Cathedral of Mortegliano

The Cathedral of Mortegliano, archpriestal church dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul is the main church of Mortegliano (UD), neo-gothic architecture by Andrea Scala. Inside, it preserves the famous altar by Giovanni Martini. Completed in 1526, and paid to its author 1,180 ducats, it is considered the masterpiece of wooden art in Friuli. About sixty statues, organized on 4 superimposed levels, represent stories of the Virgin: the Pietà, the Dormitio Virginis, the Assumption and the Coronation. At the ends of the shelves are Saints and Doctors of the Church. Giovanni Martini, in this work, abandoned the traditional structure of wooden altars, where the statues were inserted in niches, to adopt a structure in planes, each of which constitutes a space in which the characters represent a complete scene from the life of Mary. The altar of Mortegliano marks the definitive overcoming of the Gothic style, and the entrance of the Friulian wooden sculpture in the Renaissance. The baptismal font in stone dates back to 1571 and has been in the Cathedral since 1921. It comes from the ancient late-Gothic church and recalls the style of Giovanni Antonio Pilacorte's workshop.