santuario, mariano, diocesano, Santuario Mariano Diocesano Santa Maria Assunta in Cielo nella Concattedrale

The Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta, now a diocesan sanctuary, sits in Bisignano with a history as fractured as its walls. Founded in Lombard times, it has been rebuilt and remodelled repeatedly, a consequence of the earthquakes that have plagued the region since the 12th century. The 1887 quake was particularly destructive, claiming many artworks and the adjoining bishop’s palace. What survives of the original structure is little: a Gothic arch and a portal, the latter restored in the 18th century. The present façade, by contrast, follows Baroque lines. The church was elevated to a diocesan Marian sanctuary in the late 1980s, during the special Marian Year proclaimed by Pope John Paul II. Its principal feast falls on 15 August, the Assumption. The result is a layered building, part medieval, part Baroque, much repaired, whose true age is best read in the few surviving Gothic details, not the later stucco.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.