Complesso del Duomo di Verona

The Duomo di Verona, also known as the Cathedral of Santa Maria Matricolare, is recognizable by the striking two-story projecting porch on its facade, supported by two columns that rest on the backs of stone griffins. This is the main Catholic church of Verona and the seat of its diocese. The building stands on an ancient site that once held early Christian basilicas, which were destroyed by a devastating earthquake in eleven seventeen. Construction on the current Romanesque structure began in eleven twenty, and it was consecrated by Pope Urban the Third in eleven eighty-seven.