Chiesa di Santa Chiara e Museo di Arte Sacra e Liturgica

The Poor Clares built Santa Chiara on Ripatransone's main street in the mid-eighteenth century, enclosing their choir behind nine gilded grilles. Since 1999, the former church has housed the Museum of Sacred and Liturgical Art, with works from the town's convents and parishes.

Why it matters

Santa Chiara brings together monastic architecture and a collection of sacred art. The municipal account dates the church's construction to 1749, to a design by Giuseppe Rossetti. The Museo di Arte Sacra e Liturgica, installed in 1999, preserves vestments, sculpture and paintings from religious institutions in Ripatransone.

The high altar is covered in marble tesserae and supports an altarpiece by Michelangelo Bedini. Other features include gilded grilles, Corinthian capitals and a maiolica Via Crucis in the Della Robbia manner.

What to notice

The single nave is articulated by pilasters with Corinthian capitals and stuccoes. Nine gilded grilles along the walls mark the enclosed choir of the Poor Clares. The church was built between 1750 and 1753 and consecrated in 1754, as part of the seminary complex designed by Rossetti.

The polychrome marble high altar stands beneath Bedini's altarpiece. The Della Robbia-style maiolica Via Crucis brings glazed ceramic into the nave. Franciscan sculptures and works associated with Michelangelo Bedini connect the church with other local sacred art.

Context and history

Giuseppe Rossetti designed the church and convent alongside the episcopal seminary; the building rose between 1749 and 1753 and was consecrated in 1754. The grilles, stuccoes and controlled light reflect the life of a contemplative community enclosed within the town.

Conventual life ended in the twentieth century, and the building passed to civic and curial uses. In 1999, the Museum of Sacred and Liturgical Art brought liturgical works from the town's convents and parishes into the former church.