Address: Via Astino, Bergamo
Surrounded by greenery, the monumental complex of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is characterized by an ancient and prestigious history and a primary “commissa” cross plan from the early 12th century AD. The church was enlarged in 1500 with the construction of the Chapel of the Holy Sepulcher, where the statuary group of the Lamentation over the Dead Christ triumphed, and forty years later renovated and renewed in decoration with cycles of frescoes executed by painters Cristoforo Baschenis the Elder and Giovan Battista Guarinoni. New furnishings and various structures (the sacristy, bell tower and deep presbytery) expanded the renovated complex also during the seventeenth century with-among others-the contribution of Passignano. Artists who characterized the space include: Giuseppe Brina, Bernardo Sanz, Antonio Cifrondi, and Andrea Pelli. Suppressed the Monastic Order, by Napoleonic decree in 1797, the church, a subsidiary plexus of the Ospedale Maggiore, was used as an asylum between 1832 and 1892. Sold to private individuals, in 1923, its use was severely restricted which led to degradation and abandonment. Only in 2007 was the complex purchased by the Congregation of Greater Mercy, restored and returned to worship and use.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: https://www.touringclub.it/destinazione/localita/chiesa/215355/monastero-di-astino-chiesa-del-santo-sepolcro-bergamo
