NARRAZIONE:
Ancient buildings of worship have always represented a centre of social aggregation, the church of Santa Maria in the village of Santa Maria Coghinas, is no exception to this rule and the various building interventions that have taken place over the centuries demonstrate the affection nurtured by the community towards this precious identity building.
The church of Santa Maria delle Grazie is located within the built-up area of Santa Maria Coghinas, once known under the appellation ‘villa Kokinas’, as reported in the Condàghe di San Michele di Salvenero, an administrative document used in the Sardinian between the 11th and 13th centuries, to record acts of donations, inheritances, purchases to churches or monasteries. This area was an ancient medieval villa, part of the Giudicato of Torres, a medieval kingdom in the Curatoria of Anglona, the main administrative, electoral, fiscal and judicial division of the Sardinian ancient kingdoms.
The building in medium-sized sandstone ashlars, probably dating back to the second half of the 12th century, owes its current appearance to building interventions in the early 14th century, during which, the entire façade was reconstructed. In the 16th century, the reconstruction of the entire façade incorporated the medieval main façade and saved only a few elements of the northern side and apse.
The façade opens into a wide ribbed portal with an eyebrow lunette decorated with geometric motifs, while on the right side of the jamb is a horizontally placed ashlar with a geometric grid designed to hold inlaid tiles. In axis with the portal is a splayed oculus surmounted by a row of trefoil arches that follows the profile of the sloping roof. The gable ends with a reconstructed bell gable.
On the northern flank is a portal with a carved lintel with a semicircular saw-tooth lintel and two single-light windows with double splay, probably dating to the second half of the 12th century like the one in the south-east-facing apse
BIBLIOGRAFIA:Nicoletta Usai, Contributo allo studio dell’architettura romanica in Sardegna: la chiesa di Nostra Signora d’Itria a Maracalagonis, in ArcheoArte. Rivista elettronica di Archeologia e Arte http://archeoarte.unica.it/
Pala, Andrea & Usai, Nicoletta. 2009. L’utilizzo delle nuove tecnologie a servizio della ricerca tradizionale: il caso della chiesa e monastero di Santa Chiara ad Oristano. Dipinti e sculture lignee medievali. Annali della Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia dell’Università di Cagliari, n.s. XXVI, LXIII, 19-42.
Pala, Andrea 2012. Il tetto ligneo della chiesa romanica di Santa Maria d’Itria a Maracalagonis: elementi e decori. Porticvm. Revista d’Estudis Medievals IV, 29-46.
Vittorio Angius, voce ” Maracalagonis”, in Goffredo Casalis, in Dizionario geografico, storico, statistico, commerciale degli Stati di S. M. il Re di Sardegna, Torino, G. Maspero Edizione, 1842, Vol. X
Roberto Coroneo, Architettura romanica in Sardegna dal Mille al primo ‘300, collana “Storia dell’arte in Sardegna”, Nuoro, Ilisso, 1993
COMUNE:Coghinas INDIRIZZO:Via Doria, Santa Maria Coghinas MAPPA:Array