Belluno Cathedral Historical Timeline

Origins

Belluno has been a bishopric since late antiquity, and cathedrals stood on this site long before the present one.

Turning points

The rebuilding began in 1517, in the years after Belluno had come under Venetian rule and suffered in the wars of the League of Cambrai. The design is traditionally given to Tullio Lombardo, of the Venetian family of sculptor-architects.

Influential people

The campanile was the great later addition: designed by Filippo Juvarra and built between 1732 and 1743. Juvarra was among the most accomplished architects in Europe at the time, and the commission is out of all proportion to the size of the city.

Cultural evolution

Earthquakes damaged the church repeatedly -- this is seismic country -- and it has been repaired and altered accordingly.

Present-day significance

It remains the cathedral of the diocese, and the bell tower is the landmark of Belluno from every approach.