Irsina Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, located in Irsina in the region of Basilicata, Italy. Since 1977 it has been a co-cathedral of the Archdiocese of Matera-Irsina, and was previously, from 1818, a co-cathedral of the Diocese of Gravina-Irsina. Before that it was the seat of the Diocese of Montepeloso. The present building was constructed in the 13th century and remodelled in 1777. It has a Baroque façade and a Gothic campanile. It contains a baptismal font of red marble and a number of 18th-century paintings of the Neapolitan School.
The cathedral also contains a well-known marble statue of Saint Euphemia. This has been attributed by some critics to Mantegna, and was exhibited as his at Mantua in 2009. Others however, including Giovanni Agosti, curator of the Mantegna exhibition at the Louvre, attribute it to Pietro Lombardo. The discussion continues.
References:The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.
The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.
The circular church, formerly domed, is 27 m high and is characterised by simplicity and technical primitivism.