Ruvo Cathedral

Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption in Ruvo di Puglia (Italian: Concattedrale di Ruvo di Puglia, Concattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Duomo di Ruvo di Puglia) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Ruvo di Puglia, an historic and a City of Art in Apulia, southern Italy, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Formerly the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Ruvo, it is now a co-cathedral in the Diocese of Molfetta-Ruvo-Giovinazzo-Terlizzi. The building is an important example of late Apulian Romanesque architecture, built between the 12th and 13th centuries, with several later alterations.

History

Ferdinando Ughelli in his Sacra Italia reports two different hypotheses regarding the construction of the first church in Ruvo. According to some, in fact, the first Christian religious building was built above the crypt of Saint Anacletus outside the city walls; according to others, however, the first church was built by Saint Anaceltus and dedicated to Saint Peter, built not too far from the current site of the Cathedral. However Ughelli himself erroneously identifies in the year 1000 the moment of foundation of the mother church. Ettore Bernich instead believes that Ruvo, as well as Bari and Conversano, had three cathedrals of which the first was the church of the Holy Trinity, the second that of Saint John and finally the present Cathedral of the Assumption.

Most likely it was decided by Robert II of Bassavilla, Lord of Ruvo, together with bishop Daniele to definitively build a cathedral after the city was razed to the ground by the barbarian invasions and the war events of the twelfth century. The works ended in the 13th century.

In the modern age the Cathedral underwent various changes so much so that, as emerges from the ad limina reports of Bishop Gaspare Pasquali, in 1589 it could count on twelve side altars which later became fourteen.