|
Muzzano (Biella)- Church of Sant'Eusebio
|
|
|
Show to visit in the Biella area: |
 The Church of Sant'Eusebio in Muzzano represents a small jewel of baroque and neo-baroque decorations a few km from the more famous Sanctuary of Graglia.
The present church was built at the end of the seventeenth century in place of the previous one from the thirteenth century. Of the Romanesque church only the base of the bell tower remains, characterized by a pebbled masonry arranged in a herringbone pattern, large square stones to reinforce the corners and the typical Romanesque decorations with hanging arches.
The present church is characterized by a beautiful baroque facade on two orders, marked by pilasters and a cornice between the two orders. In front of the central door there is a small portico. The decorations are represented by a blind rose window in the center at the top and by two false niches containing frescoes of saints now very ruined.
The interior has three naves, with the lateral ones much lower and narrower than the central one.
The barrel vault with lunettes of the central nave is completely frescoed in Baroque style. In the center there is a glory of Saint Eusebius among angels, in correspondence with the lunettes four other saints.
The walls that separate the central nave from the side aisles are decorated above the arches with a great profusion of stuccos.
The side aisles have cross vaults decorated in a much simpler way.
The church does not have side chapels, while there are two side altars at the head of the side naves. The one on the left is dedicated to the Black Virgin of Oropa.
Presbytery and apse are practically an extension of the central nave and are very deep. The presbytery is separated from the nave by a marble balustrade.
The altarpiece of the baroque polychrome marble main altar represents the martyrdom of Saint Eusebius and was painted in 1780 by di Giov. Domenico Molinari. The marble balustrade and the altar itself are instead eighteenth-century works by Stefano Marchesi and Stefano Buzzi from Varese.
The pictorial decoration of the church is completed by the twentieth-century frescoes by the painters Aluffo and Crida.
The cantoria on the counter-façade contains a nineteenth-century organ still used today for concerts.
Lastly, the carved solid wood pulpit on the left side of the entrance to the presbytery is also of value.
Categories: Places of historical value of artistic value
Piazza Parrocchiale, 1, 13895 Muzzano BI |
Church of Sant'Eusebio: Further pictures in the section Photography |