Editing Modena (section)

==Main sights==
{{Category see also|Buildings and structures in Modena}}<!-- [[Piazza Grande, Modena]] redirects here-->

===Ducal Palace===

[[File:Palazzo Ducale Estense di Modena.jpg|thumb|center|800px|[[Palazzo Ducale of Modena]], June 2015]]
[[File:Palazzo Comunale - Modena.jpg|thumb|Palazzo Comunale, Modena town hall]]
[[File:Modena Cathedral facade.jpg|thumb|Façade of the [[Duomo di Modena]], or Cathedral of [[Santa Maria Assunta]] and [[Saint Geminianus]]]]
[[File:Modena-duomo02.jpg|thumb|Interior of the cathedral]]

The [[Ducal Palace of Modena]], initiated by [[Francesco I d'Este]] in 1634 and completed by [[Francis V, Duke of Modena|Francis V]], was the seat of the Este court from the 17th to 19th century. The palace occupies the site of the former Este Castle, once located in the periphery of the city. Although generally credited to [[Bartolomeo Avanzini]], it has been suggested that advice and guidance in the design process had been sought from the contemporary luminaries, [[Pietro da Cortona|Cortona]], [[Gian Lorenzo Bernini|Bernini]], and [[Francesco Borromini|Borromini]].

The Palace currently houses the [[Accademia Militare di Modena]], the Military Museum and a precious library.

The Palace has a Baroque façade, from which the Honour Court (where the military ceremonies are held) and the Honour Staircase can be accessed. The Central Hall has a frescoed ceiling with the 17th-century ''Incoronation of Bradamante'' by [[Marco Antonio Franceschini]]. The ''Salottino d'Oro'' ("Golden Hall"), covered with gilted removable panels, was used by Duke Francis III as his main cabinet of work.

===Town Hall===
Facing the Piazza Grande (a [[UNESCO World heritage site|UNESCO World Heritage Site]]), the Town Hall of Modena was put together in the 17th and 18th centuries from several pre-existing edifices built from 1046 as municipal offices.

It is characterized by a Clock Tower (''Torre dell'Orologio'', late 15th century), once paired with another tower (''Torre Civica'') demolished after an earthquake in 1671. In the interior, noteworthy is the ''Sala del Fuoco'' ("Fire Hall"), with a painted frieze by [[Niccolò dell'Abbate]] (1546) portraying famous characters from Ancient Rome against a typical Emilia background. The ''Camerino dei Confirmati'' ("Chamber of the Confirmed") houses one of the symbols of the city, the ''Secchia Rapita'', a bucket kept in memory of the victorious [[Battle of Zappolino]] (1325) against [[Bologna]]. This relic inspired the poem of the same title by [[Alessandro Tassoni]]. Another relic from the Middle Ages in Modena is the ''Preda Ringadora'', a rectangular marble stone next to the palace porch, used as a speakers' platform, and the statue called ''La Bonissima'' ("The Very Good"): the latter, portraying a female figure, was erected in the square in 1268 and later installed over the porch.

===The Cathedral and the Ghirlandina===
{{Main|Duomo di Modena|Torre della Ghirlandina}}
[[File:-6007_IMG_1913_4_5_fused_copy-aL.jpg|thumb|View from Piazza Grande with detail of the statue of La Bonissima and the [[Ghirlandina tower]] in the background]]
The Cathedral of Modena and the annexed campanile are a [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]]. Begun under the direction of the Countess [[Matilda of Tuscany]]<ref name="EB1911" /> with its first stone laid 6 June 1099 and its crypt ready for the city's patron, [[Saint Geminianus]], and consecrated only six years later, the Duomo of Modena was finished in 1184. The building of a great cathedral in this flood-prone ravaged former center of [[Arianism]] was an act of [[urban renewal]] in itself, and an expression of the flood of piety that motivated the contemporary [[First Crusade]]. Unusually, the master builder's name, [[Lanfranco]], was celebrated in his own day: the city's chronicler expressed the popular confidence in the master-mason from [[Como]], Lanfranco: by God's mercy the man was found (''inventus est vir'').

The sculptor [[Wiligelmo|Wiligelmus]] who directed the mason's yard was praised in the plaque that commemorated the founding. The program of the sculpture is not lost in a welter of detail: the wild dangerous universe of the exterior is mediated by the Biblical figures of the portals leading to the Christian world of the interior. In Wiligelmus' sculpture at Modena, the human body takes on a renewed physicality it had lost in the schematic symbolic figures of previous centuries. At the east end, three [[apse]]s reflect the division of the body of the cathedral into nave and wide aisles with their bold, solid masses. Modena's Duomo inspired campaigns of cathedral and abbey building in emulation through the valley of the [[Po River|Po]].

