Ales Cathedral (Sardinia)
Ales Cathedral (, Cattedrale dei Santi Pietro e Paolo) is the parish church of Ales, a small town in the province of Oristano, Sardinia, Italy, and the cathedral of the diocese of Ales-Terralba (the diocesan museum is also located there). The dedication is to Saint Peter and Saint Paul. History The present cathedral, built in 1687 by architect Domenico Spotorno, was constructed on the ruins of an earlier church built at the expense of Donna Violante Carroz, Marchioness of Quirra (1456-1510), at the time of the transfer of the seat of the diocese of Usellus to Ales. The first cathedral had a Romanesque nave with a truss roof and a small bell tower, three chapels (dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Our Lady of the Rosary, and the Crucifix), and a sacristy, which was replaced by a new one in 1627. The building was enlarged in 1634, probably with walling of large blocks of white stone, and four additional chapels. In the time of Bishop Brunengo the nave and the apse were covered with barrel vaulting. In 1648 Brunengo started building one of two planned towers, but it collapsed on April 29, 1683, for reasons never discovered, and in