Bologna - Basilica del Sepolcro

The Basilica del Sepolcro is part of the "Basilica di Santo Stefano" known as "Sette Chiese" (= "Seven Churches") that encompasses a complex of interconnected religious edifices, erected between the 5th and the 13th century.

Already within the 5th century Bishop Petronius built a "Holy Sepulchre" here, recalling the Church of the Holy Sepulche in Jerusalem, consecrated in 335.

Petronius´ church got severely damaged during the devastating invasions of Hungarian troops in the tenth century. The octogonal church got rebuilt a century later by Benedictian monks from red bricks. The dome above is dodecagonal. It is supported by 12 columns. Some of them are probably spolia that got reused here.