User:Vezzoli97/Church of Santa Maria Elisabetta (Bergamo)

The Church of Santa Maria Elisabetta was a cult building in Bergamo. The church was deconsecrated in 1943 and destined for rectory.

History
The exact period of construction of the church is not known, traditionally it would have been built by the will of Carlo Magno in 774. The presence of some internal rooms of the church that have conformations similar to the ancient catacombs as weel as the presence of the relics of santa Massenzia would place its construction in the Paleochristian period. The proximity to the church dedicated to san Vigilio, vescovo di Trento and son of Massenzia, built in 727 AD and dedicated to the saint who with his mother and brothers seems to have lived in the Orobic city for some time, would confirm its most ancient construction. It was named after St. Mary Elisabeth much later, it was in fact a gift to a young bride of the Tasso family.

In the 17th century the church is referred to as ex commendis Hierosolimitanis. The building was renovated in 1840 with the raising of the pavement which was brought back to street level while previously it was at a lower level, and then being deconsecrated in 1943 and used for another use.

Description
The church is depicted in the canvas by Alvise Cima as it must have appeared before the construction of the Walls of Bergamo in 1561. The neoclassical facade, due to the nineteenth-century reconstruction, has a high stone plinth tripartite by lesene with Ionic capitals that support the belt course and the triangular tympanum (architecture). In the central section there is a portal complete with pilasters that support the projecting architrave. The upper part houses a semicircular opening designed to illuminate the hall. The side sections have two rectangular openings, with a greater extent in the two upper opening.

The interior has undergone many changes over the centuries until the twentieth-century adaptation that made it a parish residence.