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St. Ursus Cathedral, Solothurn

St. Ursus Cathedral, Solothurn

Gaetano Matteo Pisoni & Paolo Antonio Pisoni

Photo: – Wladyslaw [Disk.] · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Solothurn, Switzerland
Client / Owner
City of Solothurn
Year
Completed 1773
Access
Public
Typology
Spiritual

St. Ursus Cathedral in Solothurn was designed by Gaetano Matteo Pisoni, whom the city hired in 1763 and later dismissed. His nephew Paolo Antonio Pisoni took over construction in 1772. The church was dedicated on September 26, 1773, and it became a cathedral in 1828. The infobox gives groundbreaking in 1763.

The style is Neoclassical. The infobox gives Solothurn limestone, and the text describes a monumental white stone facade with columns, pilasters and a triangular pediment. A monumental staircase is flanked by statues of Moses and Gideon on Roman-style fountains. A single bell tower with a copper onion dome stands north of the choir, and a large copper dome covers the crossing.

A Gothic church stood on the site until its tower collapsed on March 25, 1762. A January 2011 arson attack damaged the choir altar, and repairs closed the cathedral for about two years. It is the seat of the Diocese of Basel. The article gives no hours.

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