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Basilica di Santa Chiara, Assisi

Discover Basilica di Santa Chiara, Assisi

Last updated on October 27, 2026

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Checked against Wikipedia — The architectural style of the basilica of Santa Chiara is gothic, and recalls very closely the almost contemporary upper basilica of San Francesco of Assisi. The exterior is characterised by three great polygonal buttresses in the form of wide flying arches which reinforce the left flank of the building, of the end of the fourteenth century. The facade is made in courses of local white and pink stone, tripartite by cornices. The portal is round-arched, with the moulding around the lunette supported by two resting lions; the lunette has a much damaged fresco by Giacomo Giorgetti. Higher up, the rose window has a double ring of small columns and arches. The facade concludes in a gable with an oculus at the centre. Near the side door project a chapel faced with pink panels on a white ground, added at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and the transept. The apse is polygonal, with three tall single-light windows. The square-based bell tower rises on the flank, with two-light and large single-light windows, surmounted by a spire., The interior of the basilica of Santa Chiara is a Latin cross with a single nave of four bays, transept and polygonal apse. The arches of the vaults rest on clustered pillars which cross the bare walls, enlivened only by a gallery above which single-light windows open. Anciently the nave housed a cycle of frescoes on the life of the saint, of which only a few fragments remain after the eighteenth-century whitewashing and the damage of the earthquake of 13 January 1832. In the left transept, on the end wall, is a Nativity of the middle of the fourteenth century by an unknown Giottesque master of Umbrian formation, called for that reason the Master of the Nativity of Santa Chiara; to the left the panel with the Madonna and Child by the Master of Santa Chiara, of about 1265. In the higher walls are fragments of Stories of the Old Testament of the end of the thirteenth century, of Roman or Tuscan school., The basilica of Santa Chiara is an important place of worship in the historic centre of Assisi. The church was built, after the death of Saint Clare, between 1257 and 1265, around the ancient church of San Giorgio, which until 1230 had guarded the mortal remains of Saint Francis. The remains of the saint were translated as early as 1260, while the solemn consecration took place in 1265, in the presence of Clement IV. The construction works were carried out by the architect Filippo da Campello. The crypt which today houses the tomb of the saint was made only in 1850. Originally it was created to house the religious group of the Poor Clares, who lived in the church of San Damiano. (October 2026).

Discover Basilica di Santa Chiara, Assisi

Architecture

The short history

How it was built and evolved over time

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Discover Basilica di Santa Chiara, Assisi

Architecture

The short history

How it was built and evolved over time

Frequently asked questions

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