Description
The Cathedral of Verona, the cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, is the city's mother church and a small world of layered eras: a Romanesque exterior in tuff and brick, a Gothic and Renaissance interior, and beside it the remains of two early Christian churches.
It is part of a complex with the Canons' cloister, the baptistery and the church of Sant'Elena.
Outside, the double porch by Master Niccolò stands out, with twisted columns above two griffins. Around the portal are the saints and two knights: Roland and Oliver, Charlemagne's paladins. Above are carved three medallions with the theological virtues, and higher up a rose window lights the nave.
Inside, three aisles with clustered pillars in red Verona marble. The presbytery is protected by Michele Sanmicheli's semicircular choir screen, with Ionic columns, and the choir is frescoed by Francesco Torbido from designs by Giulio Romano: biblical scenes within a great painted classical architecture.
In the first chapel on the left is Titian's Assumption, on the altar redesigned by Jacopo Sansovino. It was carried off by the French in 1797 and then returned to Italy. The other chapels hold works by Liberale da Verona, Francesco Morone, Falconetto and Nicola Giolfino.
The Memo Chapel, in the right aisle, was built in 1435 by Bishop Guido Memo and frescoed the following year by Jacopo Bellini. From there you go down to the crypt of the Veronese bishops. In the Mazzanti Chapel is the Gothic monument of Saint Agatha, watched over by four angels.
Beneath and beside the cathedral are the remains of the earlier churches. The first, from the 4th century, perhaps rose in place of a temple of Minerva; a second, larger one replaced it. Archaeological traces remain in the Canons' cloister and under the church of Sant'Elena.
After the catastrophic earthquake of 1117 the cathedral was rebuilt in Romanesque forms: the baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte dates from 1123, Sant'Elena was consecrated in 1140. The present cathedral was consecrated in 1187 by Pope Urban III.
The bell tower has a Romanesque base, a Renaissance shaft designed by Sanmicheli and a bell chamber finished in 1925. It reaches 75 meters, but was supposed to have a spire 15-20 meters taller, never built for economic reasons.
Don't miss
• Titian's Assumption.
• Niccolò's double porch.
• Sanmicheli's choir screen.
• The Canons' cloister and the baptistery.
Did you know?
• The bells of the bell tower are rung by hand, by a team of about twenty ringers, following the Veronese bell-ringing technique.
• The facade took on its definitive look in 1587, with the last works commissioned by Bishop Agostino Valier.
It is part of a complex with the Canons' cloister, the baptistery and the church of Sant'Elena.
Outside, the double porch by Master Niccolò stands out, with twisted columns above two griffins. Around the portal are the saints and two knights: Roland and Oliver, Charlemagne's paladins. Above are carved three medallions with the theological virtues, and higher up a rose window lights the nave.
Inside, three aisles with clustered pillars in red Verona marble. The presbytery is protected by Michele Sanmicheli's semicircular choir screen, with Ionic columns, and the choir is frescoed by Francesco Torbido from designs by Giulio Romano: biblical scenes within a great painted classical architecture.
In the first chapel on the left is Titian's Assumption, on the altar redesigned by Jacopo Sansovino. It was carried off by the French in 1797 and then returned to Italy. The other chapels hold works by Liberale da Verona, Francesco Morone, Falconetto and Nicola Giolfino.
The Memo Chapel, in the right aisle, was built in 1435 by Bishop Guido Memo and frescoed the following year by Jacopo Bellini. From there you go down to the crypt of the Veronese bishops. In the Mazzanti Chapel is the Gothic monument of Saint Agatha, watched over by four angels.
Beneath and beside the cathedral are the remains of the earlier churches. The first, from the 4th century, perhaps rose in place of a temple of Minerva; a second, larger one replaced it. Archaeological traces remain in the Canons' cloister and under the church of Sant'Elena.
After the catastrophic earthquake of 1117 the cathedral was rebuilt in Romanesque forms: the baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte dates from 1123, Sant'Elena was consecrated in 1140. The present cathedral was consecrated in 1187 by Pope Urban III.
The bell tower has a Romanesque base, a Renaissance shaft designed by Sanmicheli and a bell chamber finished in 1925. It reaches 75 meters, but was supposed to have a spire 15-20 meters taller, never built for economic reasons.
Don't miss
• Titian's Assumption.
• Niccolò's double porch.
• Sanmicheli's choir screen.
• The Canons' cloister and the baptistery.
Did you know?
• The bells of the bell tower are rung by hand, by a team of about twenty ringers, following the Veronese bell-ringing technique.
• The facade took on its definitive look in 1587, with the last works commissioned by Bishop Agostino Valier.