Alghero, Former Church of the Rosary

The former Rosary Church is home to the Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art.
Alghero is located on a strip of land overlooking the sea, along the so-called “Coral Riviera”. The hinterland is rich in archaeological sites that date back to prehistoric times. The city preserves a strong Catalan linguistic and cultural identity and a very significant historic center, with a fifteenth-century physiognomy, which includes important monuments from the 16th to the 18th century, including the church or oratory of the Rosary, which currently houses the Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art.
The Rosary Church is a complex building, the result of the remodeling of pre-existing buildings. Traces of the latter can be found in two portals with round arches in two-color, limestone and volcanic stone, identifiable in Via Maiorca and perhaps attributable to the first building phase of the historic center of Alghero, between the 12th and 14th centuries.
The original building, initially used as a warehouse, was later transformed into an elegant building with the arrival of the Aragonese. An adjoining building was merged into it and the entrances were moved to today's Via Duomo. Traces of the latter remain in the portals with fan-arranged ashlar arches, or adovellado, and in the inflected arched windows along the Via Maiorca.
In the 17th century, the building was purchased by the Brotherhood of the Rosary and rebuilt to house the homonymous oratory. The single-aisle room, turned in a barrel, is illuminated by an open oculus almost at the top of the slopes and by two recently built windows.

History of studies
The Church of the Rosary, mentioned in the volume by Francesca Segni Pulvirenti and Aldo Sari (1994), is adequately described in the recent volume by Luciano Deriu (2000).

Bibliography
V. Angius, “Alghero”, in G. Casalis, Historical, Statistical and Commercial Geographical Dictionary of the States by H.M. the King of Sardinia, I, Turin, G. Maspero, 1833, pp. 77-126; F. Segni Pulvirenti-A.
Sari, Late Gothic Architecture with Renaissance Influence, series “History of Art in Sardinia”, Nuoro, Ilisso, 1994, p. 112; L. Deriu, Alghero.
The ancient city. Images and paths, Sassari, Carlo Delfino, 2000, pp. 54-55, 93.

How to get there
Alghero is located about 37 km from Sassari, along the SS 127 bis. The Rosario church or oratory is located in the northern part of the historic center, along Via Maiorca and Via Duomo, a short distance from the cathedral of Santa Maria.