Discover the Magnificent Cathedral of Parma: A Romanesque Masterpiece in the Heart of Italy
The Cathedral of Parma, which is open from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., is a masterpiece of the Romanesque style of the Po valley. It is also home to the fresco of the Assumption of Mary by Antonio Allegri, who was known as Correggio.
The large facade of the Cathedral of Parma, which is dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta, closes off the east side of the beautiful Piazza del Duomo. This square is set in a medieval style, with the Baptistery next to it and the Palazzo del Vescovado on the west side.
It is the center of the medieval city’s history, which goes back more than 900 years. It grew to the east of the current Piazza Garibaldi, where the Roman forum used to be.
There was probably a basilica here as early as the 6th century, but it was abandoned over time.
Then it was the turn of a second church, which was built near the first one in the 9th century and may have been dedicated by the count-bishop Guibodo.
But a terrible fire destroyed the building, and in 1049, Bishop Cadalo, who later became the antipope Honorius II, began building the current Cathedral of Parma.
A little more than half a century after it was built, Pope Pasquale II blessed the church in the year 1116.
But the hard times didn’t end there. The next year, the cathedral was hit by a strong earthquake and lost its original bell tower. With the last changes, the church took on the shape we see today, with a rectangular cross plan instead of its original square shape.
There are still pieces of the original building in the presbytery, the transept, the area around the choir and the apses, and in some pieces of sculpture. The interiors, on the other hand, show how the Renaissance and, later, the Baroque changed the strictness of the original Romanesque style.
What to see in Parma Cathedral
First, you should take some time to look at its gabled front, which is one of the most beautiful examples of Romanesque architecture in the Po valley.
The version we see today dates back to 1178. It has three elegant orders of loggias that sit on top of the three portals. The beautiful wooden door was carved by Luchino Bianchino in 1494.
The central door is topped by a porch with an aedicule. Giambono da Bissone finished the porch and aedicule in 1281. The two large marble lions that hold up the two columns are very interesting.
Biagio Pelacani was a famous mathematician from Parma who lived between Emilia and Veneto at the end of the 1300s and the beginning of the 1400s. His tombstone is made of marble and is on the right side of the porch.
On the right side of the building, next to the front, is the large bell tower, which is 63 meters tall. The current building was built in 1294, and it has six bells.
The largest bell is called Bajon because it has a note of B flat. As of July 2014, the bell tower is completely surrounded by scaffolding.
This is because the tower needs to be fixed after a serious fire caused by lightning in the fall of 2009 badly damaged it.
When you look at the left side of the facade, you can see a base that was meant to hold a second bell tower that was never built.
The church’s interior can be disappointing at first. The solemn and austere Romanesque style gives way to a rich interior with three naves and clear Renaissance influences.
The large central nave is topped by a beautiful cross vault frescoed in the 16th century by Girolamo Bedoli Mazzola. The frescoes on the walls were done in the second half of the 16th century by Lattanzio Gambara. At least two of the side chapels are worth talking about because they have frescoes from the 15th century.
These are the Capella del Comune, which is dedicated to St. Sebastian and the protection of the city of Parma from the plague, and the Chapel of the Valeri family, which is on the north side of the church.
The transept and apse are higher than the central nave, and the crypt is down below them. If you go up the right and left transepts, you can see the great dome, which sits on an eight-sided drum, in a beautiful way.
The Assumption of the Virgin, a fresco that was done in 1530, is Correggio’s or Antonio Allegri’s best work. It shows Mary going to heaven in a spectacular spiral of clouds, with apostles and happy angels going with her.
Under the dome is the Presbytery, which has a beautiful high altar made of a marble ark with figures of apostles that was built between the 12th and 13th centuries and holds the relics of saints Ercolano and Pudenziana, Nicomede and Abdon, and Sennen. the latter being shown in the ark along with the apostles.
The famous bas-relief The Deposition from the Cross by Benedetto Antelami, a true Gothic sculpture masterpiece, is in the right transept. The inscription on the same work says that the bas-relief was made in 1178. It shows the moment in the Gospel of Matthew when Christ’s body was put to rest.
This work by Antelami is very moving because of the drama of the scene, the details of the Madonna trying to touch the hand of her Son, and Joseph of Arimathea’s kiss on Jesus’ side.
In the apse is a large wooden choir with 40 seats that dates back to the second half of the 15th century. In the middle is a high Episcopal Chair from the Middle Ages made of Verona marble and decorated with sculptures by Benedetto Antelami.
The ciborium and tabernacle, both from the Renaissance and made by Alberto di Moffeolo, are the most important parts of the whole. Above, still in the apse, is Girolamo Bedoli-Nazzola’s (1544) fresco of the Last Judgment.
There are three pipe organs in Parma Cathedral. The Major Organ is on the left wall of the central nave. The Choral Organ is in the apse and was built in 1942. The Organ is in the crypt.
The second church is worth seeing for its Romanesque architecture, which includes a cross vault, even though the two side altars show clear Renaissance and Baroque influences.
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The store is open every day from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Free to get in