Iglesias, Sardinia

Iglesias
Comune
Comune di Iglesias

the Cathedral
Iglesias

Location of Iglesias in Sardinia

Coordinates: 39°19′N 8°32′E / 39.317°N 8.533°E / 39.317; 8.533
Country Italy
Region Sardinia
Province / Metropolitan city Carbonia-Iglesias (CI)
Frazioni Barega, Bindua, Corongiu, Masua, Monte Agruxiau, Monteponi, Nebida, San Benedetto, San Giovanni Miniera, Tanì
Government
 • Mayor Emilio Agostino Gariazzo
Area
 • Total 207.63 km2 (80.17 sq mi)
Elevation 200 m (700 ft)
Population (30 September 2012)[1]
 • Total 27,552
 • Density 130/km2 (340/sq mi)
Demonym(s) Iglesienti
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 09016
Dialing code 0781
Patron saint Santa Chiara
Saint day 11 August
Website Official website

Iglesias (pronounced [iˈɡlɛːzjas] or locally [iˈɡlezjas]; Sardinian: Igrèsias)[2]  listen  is a comune of province of Carbonia-Iglesias, region of Sardinia, Italy. It is the co-capital of the province of Carbonia-Iglesias (along with Carbonia) as well as its second-largest community.

In the period of Spanish control, the city was one of the most important royal cities of Sardinia. It is also episcopal seat. Situated at an elevation of 190 metres (620 ft) in the hills in the southwest of Sardinia, it was a centre of a mining district where lead, zinc, and silver were extracted. It was also a centre for the distillation of sulfuric acid.

Main sights

Castle of Salvaterra

post 1258 - Località colle Salvaterra

The castle was almost certainly built as part of the urbanization that took place after 1258 under Ugolino della Gheradesca. It was designed as a bulwark from which to survey the town and its surroundings as far as the silver mines.

In 1297 Sardinia and Corsica were made subject to the Crown of Aragon by Pope Boniface VIII but were not actually taken into possession until 1324. The castle of San Guantino changed its name, becoming Salvaterra, and its status: a stone slab from 1325 describes it as castris regalis, a royal castle.

The castle has a square structure; the northern and eastern sides, built in courses of stone alternating with brick, seem to adhere more closely to the original medieval plan, conferring a solidity on the whole structure. It also had a chapel that was dedicated first to San Guantino and later to Sant’Eulalia of Barcelona. The well has been reconstructed in the internal courtyard of the castle

Santa Chiara Cathedral

1284/85 -1288: Piazza del Municipio

The construction of the church of Santa Chiara was part of the initiatives aimed at demographic and urban development undertaken by the Donoratico della Gherardesca family.

It is not possible to attribute a single style to the church. Over the centuries it has been transformed several times, whether by the successive dominions or by restoration work (especially the restructuring that began in the nineteenth century).

The façade has a pitched roof and is divided into two parts by a moulded cornice that runs horizontally at the level of the architrave over the doorway.

Inside, the church has a large single nave, with six side chapels and a cross-vaulted roof, supported on pillars with carved capitals.

The bell tower is noteworthy, housing a bronze bell dating from 1337 by Andrea Pisano; the tower was plastered and the spire added in 1862.

The Museum of Sacred Art is located in the crypt of the Cathedral.

Church of San Francesco

sec. XIV - Piazza San Francesco

The church has a gabled façade with smooth stonework; the door in the centre of the façade is surmounted by a rose window and flanked by two side oculi.

It has a single nave with a wooden ceiling and is divided into seven bays, flanked by seven side chapels; these chapels and the presbytery were added from the sixteenth century onwards.

The chapels all have simple cross vaulting meeting in a hanging pendant, except for the fifth chapel on the left, known as the “Crucifix” chapel.

The stone choir replaces the original wooden choir which was demolished at the beginning of the 20th century. In addition to the marble font, there are interesting works of art in the chapels on the left, such as the retablo by Antioco Mainas.

The monastery, with the San Francesco Cloisters, was annexed to the church in the 16th century.

Church of Santa Maria di Valverde

fine sec. XIII - Via Cappuccini

The church stands outside the town walls, and is almost contemporary with the Cathedral, with similar style and structure.

Like the cathedral, it follows typical Romanesque style with some Gothic features.

The façade underwent successive conservation and restoration works up until the twentieth century. Constructed from pink trachyte ashlars, it is divided into two parts by a horizontal moulded cornice.

Inside is a single nave which originally had a lower wooden roof; it terminates in a large square presbytery area which is cross vaulted, with four hanging pendants. The central pendant, larger than the others, depicts the Madonna with Child.

Medieval fortifications

post 1258 - Via Eleonora d’Arborea - Via Roma - Via Crispi - Via Tangheroni

The so-called “Pisan” walls surround the city in correspondence with the historic centre and follow its irregular outline, making the most of the incline with the addition of Salvaterra castle.

Although successive urban expansion led to several stretches of the walls being absorbed into private homes, the parts that can still be visited retain the solid, substantial features of medieval military fortifications: a series of blind façades constructed in mixed stones arranged in

horizontal courses to create an uneven mass, guaranteeing strong

resistance to attack.

Interrupted by 23 towers, the walls could only be passed through the four gateways.

