Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta, Alcamo explained

Building Name:Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta
Native Name:Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta
Native Name Lang:it
Religious Affiliation:Roman Catholic
Map Size:220px
Location:Alcamo, province of Trapani, Italy
Coordinates:37.981°N 12.9655°W
Region:Sicily
State:Italy
Province:province of Trapani
Territory:Alcamo
Groundbreaking:1332

The Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta ("Our Lady's Assumption", also called mother church) is a 14th-century basilica in Alcamo, province of Trapani, Sicily, southern Italy. It is named after the Assumption.

History

The first mother church of Alcamo, positioned on the north side of the quarter of San Vito, was first dedicated to Our Lady Source of Mercy (Santa Maria Fonte della Misericordia, 1200) and then to Our Lady with the Star (Madonna della Stella).[1] This Church is still existing under the name of Santa Maria della Stella, though in a state of abandonment.[2]

In 1332, the inhabitants of quarter of San Vito moved near the castle of the Counts of Modica, and for this reason a new mother church was built in the same place where the present one is located and it is dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption. This church opened to worship in 1402, was built in a Catalan-Gothic style with a nave and two side aisles[3] and had a wooden ceiling and side chapels not aligned. It was enlarged and modified in 1471, 1530-1558 and 1581.

Today we can only see the bell tower with double lancet windows (restored in 1942), the chapel of the Holy Thorn and the Baptistery.[4]

About the 16th century it gave the name to one of the four districts in which Alcamo was divided, the so-called "Maggiore Chiesa".[5]

In 1602 in this Church they founded the company of Santa Maria dello Stellario (Our Lady of Stellario), formed by countrymen ("villani") and butchers ("macellai"), transferred to church of Stellario in 1625.

The church was rebuilt in 1669 by Archduke Joseph and Angelo Italia (an architect from the Society of Jesus), while the neo-classical façade was realized in 1786[6] by Emanuele Cardona.[7]

In 1918 in the mother church they founded the congregation of the Sacramentines, then the congregation of Ursulines (1919) and the Assuntines (1936).

Until the first half of the 20th century, the dome was covered with majolica tiles, later replaced with copper plates. In 1954, year of Mary,[8] on the first centenary of the introduction of the Immaculate Conception's dogma, a 3adj=midNaNadj=mid statue of the Madonna was placed on the bell tower.

In May 1969 the Church of Our Lady's Assumption was elected as a basilica.[9]

The garden adjoining the church, since the 15th century, was used as a cemetery for poor people, with an altar where to celebrate Mass during maladies and a stone cross with an aedicula sacred to Our Lady of Mercy. In the 20th century it became a public garden and in 1929 they placed the War Memorial, realized by Bentivegna, a sculptor from Sciacca.

Description and works

The church has a basilican plan with a nave and two side aisles which are divided by two rows of columns with monolithic marble shafts extracted from the near mount Bonifato. The stuccoes were made by the Curtis, while the floor was realized on the architect Giuseppe Patricolo's plan.

The interior contains 38 frescos by Guglielmo Borremans; in particular the three frescoes on the vault, realized by Borremans in 1735, represent Our Lady's Assumption with the Holy Trinity and the Saints Anne and Joachim, John the Baptist, David and the patriarchs, Cherubs, Angels and Archangels (in the first space), The Virgin's Coronation with the Eucharistic Word in her bosom, the Holy Trinity and Angels (in the second space) and Our Lady the Queen crowned and sitting among the clouds, holding a sceptre with Saint Peter on the right and Saint Paul on the left and male and female saints who founded religious or monastic orders, with Saint Rosalia (in the third space).
Besides the frescoes, there are other works by Borremans and in particular:

The Church has 5 chapels in the left nave, 6 in the right one and 6 in the area next to the apse. In the past the chapels belonged to some local families that had the duty of preserving and embellishing them. Besides, they were used by the proprietary families as their graves. They were all noblemen except for the Abbati family.

On the right nave of the church there are:

  1. The Chapel of Privilege which belonged to the Mastrandrea family and contains the marble altarpiece carved by Antonello Gagini in 1519, with the triptych of Madonna between the Saints Philip and Jamesand Dormitio Virginis in predella and two portraits on canvas with Saint Carlo Borromeo and Saint Philip dating back to the 17th century.
  2. Saint Lucy's chapel which belonged to the De Ballis family. Inside there are two sarcophaguses: the first is the chapel's founder' tomb (Giovannello De Ballis') and the second is Graziano De Ballis' tomb (his son). There are also two paintings of Don Giovanni and his brother Giuseppe De Ballis, dating back to the first half of the 17th century and ascribed to Filippo Paladini.
  3. Saints Crispino and Crispiniano's chapel: contains a canvas painting of Saints Crispino and Crispiniano made in 1776 by Tommaso Pollaci.
  4. The Crucifix's chapel: it holds the Abundance Crucifix, realized by Antonello Gagini between 1519 and 1523. It was made in mixture, and is a copy of another one inside the church of San Domenico in Palermo and realized by the Matinati family.
  5. Our Lady of Fatima's chapel: it holds a wooden statue by L.Santifaller (1949) and a painting representing Our Lady of Graces made by Giovan Leonardo Bagolino (Sebastiano Bagolino' father) in 1566.
  6. Giuseppe Rizzo's chapel: built on the architect Paolo Portoghesi's design and unveiled in 1995. It contains a modern architectural work dedicated to don Giuseppe Rizzo (founder of the homonymous bank) and his mortal remains.

Next to the apse there are:

Instead in the left nave (starting from the chapel nearest to the altar) there are:

In the sacristy there are some works ascribed to, such as the statue of Holy Mary's Aid and the portal lunette from the ex Church of Holy Mary's Aid. The 15th century portal of the bell tower is ascribed to Berrettaro, too. (1499).[11]

See also

Sources

Notes and References

  1. Historia Alcami: il culto mariano e il sincretismo religioso
  2. Tp24.it - Luigi Culmone, "La storia della prima Chiesa Madre di Alcamo"
  3. Sicilie.it - "Alcamo - Chiesa madre".
  4. Web site: La basilica . Museo d'Arte Sacra Basilica Santa Maria Assunta . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304210037/http://www.chiesamadrealcamo.it/basilica.html . 4 March 2016 . dead . 26 January 2017.
  5. Comune di Alcamo - Storia e tradizioni
  6. Comune di Alcamo - Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta
  7. Trapani Nostra, "Chiesa: Basilica S. Maria Assunta – Chiesa Madre – Alcamo"
  8. A chiusura dell'anno mariano, 8 dicembre 1954 - Pio XII, Discorsi
  9. http://www.gcatholic.org/churches/data/basITX.htm Catholic.org Basilicas in Italy
  10. Opere di Borremans Guglielmo
  11. Turismo Trapani - Chiesa Madre

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