Church of Santa Maria di Collemaggio (L'Aquila)

 church, Roman Catholic church

a large medieval church in L'Aquila, celebrated not only for its architecture, but also as the site of the original Papal Jubilee, a penitential observation devised by Pope Celestine V, who is buried here. The church, which therefore ranks as a basilica because of its importance in religious history, sits in isolation at the end of a long rectangular sward of grass at the SW edge of town.
In 1287 his monks bought the land and a year later the construction had begun.
After one more year the church was opened, though still unfinished, and on 29 August 1294.
The church is a masterpiece of Abruzzese Romanesque and Gothic architecture and one of the chief sights of L'Aquila. The striking jewel-box effect of the exterior is due to a pattern of blocks of alternating pink and white stone; the interior, on the other hand, is massive and austere. Outbuildings include a colonnaded cloister, with the central fountain typical of many other similar Italian cloisters, and the former monastic refectory.

Parts of the structure were significantly damaged , such as the collapse of the roof,in the 2009 earthquake in l'Aquila.