The main portal and side entrances
Point of interest 2
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Transcript
The harmonious main portal under the portico immediately catches the eye. This Renaissance structure, carved in stone in 1481 by the master Giovanni Antonio Pilacorte and commissioned by the Bishop Tommaso De Regibus, is an authentic masterpiece.
Standing right in front of the portal, on the left-hand doorpost is St. Maggiorino – first Bishop of Acqui –
while on the right-hand one appears St. Guido,
who founded the Cathedral. The four “Doctors of the Church”, with their names: St. Gregorio Magno, St. Ambrogio, St. Gerolamo and St. Agostino
are carved on the doorpost facing. You will also find them later in the precious painting guarded in the Chapter Hall. In the lunette above the portal you can admire the glory of the Virgin Mary Assumed into Heaven surrounded by the Apostles, in its upper part is a ring
with God the Father in the middle and, on the sides, the symbols of the Evangelists alternated with images from the animal and plant kingdom.
Adorning the upper part of the portal are two shelves on which stand two stylophorous lions, i.e. statues in the form of crouching lions used to support columns, possibly part of an existing former entrance portico.
On both sides of the portal are two smaller entrances dating from 1588, whose wooden doors date from the first half of the 18th century.
Point of interest 1
The Cathedral: history and architecture
Point of interest 3
The interior, the chapels of the right aisle and the pulpit
