Church San Francesco - Pistoia - Tuscany

Construction of the complex started in September 1289; previously on the same site a smaller monastery was attached to the church of Santa Maria al Prato, where Franciscan monks had settled in the first half of the 13th century. Work continued into the 14th century; however, the facade was not completed until 1707. In the 17th century, numerous side altars were erected in the place of pilgrimage by local noble families.B

The facade has a gable and is characterized by the marble cladding with white and green bands.

Inside, it has a Latin cross plan, with a broad nave with a half-timbered ceiling, the walls of which still have traces of the fresco decoration painted in the 14th century. Behind the large triumphal arch is the main chapel (flanked by four smaller ones), decorated with frescoes depicting the Stories of Francis (1343); in the Bracciolini chapel, frescoes depicting the Stories of Mary painted in the second decade of the 15th century; in the Pazzaglia chapel, frescoes with Stories of Saint Anthony and Saint Louis by Giovanni di Bartolomeo Cristiani; in the Gatteschi chapel, Stories of St. Donnino by Bonaccorso di Cino.

Behind the back wall of the left transept wing is the church's main pipe organ. It was built in 1896 by the organ company William Hill & Sons for the Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel in Hampstead, London Borough of Camden; in 1997 it was removed and, after a restoration carried out between 2002 and 2004 by the firm of Goetze & Gwynn, installed in the church of Pistoia.

A second pipe organ, of modest dimensions, is on the floor in the apse, behind the high altar; Built by the Costamagna firm in the mid-20th century, it has 14 stops on two manuals and pedal and is completely enclosed in an expressive case.

Willem Vandenameele