Basilica Palatina di Santa Barbara, Renaissance basilica in Mantua, Italy
Basilica Palatina di Santa Barbara is a Renaissance church in Mantua featuring a central dome and an elevated sanctuary area. The brick structure is crowned by a bell tower topped with a small classical temple-like structure.
A regional duke commissioned this church in the 1560s as a modern chapel for his palace. Its completion took roughly a decade and followed the new architectural ideals of the Renaissance period.
Built as the private chapel of the ruling Gonzaga family, this basilica displays Renaissance artworks that visitors encounter throughout the interior. The decorations and large-scale paintings reveal the refined artistic tastes of its noble patrons.
The entrance is located at Piazza Santa Barbara in the city center, and a hidden passage connects the building to the adjacent ducal palace. Visitors should check locally for current opening hours and accessibility of this connecting passage.
Inside is a 16th-century pipe organ with hundreds of original wooden pipes that still sounds after modern restoration work. This instrument plays during services and represents a rare surviving example of such craftsmanship from that era.
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