The ancient Cathedral likely grew on the site of a Roman temple, progressively expanding from an early Christian basilica dedicated to St. Tecla, a martyr originally from Anatolia. The current cathedral is rebuilt on the ruins of the ancient one, destroyed by the earthquake of 1688, designed by the Venetian Antonio Gaspari (1656-1723) and with significant investment involving the entire citizenship, commissioned by the Magnificent Community of Este.
The position of the Cathedral is currently near the northwestern edge of the historical center, marked by the course of the Bisatto.
However, it is likely that Roman Este developed in that area, well before the new rectangular course of the river-canal. The early medieval cathedral, which was on the site of a Roman temple, had the canonical orientation with the apse facing east and the entrance to the west. The facade at that time, positioned where the apse stands now, likely opened onto a square that was central then.
The facade was rebuilt at the end of the 1500s towards the new center that had developed around the current little squares and the Piazza Maggiore.
The facade, enormous and bare (the richly decorated project by Gaspari remained incomplete) is completely out of scale compared to the surrounding buildings and the very small square, obtained by slightly widening the historical street that connects the northern and southern minor gates of the walled city.
The previous church, demolished by the earthquake, was oriented inversely, with the apse side on what is now the facade.
The viewpoint from the south reveals an aspect of extraordinary modernity of the complex with unusual geometries.
The masonry, uniform and unplastered, emphasizes the pure juxtaposed volumes: the vertical plane of the incomplete facade, almost separate, rests against the elliptical and unarticulated volume of the body of the church and the parallelepiped of the bell tower (completed in 1740 on the early medieval base that survived the earthquake).
The Baroque project of Gaspari appears externally boxed within a closed volume, while internally it is centered on a rich and complex geometry, perfectly perceivable by traversing the central axis of the nave.
At the center of the elliptical plan, the axes of the ray of the lateral chapels and the presbytery intersect, making the view unique and suggestive. The openings at the base of the dome fill the elliptical hall with light and highlight the architectural and sculptural decoration, conceived together with the overall design of the church.
In the apse, the large canvas by Giovan Battista Tiepolo from 1759 “St. Tecla invoking the liberation of Este from the plague.” Like for other cities, the Community thanks the patron saint for the end of the terrible plague of 1630, and Tiepolo characterizes the painting with a precise and meticulously crafted view of the city and the hills in the background. The recent restoration has restored the light and serenity of the best Tiepolo to the painting, which captures the attention of the entire cathedral.
In the sketch of the canvas of the Cathedral, preserved at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, Tiepolo represents the scene in a very dramatic way, placing the plague at the center of attention. In contrast, in the painting of the Cathedral, the mercy and serenity of the tragedy overcome prevail, also suggested by the lighter light and the more open landscape.
The altar in the lateral chapel of the Blessed Sacrament is the work of Antonio Corradini, a refined Venetian sculptor from the first half of the 1700s, famous in Europe for the virtuosity of veiled marble figures, in the altar exhibited in "Faith carrying the Cross."
In addition to the Tiepolo altarpiece and the altar by Corradini, the cathedral boasts interesting paintings, many of which were created in the early years after the Baroque reconstruction, completing Gaspari’s project. Jacopo Amigoni paints the vault, Giovanni de Min frescoes the presbytery (the baldachin is by Sebastiano Lazzari 1776). Works by Antonio Zanchi are found in the rectory and sacristy. Michelangelo Grigoletti painted the 19th-century altarpiece at the altar that holds Blessed Beatrice I d'Este. Gothic sculptures (a pulpit in the fourth right chapel and a stone Madonna in the sacristy).
Beatrice, daughter of Azzo VI lord of Este, became a Benedictine nun and died young in 1226. Buried in the convent she founded on Monte Gemola, she was transferred to S. Sofia in Padua, in a tomb engraved in verses with her story and beatified in 1763.
She was immediately venerated, and devotion grew with the finding of her incorrupt body, now displayed in the case under the altar, transferred there since 1954.
One of the largest organs in Veneto, made by the Fratelli Ruffatti and Ongaro in the early 1900s. It has four manuals and is divided into two: the main body on the gallery in the counter-facade, the smaller one in the dome that crowns the apse, ensuring a surrounding sound for those listening in the elliptical hall.
