Exterior view

The brick-built church of Santa Maria del Carmine at Pavia have been designed c. 1370. The broad and typically Lombard façade, its five compartments firmly bounded by plain buttresses topped by simple pyramids, is notable for the accentuation of its rhythms by wide windows. These are linked by a continuous, overriding cornice.

In the interior each square nave bay opens into two lower, square aisle bays succeeded by two equally high, square chapels. There is no dome over the crossing and no break in height between the nave and transepts. The continuity from one transept to the other is complete. The high traditions of the Lombard Romanesque live on in the mass and simplicity of the columns, of the mouldings, and of the plain, round ribbing of the vaults.

This church is a building in which great traditions are continued and in their continuation, undergo a transformation of unusual subtlety and sensitivity.

View the ground plan of Santa Maria del Carmine, Pavia.