Santissimo Sacramento, Renaissance church in Ancona, Italy
Santissimo Sacramento is a Renaissance church in Ancona featuring symmetrical proportions, a Latin cross layout, and an octagonal dome that crowns the central section. The building displays classical geometry and balanced design elements typical of its architectural period.
The present building was erected in 1538; its sober 16th-century facade is the only surviving part of that first church, and the inscription above the portal records its link to the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano. In the second half of the 18th century the architect Francesco Maria Ciaraffoni of Fano rebuilt it almost entirely, adding the transept, the apse arm and the octagonal dome, and the two-tier bell tower with its spiral Borromini-style crown followed between 1771 and 1776. In 1908 it absorbed the suppressed parish of San Marco, becoming "San Marco nel Santissimo Sacramento", and it served as co-cathedral of the city until 1986.
The ten stucco Apostles along the walls are by Gioacchino Varlè, modelled on the sculptures of San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome; those of Simon and Jude have been lost, and Paul stands in place of Matthias, as in the Roman basilica. The Four Evangelists in the dome pendentives are late works by the octogenarian Francesco Podesti, painted with Francesco Gai. A painting by Cesare Dandini shows San Carlo Borromeo in glory with Saints Lawrence, John the Baptist, Francis and Apollonia.
The church operates as an active parish location and welcomes visitors to explore its architectural and artistic features. Visitors should dress respectfully and be mindful of worshippers during religious services and celebrations.
The four Rubens tapestries woven in Brussels between about 1632 and 1650 for the Confraternity of the Santissimo Sacramento were shown only a few days a year, which kept their colours vivid; they are now kept in the diocesan museum.
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