Cappella della Madonna del Pianto (1894)
This chapel, which is reached from an opening to the left of the apse, stands on the site of what was (before Alessi's remodelling) the left apsidal chapel (the Cappella di San Paolo). From ca. 1580 (when the new presbytery was built) until 1848 (when an opening was inserted into the presbytery wall), the chapel was inaccessible.
The canons remodelled the chapel in its present form to house a
sculpture known as the Madonna del
Pianto.
Madonna del Pianto (Weeping Madonna)This polychrome stucco sculpture of the Pietà (15th century) was given this title when tears were seen to fall from the Madonnas eyes after Perugian forces under Gianpaolo Baglioni devastated Assisi in 1494. Unfortunately, this work was stolen in 1982; the wooden Pietà (1985) in the chapel is a copy of it. |
The remodelling of 1894 marked the 4th centenary of the miracle of the weeping Virgin. Frescoes (late 13th century) that were detached from the walls at that time are now in the Museo della Cattedrale.
The altar, which was brought here at that point,came from the church of San Nicolò di Piazza. This was the altar at which St Francis prayed in ca. 1207 in order to determine his vocation.
The chapel also contains a memorial to Bishop Giuseppe Placido Niccolini (died 1973), the protector of Assisi during the German occupation in 1943-4.
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