Sant' Ercolano (1297-1326)
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| Detail of a fresco (late 15th century) by Benedetto Bonfigli depicting the recovery of the relics of St Herculanus, which occurs outside Sant' Ercolano Cappella dei Priori | Sant' Ercolano The original upper storey was demolished in ca. 1540 |
This church is dedicated to St Herculanus, Perugia's patron saint and stands outside the Etruscan walls where Totila was thought to have executed him in 549. The Commune seems to have begun the construction in 1297, perhaps as a demonstration of the independence of the
civic from the ecclesiastical authorities of the city. However, it was not completed in its current form until 1326.
In 1381, the upper church (see below) passed to the Cistercian congregation of Corpus Christi. The monks became dependent on those of San Fiorenzo when this latter community joined their congregation in ca. 1394. In 1444, Pope Eugenius IV removed the Cistercians and gave both complexes to the Servite Observants
The Commune transferred the houses surrounding what had been the upper
church and others in Via Sant' Ercolano (see Walk IV) to the family of
Bishop Napoleone Comitoli in 1582. He invited a community of Barnabites from Milan to take custody of
the church in 1607 and gave them the adjacent properties, which they adapted to form their monastery. They remained here until 1774, when they moved to thelarger Chiesa del Gesù, following the expulsion of the Jesuits of Perugia.
Church Design
[The design seems to have been inspired by the Mausoleum of Theoderic (520) at Ravenna].
The fresco above shows that the church was built a two-storey octagonal tower that acted as a bastion of the city walls. The chapel on the upper level, which had an entrance on Via Marzia, was demolished after the construction of the Rocca Paolina in ca. 1540 because it obstructed the line of fire of the cannons.
The original Gothic portal of the church survives. It was originally reached by way of a flight of stairs that was built using stone that was recycled from the nearby Fontana Minore (1278-81) when that was demolished in 1308. (The surviving sculptural fragments from this fountain are in the Galleria Nazionale (Room 1).
Bishop Napoleone Comitoli made enormous changes at Sant' Ercolano as part of a programme to regenerate the cult of St Herculanus:
He commissioned Ludovico Scalza to build the present double flight of stairs in 1604. (These replaced the semi-circular flight depicted in the fresco above).
He remodelled the interior of the church in 1607. The effect of this re-modelling was to transform the austere Gothic interior into a fine example of the Baroque.
He translated the relics of St Herculanus from the Duomo to Sant' Ercolano in 1609. He placed the relics in the sarcophagus (3rd century AD) that still forms the high altar: it had been recently discovered in a small church (Sant' Orfeto) outside Perugia. The sides of the sarcophagus are striated and each end is decorated with reliefs of a lion eating a horse.
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Barnabite monastery (17th century) |
Bishop Comitoli translated relics of St Charles Borromeo (died 1584, canonised 1610) from Milan to the church in 1612 and instituted a new chapel on the right to receive them.
The church re-opened recently after an extensive restoration.
Interior
Decoration of the Apse
The altarpiece on the high altar is a copy (17th century) of Perugino’s Decemviri Altarpiece (ca. 1495), which he painted for the Cappella dei Priori and which is now in the Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome. It depicts the Madonna and Child with SS Herculanus, Constantius, Laurence and Louis of Toulouse.
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The four frescoes (1627) to the sides, which depict scenes from the life of St Herculanus, are by Matteuccio da Salvucci.
The panels (1675) between them of St Paul writing and epistle (on the left) and St Peter in prison (on the right) are by Giovanni Andrea Carlone, il Genovese.
Frescoes of the Cupola (1675)
 St Paul in glory with saints(1675) |
 Conversion of St Paul (1675) |
St Paul in glory with SS Gregory the Great, Augustine and John Chrysostom (in the dome itself); and
scenes from the life of St Paul (in the lunettes around it).
The subject of these works reflects that the Barnabites laid on the study of the Epistles of St Paul.
Cappella di San Carlo Borromeo
As noted above, this chapel on the right was instituted in 1612 to receive relics of the newly-canonised saint.
It contains a fine stucco relief (1682) of the apotheosis of St Charles Borromeo by the French sculptor Jean Regnaud de Champagne (in Italian, Giovanni di Sciampagna).
Sacrario dei Caduti in Guerra
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The side door in Via Sant' Ercolano used to be the entrance to the Barnabite monastery.
It now leads to a memorial chapel (sacrario) for those lost in war, and contains an bronze sculpture (1918) of a young man holding the flame of remembrance. This figure is placed on a rock from Monte Grappa, which was the site of an important battle in the First World War.
Works Removed from the Church
St Jerome (16th century)
The earliest surviving reference to this panel, in which it is attributed to Perugino, dates to 1784, when it was in the sacristy. It passed to the Compagnia di San Martino in 1836 and entered the Galleria Nazionale (Room 23) in 1863.
Return to Walk IV.