Description
The Church of San Maurizio is a Baroque church on Via Chiassi, in the centre of Mantua: behind a façade with four statues of saints it holds large 17th-century canvases, an altarpiece by Ludovico Carracci and the tombstone of Giovanni dalle Bande Nere.
It was built from 1609 by the Theatines, the order that lived in the convent next door, to a design by Antonio Maria Viani, architect to the Gonzaga dukes; it opened to worshippers in 1616. The façade and dome came more than a century later, between 1726 and 1731.
Inside there is a single nave with three chapels on each side, crowned by an elliptical dome. The most important painting is the altarpiece of the Martyrdom of Saint Margaret by Ludovico Carracci, painted in 1616, the year the church opened.
Along the sides of the presbytery run the seven large canvases by Jacob Denys, a Flemish painter: one shows the Madonna and Child appearing to Saints Margaret and Maurice and to the blessed of the Theatine order. Alongside are works by Lorenzo Garbieri, such as the Martyrdom of Saint Felicity, by Frans Geffels and by Jacopo Borbone.
In the first chapel on the left is the tombstone of Giovanni dalle Bande Nere: the condottiero died in Mantua in 1526, and this stone once covered his grave. Vincenzo II Gonzaga, seventh Duke of Mantua, who died in 1627, was also buried in the church.
Under the French, from 1808 to 1814, the church became a military parish and was renamed San Napoleone, a title that was anything but a coincidence. When the Austrians returned it took back the name of San Maurizio, while the Theatine convent was turned into barracks in the 19th century.
The 20th century was less kind: scarred among other things by bomb damage in the Second World War, the church was closed to worship in 1957. The building belongs to the parish of San Barnaba, whose church stands a little further along the same Via Chiassi.
It was built from 1609 by the Theatines, the order that lived in the convent next door, to a design by Antonio Maria Viani, architect to the Gonzaga dukes; it opened to worshippers in 1616. The façade and dome came more than a century later, between 1726 and 1731.
Inside there is a single nave with three chapels on each side, crowned by an elliptical dome. The most important painting is the altarpiece of the Martyrdom of Saint Margaret by Ludovico Carracci, painted in 1616, the year the church opened.
Along the sides of the presbytery run the seven large canvases by Jacob Denys, a Flemish painter: one shows the Madonna and Child appearing to Saints Margaret and Maurice and to the blessed of the Theatine order. Alongside are works by Lorenzo Garbieri, such as the Martyrdom of Saint Felicity, by Frans Geffels and by Jacopo Borbone.
In the first chapel on the left is the tombstone of Giovanni dalle Bande Nere: the condottiero died in Mantua in 1526, and this stone once covered his grave. Vincenzo II Gonzaga, seventh Duke of Mantua, who died in 1627, was also buried in the church.
Under the French, from 1808 to 1814, the church became a military parish and was renamed San Napoleone, a title that was anything but a coincidence. When the Austrians returned it took back the name of San Maurizio, while the Theatine convent was turned into barracks in the 19th century.
The 20th century was less kind: scarred among other things by bomb damage in the Second World War, the church was closed to worship in 1957. The building belongs to the parish of San Barnaba, whose church stands a little further along the same Via Chiassi.