Lucca Cathedral

Lucca Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours in Lucca, Italy. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Lucca. Development was started in 1063 by Bishop Anselm later Pope Alexander II. Of the first structure, the immense apse with its tall columnar arcades and the fine campanile remain. The nave and transepts of the church were remade in the Gothic style in the fourteenth century, while the west front was started in 1204 by Guido Bigarelli of Como, and comprises of a tremendous porch of three heavenly curves, or more them three scopes of open exhibitions decorated with models. In the nave a little octagonal sanctuary or house of prayer holy place contains the most valuable relic in Lucca, the Holy Face of Lucca Italian: Volto Santo di Lucca or Sacred Countenance.

This cedar-wood cross and picture of Christ, as indicated by the legend, was cut by his contemporary Nicodemus, and marvelously passed on to Lucca in 782. Christ is dressed in the colobium, a long sleeveless article of clothing. The house of prayer was worked in 1484 by Matteo Civitali, the most celebrated Luccan stone carver of the early Renaissance. The tomb of Ilaria del Carretto by Jacopo della Quercia of Siena, the most punctual of his surviving works was appointed by her significant other, the ruler of Lucca, Paolo Guinigi, in 1406.