Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta, San Gimignano
Unknown medieval workshop; Giuliano da Maiano · San Gimignano, Italy · 1148
San Gimignano's Collegiata presents a restrained Romanesque façade to Piazza del Duomo but contains one of Tuscany's richest ensembles of medieval frescoes. A basilican nave with arcades and striped vaults is wrapped by narrative cycles of the Old and New Testaments, while the Renaissance Chapel of Santa Fina extends the building with work by Giuliano da Maiano and Domenico Ghirlandaio. The church's relative exterior simplicity heightens the transition into its intensely painted interior. The date records the consecration of the present Romanesque church; later chapels, frescoes and extensions make the surviving monument a multi-period work.