The Cathedral of San Rufino in Assisi was built to house the relics of Bishop Rufinus, martyred in the 3rd century. It is the third church on the site, after one built by Bishop Ugone in 1029. Construction began in 1140. Giovanni da Gubbio made the original designs, recorded by an inscription in the apse. Pope Gregory IX consecrated the high altar in 1228, and Pope Innocent IV inaugurated the completed church in 1253.
The facade of stone from Monte Subasio is Romanesque, with three portals, three rose windows, griffins and lions. Galeazzo Alessi of Perugia remodeled the interior in a late Renaissance style in 1571.
Francis and Clare were baptized here. The crypt holds a Roman sarcophagus, and a diocesan museum opened in 1941.
Comments