Description of the attraction
Santa Maria della Croce is an old Catholic church in the town of Crema in the Italian region of Lombardy. It was built about a kilometer from the city center and was once located outside the medieval city walls of Crema, on the road to Bergamo. According to legend, it was at this place that a miracle happened to a resident of the city, a certain Katerina degli Uberti. In 1489, she was mortally wounded by her own husband in a nearby forest, but, not wanting to die without holy communion, she prayed for the help of the Virgin Mary. They say that the Virgin Mary appeared to Catherine, and she, having received the sacrament and forgiving her husband, died. In the future, miracles happened more than once on this place, and, in the end, it was decided to build a temple here.
The work on the construction of the church was entrusted to the architect from the town of Lodi Giovanni Battajo, a student of Bramante (he was also the author of the round temple of the Inkoronata in Lodi). However, in 1500, Battaggio was replaced by Giovanni Montanaro. In 1514, construction was interrupted, as the enemy troops besieged Crema. At the end of the 17th century, Santa Maria della Croce became the property of the Order of Barefoot Carmelites, on whose initiative the construction of the adjacent monastery began in 1706. A few years later, the bell tower was built, but a hundred years later, in 1810, the Carmelite Order was forced to leave Crema, which was occupied by Napoleon's troops. And in the last century, in 1958, the church received the status of a minor basilica.
Battaggio designed the church in the form of a Latin cross with a central part about 35 meters high and four adjoining structures 15 meters high. Attention is drawn to the gallery with vaulted windows, pilasters, triple arches with decorative parapets and small columns. On the west side, covered with tiles, are octagonal chapels and the main entrance to the church. Inside you can see the altar table from the city's cathedral, decorated with lapis lazuli, the altarpiece by Benedetto Rusconi, statues of Agostino de Fondulis, rich stucco work by Giovanni Battista Castello, paintings by Campi, Urbino, Diana, Grandi and other masters.
