Above: Chiesa del Carmine
Offering a quick glimpse of a few more churches in Siracusa.
There is a fairly consistent pattern in the history of the majority of these churches. They were built centuries ago; suffered substantial damage in the 1493 earthquake; and were rebuilt in Baroque style.
Above: Chiesa del Carmine
Above: Chiesa di Santa Maria della Concezione
Above: Chiesa di San Benedetto
Chiesa di San Filippo Apostolo varies from the pattern a bit. It sits atop the site of a medieval synagogue obtained following the Inquisition 1492 mandate for the expulsion of Jews who refused to convert. Remnants of the synagogue’s purification baths for women are found three levels below the church.
According to Atlas Obscura, the Greeks built a network of tunnels at what is now the second level down as part of an extensive water system. These tunnels were used to shelter as many as 10,000 Siracusans from bombs dropped during World War II. Found in the first level are crypts of wealthy donors to the church.
Above: Chiesa di San Filippo Apostolo
Above: left, Chiesa di San Cristoforo; right, Chiesa dell’ Immacolata
All of the above churches are located on Siracusa’s island of Ortigia. The Basilica Santuario Madonna delle Lacrime, however, is on the mainland, where its contemporary profile, the equivalent of about 30 stories high, makes it a highly visible landmark.
The unusual conical design of Our Lady of Tears is the result of a 1957 international design competition. The winners were a pair of French architects, Michel Andrualt and Pierre Parat.
According to FRAC’s website, the recently deceased architects approached their work as “sculptural interplay of imposing spaces and volumes…. a modernism freed from the metallic beam and the cube.” Construction was not completed until 1994, with the church’s elevation to a basilica in 2002.
Postcards from Barton Springs 