San Francesco del Prato, Parma
in Bergamo, ItalyCategory: Attraction
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Largo Bortolo Belotti, 2, 24121 Bergamo BG, Italy Print route »
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San Francesco del Prato was Gothic church in central Parma.Once owned by the Franciscans, their adjacent school once housed the theologian Bartolomeo Mastri da Meldola. The first church on the site was built in the 13th century. The apse has an aged fresco depicting Christ Pantocrator attributed to Bernardino Grossi and Jacopo Loschi. The 'Oratorio della Concezione (Oratory of the Concession) was designed by Bernardino Zaccagni and Giovanni Francesco Ferrari d'Agrate in the 16th century. It was decorated with frescoes by Michelangelo Anselmi and Francesco Rondani.
Until it was looted by Napoleonic troops in 1803, the main altar had a painting of The Concession, a masterpiece of Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli, In 1816, the painting was restored, but is now displayed in the Galleria Nazionale di Parma. In the oratory, there is a copy . Most of the other paintings once in the church have either been destroyed, dispersed, or are now in either the church of Santissima Trinità Vecchia, or in the Galleria Nazionale di Parma.
After the suppression of the rites in 1800, the church became a city jail. Cells were in the nave, and this led to a replacement of the windows, and covering of the frescoes. The bell-tower held the isolation cell for special prisoners.