Town Hall

1871 - 1872; 1911 - 1915 Piazza del Municipio

The building is in the heart of the historic town centre, in a central position as regards the original medieval perimeter walls.

It was built by the Vincenzo Sulcis company between 1871 and 1872, according to plans by civil engineer Antonio Cao Pinna.

The façade – set on a base of volcanic stone ashlars – is divided horizontally by string-course cornices.

The Council meeting room is very interesting for the decorative additions carried out during the 1920s, designed by Francesco Ciusa, the Sardinian sculptor of international fame, and Remo Branca, the illustrator and painter.

The artist Carmelo Floris created a triptych of pictorial panels which decorates the rear walls.

Sanctuary of Madonna delle Grazie

dal sec. XII - Piazza A. Manzoni

The current building of the Sanctuary of the Virgin delle Grazie dates back to between the 12th and 13th centuries and was initially dedicated to the Cagliari martyr San Saturno.

The tastes of the various communitiesthat have modelled the building canbe seen in the façade. In the centre,it is the most ancient style that isevident – approximately 13th century.

Inside the church, there is a single nave divided into six bays by pointed trachyte arches supporting the wooden vault with exposed beams. Some apertures made in the thick outer walls simulate chapels, while two chapels stand out on either side of the presbytery, dedicated on the right to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and on the left to St. Francis.

Mining Art Museum

sec. XX - Via Roma, 47

The Museum was conceived in 1998 by a group of “mining men” who wanted to create a tangible reminder of their origins, in order that the history of their land should not be forgotten.

It is housed in the basement of the “Giorgio Asproni” Mining Institute. On display are some scale model reproductions, newspaper articles about life in the mines and an important collection of period photographs.

The museum also contains various types of machinery for the different phases of excavation, drilling and transport, as well as a reconstruction of a mechanical workshop and modern machinery.

To reach the tunnels that run underneath the building, it is necessary to go down a ramp along a stretch of iron railway. Here, some of the phases of work in the mines have been reconstructed.

Historical Archive

fine sec. XVIII - Via Delle Carceri

The archive preserves the history of Villa di Chiesa, the ancient name for the town, from the Catalan-Aragonese, Spanish and Savoy periods.

The series of documents begins with Il Breve di Villa di Chiesa, an ancient code of laws dating back to 1327.

Having been passed down to us with its original “sheepskin” cover, it is on parchment and is in a good state of conservation. The text is written in a neat Gothic script, in the Pisan vernacular.

The Breve is the result of a long process of legislative drafting that began during the period of Donoratico dominion and ended in the period of Aragon dominion.

The definitive version, in four books, dates back to the period of direct rule by Pisa over Villa di Chiesa.

Flavia port

sec. XX - Frazione di Masua

This construction holds an important position in terms of innovation and technology in the field of Sardinian mining construction.

The Belgian Vieille Montagne company appointed engineer Cesare Vecelli to carry out a planning study aimed at reducing the costs of transporting ore from the mine to the port.

The project was carried out from 1922 to 1924.

The construction runs entirely within the mountain for 600 metres, before exiting high up above the sea. The external structure consists of a façade with a large arch beneath the inscription “Porto Flavia”, flanked by a tower. The work consisted of excavating 9 bunkers inside the mountain by enlarging natural caverns. These 9 large rooms develop into two tunnels one on top of the other, directly opposite the islet known as Pan di Zucchero (Sugarloaf).

Monteponi mine

Sec. XIX – Località Monteponi

It is difficult to give a date for the first minino activity in this area because the groundhas undee modifications over a very long period of time. We know that Monte Paone was mentioned in 1324, in the will of Baron Berto da San Miniato, a trader from Pisa.

Over the years, th mining concession alternated between the State and private companies, without anyone being able to make it profitable.

Poswitive results were finally achieved in 1850, when some entrepreneurs, led by Ligurian Paolo Antonio Nicolay, founded the Monteponi company to carry out mining work underground over thirty years, using the exsting structures.

The settlement covers 4 levels and is a genuine worker’s village.

The 2008 project, by architects Herzog & De Meuron, plans to restore the entire industrial area for tourism and cultural purposes.

Coastal territory, bays and beaches

In the littoral zone of the comune of Iglesias (8 kilometers from the centre of the city), starting from north to south, there are the following principal beaches:

Medieval history

From ninth century, after a period of human absence, there was a little urban centre proved by the presence of a Byzantine church (Chiesa di San Salvatore). After, when Byzantinos left the island, Iglesias was under Cagliari's control. In the 1258 the territory around Iglesias was assigned to the "Della Gherardesca" family. The city part was under the duke Ugolino Della Gherardesca's control. The duke decided to take advantage of the silver resources present in the zone, so he founded a new city, called in Latin "Villa Ecclesiae" (now Villa di Chiesa, Church's Villa), developing old structures and building new ones. Della Gherardesca family also fashioned the medieval Castle of Salvaterra, the defence walls, athe hospital and an aqueduct.

Twin towns

References

  1. ↑ All demographics and other statistics from the Italian statistical institute (Istat)
  2. ↑ AA. VV., Dizionario di toponomastica. Storia e significato dei nomi geografici italiani, Milano, GARZANTI, 1996, p. 327

External links

Media related to Iglesias at Wikimedia Commons

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