|
 The
Cistercian Abbey is a majestic building dominating the Viterbese
Tuscia, built around 1150 by the Cistercians of Pontigny.
The Chiesa dell'Abbazia Cistercense instead dates back
to the 13th century with its front with a big gothic window.
Because of the tendency to slide downhill, in 1651 a consolidation
became necessary and thus the two bell-towers were added to
sustain the building. The external polygonal apse with a double
row of gothic windows is very interesting. The three aisles
are divided by gothic arches supported alternatively by cruciform
pillars and columns.
In 1645,
Innocent X donated the abbey to his sister-in-law Donna Olympia
Maidalchini Pamphilii, who instantly begun to build her residence,
the Palazzo Doria Pamphilii. The first floor has beautiful
lacunar ceilings with refined decorations. Recently renovated,
it actually houses a congress centre. Subsequently to the
construction of the Palace, the aspect of the town radically
changed: two new streets led to the Abbey and to the Palace,
the main one with new palaces, the other with a sloping row
of attached houses for the common people, thus forming the
Baroque Centre, a rare testimony of the town-planning
of the period.
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