Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi
Recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the basilica of St. Francis was built under the direction of Brother Elias, vicar general and architect of the order, starting in 1228, just two years after the saint's death, as a place designed to receive his remains.
Pope Gregory IX laid the first stone was on July 17, 1228, the day after the canonization of St. Francis, in the place previously used for executions and burials of criminals. According to tradition, Francis himself, on his deathbed, indicated this spot to his companions as the place for his burial.
Exterior
The exterior of the basilica has obvious references to the French Gothic in the soaring facade and the bipartite doorway, lightened by the horizontal brackets and rose window with a typically Umbrian appearance, and with a heavy, wide-structured bell tower.
The surfaces are all in stone from Mt. Subasio, which has a pink colour during the day and shines white in the moonlight.
Lower church
Visitors enter the lower basilica from the side, through a double 13th c. doorway surmounted by a Renaissance prothyrum.
The interior has a single nave, divided into five bays by low arcades, with side chapels from the late 13th c.
In the first bay, at the entrance, two large 14th c. Gothic tombs are displayed, and, between them, a pulpit with a 13th c. base, with rear additions and reworking.
Opposite the entrance is the Chapel of St. Catherine, or of the Crucifix, decorated with a cycle of frescoes of the Bolognese Andrea Bartoli (1368) and lightened by mullioned 14th c. windows.
The polychrome wooden crucifix on the altar dates to the end of the fifteenth century.
Pope Gregory IX laid the first stone was on July 17, 1228, the day after the canonization of St. Francis, in the place previously used for executions and burials of criminals. According to tradition, Francis himself, on his deathbed, indicated this spot to his companions as the place for his burial.
Exterior
The exterior of the basilica has obvious references to the French Gothic in the soaring facade and the bipartite doorway, lightened by the horizontal brackets and rose window with a typically Umbrian appearance, and with a heavy, wide-structured bell tower.
The surfaces are all in stone from Mt. Subasio, which has a pink colour during the day and shines white in the moonlight.
Lower church
Visitors enter the lower basilica from the side, through a double 13th c. doorway surmounted by a Renaissance prothyrum.
The interior has a single nave, divided into five bays by low arcades, with side chapels from the late 13th c.
In the first bay, at the entrance, two large 14th c. Gothic tombs are displayed, and, between them, a pulpit with a 13th c. base, with rear additions and reworking.
Opposite the entrance is the Chapel of St. Catherine, or of the Crucifix, decorated with a cycle of frescoes of the Bolognese Andrea Bartoli (1368) and lightened by mullioned 14th c. windows.
The polychrome wooden crucifix on the altar dates to the end of the fifteenth century.