DESCRIZIONE:
La chiesa della Vergine delle Grazie, conosciuta anche come chiesa di Sant’Antonio da Padova, si trova nel cuore del paese.
La sua semplicità è affascinante e riflette la bellezza dell’architettura romanica in Sardegna.
Costruita probabilmente nella prima metà del XIII secolo, l’edificio originale aveva una struttura mononavata con un’abside orientata.
Anche se la chiesa ha subìto modifiche nel corso dei secoli, rimangono visibili elementi storici come il campanile a vela e alloggi per bacini ceramici sulla facciata.
NARRAZIONE:On our journey along the Romanesque routes in Sardinia, we have come across buildings of all kinds: simple and complex, isolated and fully integrated into the residential fabric, with a single-phase architectural history or the result of complex historical events.
Rare are the buildings that entrust their identity to their essential architectural structure.
This is the case of the Church of the Virgin of Graces, also known as St Anthony of Padua.
The most plausible date of its construction is the first half of the 13th century.
The structure that has come down to us was modified by a 17th-century reconstruction; the original, of which parts of the sides and the façade survive, had a single-nave hall with an east-facing apse.
The shape of the terminal has been altered, but the outline of the gable and the basic ashlars of the bell gable remain legible.
The use of sandstone blocks with basalt inserts as ornamentation, are eloquent indications of an aesthetic vocation towards two-colouring.
Also on the façade there are ten ceramic basin rooms arranged in a single row, two single lancet windows with double splays and a ribbed part open on the south side, while another architraved single lancet window is on the north side.
Looking at this small church, we discover how moving simplicity can be.
BIBLIOGRAFIA:R. Serra, La Sardegna, collana “Italia romanica”, Milano, Jaca Book, 1989;
R. Coroneo, Architettura romanica dalla metà del Mille al primo ‘300, collana “Storia dell’arte in Sardegna”, Nuoro, Ilisso, 1993.