Pieve of Saint Pancras

The Pieve of Saint Pancras was built in Montichiari,

It is located on the homonymous hill, where there are also some pre-existing Roman, near the minor roads that connected the river Chiese with road Postumia; originally it consisted of the church, a cemetery and a building that housed religious men in the twelfth century,

thanks to close relations with the papal household, enjoyed privileges and exemptions confirmed several times with papal documents by Alexander III, Bishop Raymond of Brescia and by Pope Lucius III; from it depended the churches of St. Zeno, St. George, St. Thomas, St. Cristina, St. Giovanni in Elfo, Santa Maria and in its territory were included a curtis, the castrum and burgus superior risen to his feet. The grandeur of the Pieve of Saint Pancras was noticeable at a long distance in the surrounding plains and expressed the importance of the religious community that worked here; the building is oriented east-west and in the two equinoxes, at sunset, the light coming through the mullioned window in the facade illuminates the central lancet window of the main apse; inside it houses the tomb of the first Abbot of Montichiari Francis Fracassino .

The current building dates from the early twelfth century, had been built with extensive use of ashlar stone well squared and Roman elements for reuse with symbolic purposes as externalization of its political and religious role. The church is divided into three naves ending in three respective apses, the façade is raised in correspondence of the maining nave and has in the center a mullioned window topped by a cross-shaped window, at the aisles there are two niches symmetrical, in the raised side parts of the building open some mullioned windows; only in the apses there are decorative elements, pilaster strips topped by two arches each that, in that major, end with stone heads partly eaten away by time.

Inside the three aisles are divided lengthwise by arches resting alternating on columns and cruciform pillars, widthwise by three bays. The pieve of Saint Pancras was built on pre-existing Roman and early medieval, you can see various tracks such as the capitals of the first two columns from the entrance are Roman Corinthian, seconds are always Corinthian but are Romanesque; the right column of the presbytery has a base sculpted depicting two human busts with tunic; some reliefs with geometric patterns and knots in the apses.

The interior walls of the church had to be completely covered with frescoes painted around the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, including a Madonna in throne with Child and its sides St. Catherine and St. Nicholas, but they were lost a good part. During the restoration of 1965 were found parts of large walls, some still visible in the basement, which suggest a pre-existing medieval church probably built on an earlier fortification. The bell tower was added in 1693.