Santo Sepolcro, Catholic church in Marina district, Cagliari, Italy
Santo Sepolcro is a church in Cagliari's Marina district with a single barrel-vaulted nave, side chapels and a quadrangular presbytery built from 1587, covered by a star-shaped ribbed vault with five keystones. Its main entrance is on the right side, set in a neoclassical facade arranged in 1899; the old facade faces a narrow space by the Sant'Antonio steps. The Cappellone della Vergine della Pietà, rebuilt 1681–1686 to a design attributed to Domenico Spotorno, has an octagonal plan and a tall dome.
The first documented record of the church dates from 1519, held in the parish archive of Sant'Eulalia. In 1564 the archbishop of Cagliari, Antonio Parraguez de Castillejo, assigned it to the newly founded Confraternita del Santissimo Crocifisso dell'Orazione e della Morte, which buried the poor in the crypt and in the surrounding area used as a cemetery. The confraternity ran the church until after World War II; the crypt was rediscovered during restorations begun in 1988, and the church reopened on 27 December 1998.
The confraternity of the Santissimo Crocifisso dell'Orazione e della Morte, founded in 1564, ran the church until after World War II; its task was burying the poor in the crypt and in the surrounding ground, now Piazza del Santo Sepolcro. The Cappellone della Vergine della Pietà, rebuilt 1681–1686, holds a polychrome wooden Madonna attributed to the 15th century, said to have been found buried near Sant'Antonio in 1606 by a playing child.
The main entrance is the portal on the right side of the church, facing Piazza del Santo Sepolcro, set in a neoclassical front arranged in 1899. The old facade entrance, by the Sant'Antonio steps, is no longer in use. The crypt discovered during the 1988 restoration lies below the church.
The crypt beneath the church, used for burials until the 19th century, was forgotten and only rediscovered during the 1988 restoration. The church reopened on 27 December 1998, consecrated by Archbishop Ottorino Pietro Alberti.
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