The [[gothic architecture|Gothic]] [[campanile]] (1224–1319) is called ''[[Torre della Ghirlandina]]'' from the bronze garland surrounding the weathercock.

===Other churches===
{{Category see also|Roman Catholic churches in Modena}}
* [[San Vincenzo, Modena|San Vincenzo]]: erected in 17th century over a prior 13th-century church. The original design was by [[Paolo Reggiano]], but completed by [[Bernardo Castagnini]], probably helped by the young [[Guarino Guarini]]. The interior contains frescoes by [[Sigismondo Caula]] portraying episodes of the ''Lives of Saints [[Vincent of Saragossa|Vincent]] and [[Cajetan]]''. The dome was destroyed during World War II. This church houses the funerary monuments of the Dukes of Este.
* [[Santa Maria della Pomposa, Modena|Santa Maria della Pomposa]]: also known as ''Aedes Muratoriana'', is probably the oldest religious church in town, documented as early as 1135. Little remains of the original medieval temple. Construction of the present church is mainly due to [[Ludovico Antonio Muratori]], the parish priest (1716–1750), who rebuilt it from the ground.
* [[San Giovanni Decollato, Modena|San Giovanni Decollato]]: church of ''St. John Baptist Beheaded'' built in the 16th century over a pre-existing temple dedicated to St Michael, and modified in 18th century.
* [[Sant'Agostino, Modena|Sant'Agostino]]: 14th-century church of St Augustine, largely renovated in 1663 for the funeral of [[Alfonso IV d'Este]]. The sober original structure was embellished with 17th-century stuccoes and a panelled ceiling. The most notable artwork is the ''Deposition'' (1476) by the Modenese [[Antonio Begarelli]], once in the church of [[San Giovanni Battista, Modena|San Giovanni Battista]]. Traces of a 14th-century fresco by [[Tommaso da Modena]] can still be seen.
* [[San Francesco, Modena|San Francesco]]: construction of the church of St Francis begun in 1224 by the [[Franciscan]]s, and not finished for two centuries. The Gothic-style church houses one of Begarelli's masterworks, a ''Deposition of Christ'' made up of thirteen statues.
* [[File:Chiesa di San Pietro, Modena.jpg|thumb|Chiesa di [[San Pietro, Modena]]]][[San Pietro, Modena|San Pietro]]: church erected, according to tradition, over the temple of [[Jupiter Capitolinus]]. The current [[Renaissance architecture|Renaissance]]-style edifice is from 1476, built next to a [[Benedictine]] abbey founded in 996 outside the city walls; the church is among the few 15th-century structures of this style Modena. The interior has a 15th-century organ and numerous terracotta works by Begarelli. The campanile was built in 1629.
* [[San Giorgio, Modena|San Giorgio]]: church of St George, and also known as the Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin Helper of the Modenese People. The church boasts a venerated image of the Madonna as a main altarpiece. The main altar (1666) was built with polychrome marbles by [[Antonio Loraghi]]. The layout is that of a Greek cross, and was erected in 1647.
* [[San Bartolomeo, Modena]]
* [[Chiesa del Voto, Modena|Chiesa del Voto]]: Votive Church erected after the cessation of the [[Italian plague of 1629–31|Plague of 1630]].
[[File:Modena Synagogue.JPG|thumb|right|Modena [[Synagogue]]]]

===Synagogue===
* The Synagogue, opposite the Palazzo Comunale, was built by the {{Ill|Jews of Modena|lt=Jewish community of Modena|it|Comunità ebraica di Modena|fr|Histoire des Juifs à Modène}} in Lombardesque style and inaugurated in 1873.

===Other sights===
* Mercato Albinelli, a historical covered market founded in 1931
* [[Orto Botanico dell'Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia]], a [[botanical garden]]
* [[San Cataldo Cemetery, Modena|San Cataldo Cemetery]], designed by avant-gardist Italian architect [[Aldo Rossi]] (1971–1997)
* Home (museum) of [[Luciano Pavarotti]]<ref>[http://www.casamuseolucianopavarotti.it/en/ Casa Museo Luciano Pavarotti] – Home of Luciano Pavarotti, now a museum</ref>