Description
The Church of San Nicolò hides in one of the most medieval corners of Padua, on the small paved square named after it, squeezed between thirteenth- and fourteenth-century houses and palaces. It is among the oldest churches in the city and, beneath later alterations, keeps its medieval face.
Outside, the façade has small Gothic arches and a rose window; beside it juts out the Forzatè Chapel of 1367, joined to the Gothic bell tower by an arch. Under the arch is the fifteenth-century Lombardesque portal, with Saint Nicholas in his mitre, God the Father and the Annunciation.
The sides tell a story too: coats of arms, heraldic paintings, small Gothic arches and medieval houses leaning against the walls. The space in front of the church was a cemetery until Napoleonic times.
Inside, the hall is curiously asymmetrical: arches of different sizes, fourteenth-century vaults and a fourth aisle opening to the south. The highlight is the canvas by Giandomenico Tiepolo of 1777, a Holy Family with Saints Frances of Rome and Eurosia, the high altarpiece until 1966.
The Forzatè funerary monument also deserves a look, in red Verona marble, beneath a Renaissance triptych of the Paduan school with the Virgin and Child between Saints Leonard and James. A little further on are fragments of a Crucifixion and of the Stories of the Baptist painted by Gerardino da Reggio in 1374.
The twentieth century left its mark with the fourteen stations of the Way of the Cross in enamelled copper by Paolo De Poli, from 1968.
It may be among the first churches dedicated to Saint Nicholas of Myra, probably predating the arrival of his relics in Bari in 1087. Excavations have shown that the building is older than 1088, the year Bishop Milone gave it to the nuns of San Pietro.
In the fourteenth century the church became part of the Reggia Carrarese complex; by the mid-sixteenth century it had eleven altars, some belonging to noble families such as the Forzatè and the Sala. The 1966-1971 restoration brought back its medieval appearance, though at the cost of most of the Baroque furnishings.
Outside, the façade has small Gothic arches and a rose window; beside it juts out the Forzatè Chapel of 1367, joined to the Gothic bell tower by an arch. Under the arch is the fifteenth-century Lombardesque portal, with Saint Nicholas in his mitre, God the Father and the Annunciation.
The sides tell a story too: coats of arms, heraldic paintings, small Gothic arches and medieval houses leaning against the walls. The space in front of the church was a cemetery until Napoleonic times.
Inside, the hall is curiously asymmetrical: arches of different sizes, fourteenth-century vaults and a fourth aisle opening to the south. The highlight is the canvas by Giandomenico Tiepolo of 1777, a Holy Family with Saints Frances of Rome and Eurosia, the high altarpiece until 1966.
The Forzatè funerary monument also deserves a look, in red Verona marble, beneath a Renaissance triptych of the Paduan school with the Virgin and Child between Saints Leonard and James. A little further on are fragments of a Crucifixion and of the Stories of the Baptist painted by Gerardino da Reggio in 1374.
The twentieth century left its mark with the fourteen stations of the Way of the Cross in enamelled copper by Paolo De Poli, from 1968.
It may be among the first churches dedicated to Saint Nicholas of Myra, probably predating the arrival of his relics in Bari in 1087. Excavations have shown that the building is older than 1088, the year Bishop Milone gave it to the nuns of San Pietro.
In the fourteenth century the church became part of the Reggia Carrarese complex; by the mid-sixteenth century it had eleven altars, some belonging to noble families such as the Forzatè and the Sala. The 1966-1971 restoration brought back its medieval appearance, though at the cost of most of the Baroque furnishings.