Description
The Basilica of Saint Anthony, simply «il Santo» to the people of Padua, holds the tomb of Saint Anthony of Padua and is one of the most visited shrines in the Christian world: more than 6.5 million pilgrims a year. Its eight domes and two slender bell towers make it easy to spot from afar.
Outside, styles meet: a Romanesque gabled façade, Gothic flying buttresses, Byzantine domes that recall St Mark's in Venice and two 68-metre bell towers that look like minarets. Inside, the church is 115 metres long and up to 38.5 metres high.
The heart of the basilica is the Chapel of the Ark, dedicated to the saint: on its walls nine large marble high reliefs tell of his miracles, carved in the 16th century by masters such as Tullio and Antonio Lombardo and Jacopo Sansovino. Above, the vault is covered in gilded stucco.
On the high altar stand Donatello's bronzes: the Crucifix, the Madonna and Child and six saints, put back on the altar designed by Camillo Boito. Opposite the Ark, the Chapel of St James has walls frescoed by Altichiero da Zevio, with a great Crucifixion.
Behind the apse, the round Baroque Treasury Chapel displays the basilica's treasure: gold and silver reliquaries, among them the one holding the saint's tongue. In the Chapel of Blessed Luca Belludi, 68 frescoes by Giusto de' Menabuoi also show Padua as it was at the end of the 14th century.
Anthony died on 13 June 1231 and was declared a saint less than a year later. The basilica was begun at once, around the little church where he was buried: that little church still survives as the Chapel of the Madonna Mora, absorbed into the building completed in 1310.
In 1991 three masked bandits stole, at night, the reliquary of the saint's chin, a bust with a crystal in place of the face. It was found soon after, intact, near Rome, and put back in its place.
The treasury also holds a silver-gilt mace with a turquoise-studded handle, a gift from the Polish king John III Sobieski: for centuries tradition took it for the baton of command of Gattamelata, the condottiero whose statue by Donatello dominates the square in front of the basilica.
Don't miss
• Chapel of the Ark.
• Donatello's bronzes.
• Chapel of St James.
• Treasury Chapel.
• Chapel of Blessed Luca Belludi.
Did you know?
Despite its fame, the Santo is not Padua's cathedral: that title belongs to the Duomo.
The monument to Cardinal Pietro Bembo, designed by Andrea Palladio, is purely commemorative: Bembo is buried in Rome.
In the Magnolia Cloister grows a magnolia listed among the monumental trees of the Veneto.
Outside, styles meet: a Romanesque gabled façade, Gothic flying buttresses, Byzantine domes that recall St Mark's in Venice and two 68-metre bell towers that look like minarets. Inside, the church is 115 metres long and up to 38.5 metres high.
The heart of the basilica is the Chapel of the Ark, dedicated to the saint: on its walls nine large marble high reliefs tell of his miracles, carved in the 16th century by masters such as Tullio and Antonio Lombardo and Jacopo Sansovino. Above, the vault is covered in gilded stucco.
On the high altar stand Donatello's bronzes: the Crucifix, the Madonna and Child and six saints, put back on the altar designed by Camillo Boito. Opposite the Ark, the Chapel of St James has walls frescoed by Altichiero da Zevio, with a great Crucifixion.
Behind the apse, the round Baroque Treasury Chapel displays the basilica's treasure: gold and silver reliquaries, among them the one holding the saint's tongue. In the Chapel of Blessed Luca Belludi, 68 frescoes by Giusto de' Menabuoi also show Padua as it was at the end of the 14th century.
Anthony died on 13 June 1231 and was declared a saint less than a year later. The basilica was begun at once, around the little church where he was buried: that little church still survives as the Chapel of the Madonna Mora, absorbed into the building completed in 1310.
In 1991 three masked bandits stole, at night, the reliquary of the saint's chin, a bust with a crystal in place of the face. It was found soon after, intact, near Rome, and put back in its place.
The treasury also holds a silver-gilt mace with a turquoise-studded handle, a gift from the Polish king John III Sobieski: for centuries tradition took it for the baton of command of Gattamelata, the condottiero whose statue by Donatello dominates the square in front of the basilica.
Don't miss
• Chapel of the Ark.
• Donatello's bronzes.
• Chapel of St James.
• Treasury Chapel.
• Chapel of Blessed Luca Belludi.
Did you know?
Despite its fame, the Santo is not Padua's cathedral: that title belongs to the Duomo.
The monument to Cardinal Pietro Bembo, designed by Andrea Palladio, is purely commemorative: Bembo is buried in Rome.
In the Magnolia Cloister grows a magnolia listed among the monumental trees of the Veneto.