The Memorial-temple of St. Nicholas, better known as Ossuary-temple of Udine, is located downtown at the XXVI Luglio roundabout at the end of Viale Venezia. Its large dome can be seen from afar and it is divided into an actual Ossuary, which hosts the remains of 21,500 soldiers who fell in the Great War in Friuli Venezia Giulia, and the parish church of St. Nicholas, for which it was originally built.
Its construction started following a project by architects Provino Valle and Alessandro Limongelli in 1925 but two years later it was decided to turn the church into a memorial to accommodate the remains of thousands of soldiers scattered in war cemeteries between the rivers Isonzo and Tagliamento. The initial design was partly changed and a massive crypt was built under the church, which still holds the remains of the fallen soldiers, including 5.600 with no names. Those identified rest in niches along the wall, while unidentified soldiers are buried in two large mass tombs bearing the inscription "Et nomen una cum sanguine pro Patria dedimus" ("We offered our name and blood to our Motherland"). The crypt contains also a bronze sculpture dedicated to the fallen soldiers of the Julia and Friuli Divisions as well as 300 soldiers who died in WW II.
The outer façade of the Temple refers to the Great War through four large statues by Silvio Olivo, representing the Alpine soldier, the Infantryman, the airman and the sailor. Inside the parish church, instead, you can see 14 lateral chapels, each dedicated to a Station of the Cross, with panels by Giannino Castiglioni, who already created those of the Memorial of Redipuglia.
INFORMATION
Direzione della Parrocchia S. Nicolò - Tempio Ossario
Piazzale XXVI Luglio
I-33100 Udine
Tel +39 0432 236081 custode.utcmd_udine@libero.it
Opening hours
Crypt:
From Tuesday to Saturday 8.30-14.30
Church:
Contact: Direzione della Parrocchia S. Nicolò
