San Domenico, Bologna

Dominic Guzman, on arriving in Bologna in January 1218, was impressed by the vitality of the city and quickly recognized the importance of this university town to his evangelizing mission. A convent was established at the Mascarella church by the Blessed Reginald of Orleans. As this convent soon became too small for their increasing number, the preaching Brothers moved in 1219 to the small church of San Nicolò of the Vineyards at the outskirts of Bologna. St. Dominic settled in this church and held here the first two General Chapters of the order (1220 and 1221). Saint Dominic died in this church on 6 August 1221. He was buried behind the altar of San Nicolò.

Between 1219 and 1243 the Dominicans bought all surrounding plots of land around the church. After the death of Saint Dominic, the church of San Nicolò was expanded and a new monastic complex was built between 1228 and 1240. The apsidal area of the church was demolished and the nave was extended and grew into the Basilica of Saint-Dominic, This church became the prototype of many other Dominican churches throughout the world.

The big basilica was divided in two parts:

• the front part, called “internal church”, was the church of the brothers. It was built in a protogothic style with a nave, two aisles and ogival vaults.
• the church for the faithful, called “external church”, with the simple columns and the trussed flat roof of the old church.

Both churches were divided by a ramp. The church was consecrated by Pope Innocent IV on 17 October 1251. On this occasion the crucifix by Giunta Pisano was shown for the first time to the faithful.

The remains of the saint were moved in 1233 from its place behind the altar to a simple marble sarcophagus, situated on the floor in the right aisle of the church for the faithful. Since most of the pilgrims, who came in great numbers to see the grave, were not able to see this shrine, hidden by so many people standing in front of it, the need was felt for a new shrine. In 1267 the remains of Saint Dominic were then moved from the simple sarcophagus into the new shrine, decorated with the main episodes from the life of the Saint by Nicola Pisano. Work would continue on this shrine for almost five centuries.

The church was enlarged and the two sections were modified in many ways in the course of the next centuries. New side chapels were built, the majority in the 15th century. A Roman-Gothic bell tower was added in 1313 (recently restored). The dividing wall between the two churches was finally demolished in the beginning of the 17th century. The choir was at the same time moved behind the altar. Between 1728 and 1732 the interior of the church was completely renewed by the architect Carlo Francesco Dotti, sponsored by the Dominican pope Benedict XIII, into its present-day Baroque style.

Early on the church began receiving many works of art from the faithful. This has grown into the present-day vast collection of exceptional art treasures created by some the greatest Italian artists, including Giunta Pisano, Nicola Pisano, Arnolfo di Cambio, Niccolò dell'Arca, Michelangelo, Iacopo da Bologna, Guido Reni, Guercino and Filippino Lippi.

In front, tomb of Rolandino de’ Passeggeri; behind : the tomb of Egidio Foscarari.

The square in front of the church is paved with pebbles, as it was in medieval times. The square was used by the faithful to listen to the sermon from the preacher from the pulpit on the left corner of the church. It was also the original cemetery.

The column in the middle of the square is a brickwork column with the bronze statue of St Dominic (1627) and on the back of the square a column in marble, bricks and copper of the Madonna of the Rosary, after a design by Guido Reni (1632), commemorating the end of the plague in the city.

Behind the first column stands the tomb of Rolandino de’ Passeggeri by Giovanni (1305) and on the left, adjoining a house, the tomb of Egidio Foscarari (1289), enriched with an ancient Byzantine marble arch with relief works from the 9th century.

The Romanesque façade dates from 1240 and was restored in 1910 by the architect Raffaele Faccioli. In the center is a large, embroidered rose window. The lunette above the portal contains a copy (1921) of St Dominic blessing Bologna by Lucia Casalini-Torelli (1677–1762).

On the left side of the façade is the Lodovico Ghisilardi chapel in Renaissance style. It was built as an example of Vitruvian classicism by the architect Baldassarre Peruzzi around 1530.

