The Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi is credited to Maestro Jacopo Tedesco. Construction began at the order of Pope Gregory IX, who declared the church papal property. The infobox gives groundbreaking in 1227, while the text says 1228. Gregory canonized Francis on July 16, 1228.
The Lower Basilica was finished in 1230, and the Upper Basilica was begun after 1239 and completed in 1253, when Innocent IV consecrated it. The infobox lists Romanesque and Italian Gothic, and the text describes a synthesis of both. The church is 260 feet (80 m) long and 164 feet (50 m) wide.
Francis's remains moved to the Lower Basilica on May 25, 1230. An earthquake on September 26, 1997 collapsed vaults, killing two friars and two specialists, and the basilica closed for two years. UNESCO listed it in 2000. It is the mother church of the Conventual Franciscans and a major pilgrimage site.
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