VOTIVE TEMPLE OF THE DOCTORS OF ITALY

The only church in the world dedicated to doctors, in the village of Duno it remembers all the health workers who lost their lives at work

On December 8, 1937, the first stone of the Votive Temple of the Medici D'Italia in Duno was laid, desired and conceived by the vicar Don Carlo Cambiano and designed by the architect Cesare Paleni from Bergamo. The consecration took place on August 25, 1938 and on October 3 of the same year the sacred building was elevated to the dignity of Sanctuary. The Shrine annexed to the Temple was inaugurated on May 5, 1940.

Upon the death of Don Cambiano, the Congregation of the Servants of Charity of Don Guanella took over the management and completion of the work. The building was then renovated in 1979-1980.

The sanctuary, the only Christian temple in the world dedicated to doctors, is composed of an octagonal area for the faithful, with an octagonal vault, and an area for the altar, covered with a barrel vault. From the right side of the steps leading to the presbytery, you enter the Shrine, with circular walls covered in marble on which the names of doctors who died in the exercise of their profession are engraved, including those who lost their lives during the Covid-19 pandemic, or in war.

Outside, next to the Shrine, a green space with a portico called the "Zona del Silenzio" has been created.

Valuable works of this sanctuary are: the bronze portal made by the doctor-sculptor Enrico Magrini; the mosaic that covers the apse, designed by the architect Cesare Paleni; the four canvases depicting the four evangelists by the doctor-painter Enrico Less; three canvases depictingThe Healing of a Paralytic andThe Resurrection of Lazarus; the Our Lady of St. Martin by the painter Carlo Cocquio; the wooden effigy of the Madonna del Rosario; the bronze statue of San Luca; a portrait of Don Cambiano painted by Attilio Mussino; the "Mascioni" organ.