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Church of San Domenico

Chiesa di San Domenico

The church of San Domenico in Narni, located along via Mazzini, is reputed to have been built on the site of an ancient temple dedicated to Minerva. 
Built in the 12th century, the church was originally the town's ancient cathedral dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta.  
It took the name of San Domenico in 1304, when it was assigned to the monks of this order with a Papal bull.
The gabled façade has a rather heterogeneous appearance, having been changed numerous times.
The splendid entrance portal with a marble frame is covered in bas-reliefs depicting plant swirl motifs enclosing clipei with busts of the apostles and under the cornice is decorated with human and animal protomes (sculptures) dating back to the Romanesque period.


The main window replaced a mullioned window with mosaic decoration in the 13th century of which there are still visible traces above the portal.
The interior is divided into three naves by pillars, with side chapels.
On the walls you can see frescoes dating from the 13th to the end of the 16th century. Of particular significance, on the second pillar on the right is a Crucifixion attributed to Maestro della Dormitio, to whom the decorations of Saints which run vertically on the adjoining walls can also be accredited. At the bottom of the left-hand nave, the fresco Virgin and child with Saints Dominic and Thomas from the school of Pier Matteo d'Amelia from the end of the 15th century is particularly noteworthy.
Leaning against the pilaster of the triumphal arch was an exquisite Renaissance marble tabernacle from the school of Agostino di Duccio, which can today be found in the Pinacoteca Civica.
On the left, in the large cappella del Rosario (Rosary Chapel), frescoed in the second half of the fifteenth century by Flemish artists with stories from Genesis, are paleontological and archaeological finds from the Late Pleistocene, unearthed in the local area.
In the underground area of San Domenico there is also a small proto-Romanesque church with a single nave which has traces of frescoes datable between the 12th and 14th centuries.

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