Sant'Agostino, Gothic church building in Ancona, Italy.
The former church of Sant'Agostino in Ancona was built by the Augustinians in 1341 as Santa Maria del Popolo. Luigi Vanvitelli redesigned it entirely between 1751 and 1764, lengthening it and reworking the interior. After 1860 the facade was demolished and the building became the Cialdini barracks; only the sculpted portal and the 1655 wooden door were kept, set in a wall of false ashlar.
Originally constructed in 1341 by Augustinian monks, the church underwent major restructuring between 1751 and 1764 under Luigi Vanvitelli's direction, before being converted into the Cialdini barracks after Italian unification in 1860.
The 15th-century portal by Giorgio da Sebenico represents a masterful fusion of Gothic and Renaissance elements, featuring sculptural decorations of Saint Monica, Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, Saint Simplicianus, and Blessed Augustine Trionfi.
Currently houses the Admiral Guglielmo Marconi Museum Hall dedicated to telecommunications history, accessible by telephone reservation at +39 071 5931619, though the museum is presently closed to the public.
The wooden door framed by the portal dates from 1655. Behind the building, a room once used as the oratory of San Nicola da Tolentino survives as an orthopaedic workshop, with a column and a mezzanine that keeps its original ribbed cross vaults, now hidden from outside by frosted glass.
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