MONUMENTS PROVINCE OF RIMINI
MONUMENTS RIMINI
Saint
Agostino Church
The
Church
of Saint John the
Evangelist, known by the name St Augustine’s, one of the
most noteworthy sacred edifices of the city, with the
highest bell tower of Rimini, has been built by the
Augustinian Hermits in about 1247. The Church, whose
original Roman-Gothic part is preserved in the apse and
in the bell tower, in 1618, has been renewed in the
interior in Baroque style. About 1720 the Church has
been adorned by Ferdinando Bibiena. Exceptional are the
frescos of the Rimini school of painting contained in
the apse and in the chapel in the bell tower. In the
chapel are preserved the frescos representing scenes
from the Life of Our Lady, ascribed to Giovanni
from Rimini. On the end wall of the apse are depicted
Our Lady in Majesty and Christ and the
frescos illustrating the Life of St John the
Evangelist and the Tales of St Augustine,
masterpieces by the anonymous painter called “Maestro
dell’Arengo” since he also painted the superb scene of
the Last Judgement, which once decorated the
triumphal arch, and is at present in the Arengo hall in
the City Museum. The same Maestro also painted on wood
the magnificent Christ Crucified, which hangs on
the right-hand wall in the nave of Sant’Agostino Church.
Noteworthy are the numerous eighteenth-century
altarpieces, the ceiling designed by Ferdinando Bibiena,
with paintings dating back to 1722 by Vittorio Bigari,
the plaster statues by Carlo Sarti, (about 1750), and an
astonishing thirteenth-century wooden statue of
Christ Taken Down from the Cross, from the Cathedral
of St Columba.