boschi, Gianni Ciurletti, Corpus provvisorio dei reperti lapidei scolpiti, in Atti del 6º Congresso Internazionale di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo (Milano, 21-25 ottobre 1978), Spoleto 1980, pp.&nbsp;341–354.
* Gianni Ciurletti, La zona archeologica di Santa Maria Maggiore a Trento, in Restauri e Acquisizioni 1974–1978, Trento, 1978, pp.&nbsp;305–311.
* Domenica Primerano, La basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Trento, Trento, 1993.
* Iginio Rogger, Storia della chiesa di Trento. Da Vigilio al XIX secolo, Trento, 2009.
* Massimo Zanfini, Aspetti dell'architettura religiosa a Trento: il caso della basilica di S. Maria Maggiore, tesi di Dottorato in Archeologia, Università di Bologna, 2013.
* Hanns-Paul Ties, "Zur Bedeutung des Konzils von Trient für die Kunst seiner Zeit. Materialien und offene Fragen", in ''Von kurzer Dauer? Fallbeispiele zu temporären Kunstzentren der Vormoderne'', a cura di Birgit Ulrike Münch, Andreas Tacke, Markwart Herzog, Sylvia Heudecker (Kunsthistorisches Forum Irsee, vol. 3), Petersberg 2016, pp.&nbsp;103–125.
==External links==
* https://www.visittrentino.it/it/santa-maria-maggiore_md_2586
*{{cite web|url=http://www.comune.trento.it/Aree-tematiche/Turismo/Visitare/Chiese/Basilica-di-Santa-Maria-Maggiore|publisher=comune.trento.it|title=Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore / Chiese / Visitare / Turismo / Aree tematiche / Trento Città - Sito ufficiale del Comune di Trento - Comune di Trento|accessdate=2016-11-19}}
*{{cite web|url=http://necrologie.corrierealpi.gelocal.it/chiese/provincia-98-trento/citta-7408-trento/3408-chiesa-di-santa-maria-maggiore/notizie-storiche#tab|publisher=necrologie.corrierealpi.gelocal.it|title=Luoghi di culto - Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore TRENTO città - Necrologie Corriere delle Alpi|accessdate=2016-11-19}}
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[[Category:Trento]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Trento]]
[[Category:Church architecture]]