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Construction of the Chiesa dei Cappuccini or Church of the Capuchin Monks began in the 12th century and was only completed by the early 14th century. The façade with a local stone base, and brick superior zone has a portal with multiple columns and a fresco in the lunette from the 17th century. In 1623 the Cappuccini (a Franciscan order) were assigned to this church. They erected an adjacent convent, and remained here until suppressed by the Napoleonic government in 1802.
The Capuchin order returned and reconsecrated the church in 1903. During restorations in the 1971, a large fresco was found in the apse, depicting the Annunciation. The work is attributed to two friars, Franceschino and Manfredino Baxilio, and dated to 1484. Of the fresco, only the Virgin remains. The apse maintains the baroque wooden altar with a painting of the Madonna della Neve, St Francis and St Lawrence of Brindisi. In the left nave is a canvas by Guglielmo Caccia, detto il Moncalvo, and in the right nave is a Madonna with St Felice da Cantalice, attributed to a son of Moncalvo.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.