Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Catholic parish church and minor basilica in Sassari, Italy
The Basilica of the Sacred Heart is a rationalist religious structure located in Sassari, Sardinia. The building features straight lines, clean proportions, and functional design, blending modern architectural language with traditional Catholic elements.
Archbishop Arcangelo Mazzotti commissioned the project from Ambrogio Annoni, a pupil of Camillo Boito and Luca Beltrami; the first designs were published in 1935 in Rassegna di architettura. The foundation stone was laid in 1943 and the church was blessed in 1952, with decoration finished in 1969. Don Piga, parish administrator from 1939 and parish priest from 1947, kept work going in lots as funds allowed, without public subsidies. It became a minor basilica in 1980.
The church is the parish seat of the Baddimanna district, a working-class neighbourhood it has served since the 1940s. Its interior decoration centres on the Sacred Heart: frescoes and altarpieces painted by Costantino Spada between 1960 and 1968, who also designed the stained-glass windows and mosaics. Bronze doors by the Tuscan sculptor Mario Moschi date from 1968.
The church stands in the Baddimanna district, in the north of Sassari. The high reinforced-concrete bell tower rises on the facade, so the entrance is easy to find from the surrounding streets. The bronze doors by Mario Moschi, made in 1968, mark the main portal.
Annoni's 1935 design was published in Rassegna di architettura as an example of contemporary church building, praised for joining liturgical tradition to modern forms. The two symmetrical chapels at the start of the single nave curve outward to suggest a twin-tower facade, while the slender reinforced-concrete bell tower stands on the facade against the flat body of the church.
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