St. Michele Basilica in Pavia
This church is an outstanding example of Lombard-Romanesque church architecture of northern Italy, so that some critics consider it one of the purest and most beautiful in the world for its architectural style.
It is located in Pavia on the site of a pre-existing Lombard church, which the lower part of the bell tower belongs to. Destroyed in 1004, the church was rebuilt from around the end of the 11th century (including the crypt, the transept and the choir), and finished in 1155.
It is characterized by an extensive use of sandstone (unfortunately a sedimentary rock as so mouldable and easy to transport in the construction phase, as brittle and prone to decay nowadays) and by a very long transept, provided with a facade and an apse of its own. In the church the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa was crowned in 1155.
REA is working from 2007 on this precious architecture, working on abside consolidation at the beginning. In recent time it has started the complex consolidation of facades, finding the funds for its activity.