Tempio Canoviano

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Tempio Canoviano, or the Temple of Canova, is a Roman Catholic parish church on a hilltop in Possagno, in the Treviso area of Veneto, Italy. It was designed in a stark Neoclassical style by the sculptor Antonio Canova and is dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Construction began on 11 July 1819 and continued after Canova’s death in 1822, finishing in 1830 under abbot Giovanni Battista Sartori and architect Giuseppe Segusini. The project was later adjusted by Pietro Bosio, Giovanni Zardo, Giannantonio Selva, and Luigi Rossini. The building’s look recalls the Pantheon in Rome. Canova funded most of the work because he wanted to be buried there; when his request to be buried in the Rome Pantheon was denied, he was laid to rest in this church. When construction was completed in 1830, his remains were moved to the church. The front hall (atrium) is about 28 meters across and holds 16 Doric columns. The architrave bears the Latin inscription “DEO OPT MAX UNI AC TRINO” (To God, the Best and Greatest, One and Three). The metopes were carved by students using casts of Canova’s models. The altars display canvases from old churches and monasteries by artists such as Luca Giordano, Palma il Giovane, Giovanni de Sacchis (il Pordenone), and Andrea Vicentino. The bronze sculpture of the Pietà was made by Bartolomeo Ferrari after Canova’s designs, and above the altar is a Deposition painting by Canova.