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Campiglia Cervo (Biella)- Oratory of the Saints Sebastian and Fabian
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Show to visit in the Biella area: |
 The oratory is located in the fraction Forgnengo. It is a small church, but it has a rare, if not unique, feature among small mountain churches. In fact, the nave has a plan that is not rectangular as usual, but elliptical.
HISTORY
The first version of the oratory should have been built in the thirteenth century. The saints to whom it is dedicated suggest that it was built (or rebuilt) following some plague.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century the oratory was no longer in good condition, so in 1821 it was demolished and rebuilt. However, it was completed only in 1850, with the construction of the choir loft, after the façade had been completed in 1840.
The current bell tower dates back to 1842.
STRUCTURE
It is a small church, but not without some refinement. The rear part of the church is not visible because other buildings are attached to it.
The masonry is made of local stone, largely exposed. The façade is the only plastered part. It is very simple, but not poor, with the central door equipped with a massive stone portal connected to a mixtilinear frame above it with a depiction of the two saints inside to which the building is dedicated. The church is accessed via a small staircase with steps with rounded corners. At the top there is an oculus and on the sides of the entrance two rectangular windows, all with thick stone frames. At the top of the facade there is a large pediment with a granite frame. Note that the side edges of the facade are rounded.
The interior has a single hall with an ellipsoidal plan. However, the curvature of the side walls is not very accentuated and can go unnoticed if you don't pay attention.
The walls are separated from the vault by a thick cornice that runs along the entire internal perimeter and are punctuated by pilasters with trompe l'oeil grooves.
The counter-façade is occupied along its entire width by a choir loft whose balustrade is decorated with depictions of musical instruments.
The vault, apparently cross-shaped with ribs underlined by the decorations, actually has a rounded shape, so much so that there are two lateral lunettes with an oculus inside each. In the center of the vault is an oval with a fresco of the Madonna.
The presbytery is separated from the nave by a thick stone balustrade and has a rounded shape at the bottom which connects with the curved side walls of the nave.
On the altar there is a canvas depicting the titular Saints painted by L. Boffa in 1923. Of particular interest is also an eighteenth-century canvas depicting the Guardian Angel which recalls the art of the painter Gio. Antonio Cucchi.
Categories: Places of historical value
SS 232, 24, 13812, Campiglia Cervo BI |
Oratory of the Saints Sebastian and Fabian: Further pictures in the section Photography |