Iglesias, Cathedral of Santa Chiara

The church is located in a quadrangular square inside the historic center, which also houses the Town Hall and the Bishop's Palace, originally conceived to be the main focus of the administrative and religious life of the city.
The façade of the cathedral of Iglesias, with its refined design, and its impressive bell tower scenographically qualify the space of the square on which it overlooks.
The structure of the church can be dated on the basis of epigraphic evidence, which place its beginning before 1284 and its completion before 1288.
Of the thirteenth century building with a single-aisle room, made of sedimentary stone, only wall remains survive on the façade and in the side elevations.
The church underwent various transformations, including the expansion of the hall, the raising of the presbytery, the star-vaulted roof and the opening of two small chapels on each side facing a cross. Two large square chapels were also added that serve as a transept to the church, giving the current floor plan the shape of a Latin cross.
The central nave, including the presbytery, is divided into four bays covered by dotted star vaults. The large presbytery has a square plan and is called the 'main chapel', as is customary in Gothic-Catalan churches.
The sloping façade is divided into three orders. In the first one, the portal opens. On the left, an epigraph (a copy affixed to safeguard the original) shows the dates of the installation and a heraldic shield with an eagle, symbol of the Donoratico family.
The walls of the transept and the presbytery are largely hidden by other buildings, while on the left side two semi-circular hanging chapels protrude from the walls.
The square-barreled bell tower flanks the façade and houses four bells, the oldest of which dates back to 1338.

History of studies
The church was studied mainly in the 20th century. Notable above all are the contributions of Dionigi Scano, Raffaello Delogu, Maria Freddi, Roberto Coroneo, Francesca Segni Pulvirenti and Aldo Sari, aimed at framing construction events in the historical, artistic and cultural context of the city and territory of Iglesias.

Bibliography
V. Angius, entry “Iglesias”, in G. Casalis, Historical and Statistical-Commercial Geographical Dictionary of the States of His Excellency the King of Sardinia, VIII, Turin, G. Maspero, 1841, p. 446;
D. Scano, History of art in Sardinia from the eleventh to the fourteenth century, Cagliari-Sassari, Montorsi, 1907, pp. 241-243;
R. Delogu, The Architecture of the Middle Ages in Sardinia, Rome, The State Library, 1953, pp. 215-218; M. Freddi, “A relief of the cathedral of Iglesias”, in Bulletin of the Center for Studies for the History of Architecture, XVII, 1961, pp. 129-136;
R. Serra, “Sardinian-Catalan architecture”, in The Catalans in Sardinia, edited by J. Carbonell-F. Manconi, Cinisello Balsamo, Amilcare Pizzi, 1984, p. 141;
M. Tangheroni, The City of Silver, Naples, Liguori, 1985, passim;
R. Coroneo, Romanesque architecture from the middle of the thousand to the early '300, Nuoro, Ilisso, 1993, sheet 156; F. Segni Pulvirenti - A. Sari, Late Gothic and Renaissance-influenced architecture. Nuoro, Ilisso, 1994, page 49;
R. Coroneo, Romanesque Churches of Sardinia. Cultural tourist itineraries, Cagliari, AV, 2005, p. 105.