Sant'Elena Imperatrice Abbey
Sant'Elena Imperatrice Abbey
The oldest town church dedicated to Saint Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine I, was built at the end of the first half of the 12th century and had a Romanesque style.
The church consisted of three naves, the central twice as wide as the lateral ones, connected by a series of round arches built on reused columns and capitals.
This church was not large, but it was sufficient for the needs of Quarto domino, one of the towns that will form the present city in the future.
Between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the church was demolished because it no longer satisfied the needs of the Quartesi.
The new structure was larger than the previous one, had a Sardinian-Catalan Gothic style and consisted of a single nave with a cross vault.
The apse was square and lower than the rest of the church. Between the 16th and 18th centuries, nine chapels were built in the church (Cappella del Rosario, the Madonna d'Itria, the souls in Purgatory, the Virgin of the Pietà, Sant'Antonio Abate, Sant'Elena, Santa Giusta, Sant'Antonio da Padova and San Michele arcangelo).
The main façade, which housed the ogival portal, was between two buttresses and ended with a flat and crenellated terminal. To the left of the facade stood the octagonal bell tower boasted by the citizens as the only one of its kind in the whole district of Cagliari.
In 1590 the pyramidal roof of the bell tower was covered with black tiles. In the same year, the whole church was restored, including the apse and the Chapel of Sant'Antonio da Padova (whose construction date is uncertain) and the sacristy.
For a sum of one hundred and fifty lire, the plaster was redone, the arch of the main entrance was whitewashed and reinforced and canals were built to dispose of the rainwater. Often the church was restored, expanded and modified even in style until, in 1775, a fire almost completely destroyed the church and it was decided to completely rebuild it.
In 1780, the Piedmontese engineer Cochis carried out an inspection together with the Lugano architect Carlo Maino and the Master Mason Beppe Boi. Cochis proposed a major intervention that included the addition of a domed transept to the east, the construction of a new sacristy, a large presbytery and the architectural adaptation of the entire structure. The works were immediately blocked, due to problems concerning the purchase of the land necessary for the expansion, which was purchased only in 1786.
Furthermore, in the last decade of the eighteenth century, the French invasion attempts, the popular revolt and the consequent expulsion of the Piedmontese, famine and economic difficulties were added.
In 1804 there was talk of the construction of the new parish church.
The clergy entrusted the master builder Raffaele Cappai with the reformulation of the expenses. Cappai and Gerolamo Melis (who will then have to test the work) also updated the work from an architectural point of view. Thanks to the consent of the Holy See, the clergy of Sant'Elena, the municipal administration and all the Quartesi, the work was entrusted in 1809 to the impresario Agostino Randaccio, from Cagliari and expert in this kind of works.
Due to differences between the clergy and Randaccio, the work was entrusted to the master builder Cosimo Crobu who reduced the number of chapels to be added to the other two remaining and which, at the behest of the city municipality, were intercommunicable.
In 1818 the work inside the church was completed and in 1825 the renovation of the facade began. In 1828 the church was officially blessed. Of the previous church, only the oratory of the Rosary remained, which stood behind the chapel of the same name and in which today we find the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, the bell tower and the clock tower, modified respectively in 1875 and 1900, part of the buttresses of the first section of the walls of the nave and the first two chapels.
Although the church had previously undergone other restorations, in 1996 the church was in need of a complete restoration.
Great was the damage caused by the infiltration of water in the vault and dome, the plaster peeled off due to the bubbles caused by the high humidity, moths ate the wooden furnishings and rust covered the iron brackets for anchoring the structures masonry and support.
Before the restoration, a complete disinfestation was carried out. the problem of humidity was then addressed and solved with the horizontal barrier system. The church was then waterproofed with prefabricated sheaths.
The frescoes have been cleaned and consolidated and the missing parts have been added. The plaster was redone in the first three meters, internal and external, for the whole church except for the left side which was completely plastered.
The floor, which rested directly on the beaten earth, was removed and placed on a crawl space. The marbles of the presbytery floor have been replaced with more precious marbles.
The baptismal chapel was placed where the chapel of the Madonna di Bonaria previously stood, which will be exhibited in the upcoming parish museum, the Rosary Chapel has been moved to the free space left by the baptismal chapel.
Where the latter chapel once stood, now stands the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament which exploits the space of the former oratory of the Rosary. In 1999 the restoration works were completed and the new table was blessed by Archbishop Ottorino Pietro Alberti.
In 2000 the bishop of Cagliari Ottorino Pietro Alberti presented the request for the elevation of the church to the dignity of Basilica in the Vatican.
In 2006 the parish synod is held, a decisive step on the path towards the promotion of the church to a minor basilica. The promotion takes place with the decree of 19 July 2007 by which the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments conferred this title on the church.
On August 4, the archbishop of Cagliari Giuseppe Mani officially announces what has happened to the faithful . On 14 September at 11 am the Solemn Pontifical was celebrated in which 5 Sardinian bishops, all the Quartese priests, the priests working in Quartu and all the city authorities participated. Since 7 August 2010 the basilica has been run by Don Alfredo Fadda.
Since February 12, 2009, the facade and the dome are undergoing urgent renovations as some of the limestone on February 6, due to heavy rains and the wind that hit the city in those days, had fallen.