Subjects
Subjects
The town is located in the Campidano plain, about 8 km N of Cagliari.
Among the late Gothic buildings in southern Sardinia, the parish church of San Giorgio in Sestu is one of the most interesting, as it is uniform in shape and in good condition. Apart from the eighteenth-century interior decoration, the church has not undergone additions or modifications such as to change its character. The inscription on the completion of the work, in the tax frame of the vault of the aisle at the second stop on the left, shows the date 1567.
The façade is characterized by a horizontally terminated façade with battlements, at the ends of which there are two oblique buttresses supporting the cross vault of the first bay; in the center, the arched portal opens with a slight opening given by three columns surmounted by pseudo-capitals decorated with phytomorphic motifs; above, there is a large oculus with a bull molding; in the axis, to the left, stands the bell tower with corner piles built on two orders, the upper of which has a single-hole with a bull-shaped ceiling; on the left axis, stands the bell tower with corner piles built on two orders, the upper of which has a single-hole with a bull-shaped ceiling each of the four sides.
The internal space is organized according to the pattern of a single aisle lined with chapels; the vault is pointed straight through undersections that divide the classroom into five bays; the presbytery, lower and narrower than the nave, has a square base and has a cross veil dotted with a large pendulous gem at the keystone.
The chapels, five to the left and four to the south, although open at different times (in any case not later than the middle of the 17th century) share the same Gothic taste both in their construction technique and in their ornaments. The first south-shaped one, built at the base of the bell tower, has very large walls and the room, very small, is covered by a cross vault; a round arch, as deep as the wall of the tower, marks the entrance. The remaining chapels are raised one step above the floor of the classroom and have an ovival arched opening. Some have a cross shaped ceiling dotted with a pendulous gem, while the others have a star-shaped vault dotted with a central gem and four secondary gems; another starry time is also in the second chapel a d. Particular attention should be paid to the decorations of the gems, pseudo-capitals and
peducci, all rich in various figurations. Remarkable are the relief with Saint George on horseback, of the gem of the Capilla Mayor; the Christ on the cross in the central gem of the last chapel on the left, modeled after the Crucifix by Nicodemus of Oristano; the symbols of the four Evangelists (the angel of Matthew, the eagle of John, the ox of Luke and the lion of Mark) on the peducci of the second chapel on the right.
History of studies
Previously studied by Renata Serra, the church is the subject of a synthetic fact sheet in the volume by Francesca Segni Pulvirenti and Aldo Sari on late Gothic and Renaissance-influenced architecture (1994).
Bibliography
R. Serra, “The Sanctuary of Bonaria in Cagliari and the Beginnings of Catalan Gothic in Sardinia”, in Studi Sardi, XIV-XV, 1955-57, part II, pp. 333-354;
C. Maltese, Art in Sardinia from V to XVIII, Rome, De Luca, 1962, sch. 81; R. Serra, “The parishes of Assemini, Sestu and Settimo San Pietro.
Notes for a history of late Gothic architecture in Sardinia”, in Proceedings of the XIII Congress on the History of Architecture (Sardinia), I, Rome, 1966, pp. 225-243;
R. Serra, “Sardinian-Catalan architecture”, in The Catalans in Sardinia, edited by J. Carbonell-F. Manconi, Cinisello Balsamo, Silvana, 1984, pp. 125-154;
F. Segni Pulvirenti - A. Sari, Late Gothic and Renaissance-influenced architecture. Nuoro, Ilisso, 1994, page 11;
F. Secci, Sestu. Geographical and historical news, Sestu, Municipality of Sestu, 1995; Sestu and its churches, edited by M. Cossa, Sestu, Municipality of Sestu, 1999.
Content type:
Religious architecture
Province: Cagliari
Common: Sestu
Macro Territorial Area: South Sardinia
POSTAL CODE: 09028
Address: piazza Giovanni XXIII, s.n.c.
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