Left side of the choir

This monumental choir was moved behind the high altar in the 17th century. The original altar was a masterpiece decorated with basreliefs and nine sculptures by Giovanni di Balduccio (1330), a pupil of Giovanni Pisano. Now only the statue of St Peter the Martyr still exists and is on display in the City Museum. The present high altar was made by Alfonso Torreggiani (died 1764). In the middle of the golden altar-piece at the back of the apse, is the Adoration of the Magi by Bartolomeo Cesi, flanked by paintings (on its left side) of Saint Nicholas of Bari and (on its right side) of Saint Dominic. Below is the Miracle of the Bread by Vincenzo Spisanelli.

The 102 wooden choir stalls are an exquisite example of Renaissance carving by the Dominican friar Damiano da Bergamo. (1528–1530). Between 1541 and 1549 they were inlaid with intaglia by the same artist, using a series of drawings from a book by Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, and carved by his brother Stefano da Bergamo. The work was finished by brother Bernardino da Bologna. These decorations display scenes from the Old Testament (on the right side) and from the New Testament (on the left side). Because of its extraordinary artistic value, this remarkable marquetry work was considered by its contemporaries as the eight wonder of the world. It is also noted in the Vite (IV,94) by Giorgio Vasari

The church's small museum houses many important works of art and a wide collection of precious reliquaries, chalices and monstrances.

The Story of San Girolomo, intarsia by fra Damiano da Bergamo.

A small selection :

• The reliquary of Saint Louis IX, king of France, is of special interest as a most elaborate example in Gothic style of an unknown French goldsmith at the end of the 13th century. It was a gift to this church by king Philip IV of France, following the canonization of Louis IX in 1297.
• The remains of a terracotta Pietà (1495) by the architect, painter and sculptor Baccio da Montelupo (mentioned by Vasari in his Vite)
• A polychromed terracotta Bust of Saint Dominic by Niccolò dell'Arca (1474)
• The remains of a fresco of Madonna with Child and Saint Dominic by an unknown Bolognese artist (possibly Cristoforo da Bologna) (second half of the 14th century), this fresco is known among engineers and scientists for the detailed pattern of the water flow wake near the St Cristopher's heels that likely has inspired Theodore Von Kármán in his studies
• Madonna of the Velvet, tempera on wood by Lippo Dalmasio (c. 1390)
• The Paschal Lamb, an oil painting on wood sometimes ascribed to Giorgio Vasari
• Madonna with Child, Saint Dominic and Vincenzo Ferreri (c. 1773), one of the best works of by Ubaldo Gandolfi (1728–1781)
• Several valuable intarsias by fra Damiano da Bergamo, such as The Story of San Girolomo, and geometrical figures.

The square-shaped convent next door is also worth visiting for its cloisters (14th, 15th and 16th centuries) with various tombstones and memorial tablets in its walls. The chapter room displays a precious fresco of Saint Dominic from the 14th century. It is the oldest known image of the saint. On the ground floor of the old dormitory is St Dominic’s cell, so called because it is an original cell from his time and possibly the cell (or a similarly one) where he died. Some original letters of introduction and his canonization bull of 9 July 1234 are here on display. At the front of the library is a fresco Madonna with benedictory Child (by an unknown artist).

The three-aisled Renaissance library, the Biblioteca of San Domenico, planned like a basilica and built by Gaspare Nadi, dates back to 1469 and contains many precious books.[1] Part of the library complex is now the seat of the faculty of philosophy and theology, run by the Dominicans. Another part is used as a conference room with a wooden-paneled coffer ceiling. At its end hangs the Baroque painting Ecstasy of St. Thomas Aquinas by Marcantonio Franceschini.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Basilica of Saint Dominic.

• Guido Reni, in the Rosary Chapel
• Elisabetta Sirani, also in the Rosary Chapel
• James Of Ulm
• Enzio of Sardinia

References

Sources

• Alce, Venturino. The Basilica of Saint-Dominic in Bologna. Studio Domenicano. ISBN 88-7094-298-8.
• Museo della Basilica di S. Domenico. Bologna: Tipoarte. 1997.
• Giubelli, Giorgio. Illustrated Tourist Guide of Bologna.
• Bologna, Monumental Art Guide. Bologna: Italcards. ISBN 88-7193-622-1.