Seminary Delegation Visit Basilica of Saint Francis

The Basilica of St. Francis is the most important religious symbol of the city of Assisi, the intellectual and spiritual capital of the Franciscans, and the holiest church of the Franciscans in this city, which is built on the tomb of St. Francis. The land of this church was first a garbage collection place and was known as Hell’s Hill, which after the construction of the church was called Heaven’s Hill.

This church is 800 years old and the body of Saint Francis was moved to this place a few years after his demise.

The church building has three floors, in the basement of which there is the tomb of Francis and a number of other priests and monks, and the second and third floors are two magnificent churches with tall columns that are mainly made of large pieces of stone.

The Most number of paintings in the churches of the world are located in these two floors of the church, and there are about 5000 square meters of paintings that are about 800 years old in this church. The reason for this amount of attention to painting was that Francis believed the church should be the most beautiful place.

Basically, in Christianity, they try to promote their beliefs in the form of painting, art and music and with cultural approaches, and they believe that in this way, Christian teachings become more tangible and produce spirituality.

The Iranian seminary delegation also gave appropriate explanations about Islam and the teachings of Ahl al-Bayt (PBUT) and asked questions, and an interesting religious dialogue took place, focusing on the importance and extent of use of art and the philosophy of religious art and symbols. Also, deepening of religious teachings and religious rationality was discussed.

Assisi is one of the important centers for the study of European and ecclesiastical art and painting. The tomb of Francis is located under the ground of the Basilica of Francis, who was first buried in a coffin on another hill, and after the construction of the church building, his body was moved to the basement floor. There are four graves on the four sides of Francis’ tomb, which belong to four of his disciples.