By Vania Grandi, Associated Press writer
ASSISI, Italy -- The followers of St. Francis lost two brothers and a refuge of peace. Art lovers saw irreparable harm to Italy's Renaissance riches. And Italians in general experienced yet another blow to their profound but delicate cultural fabric.
Yesterday was a day to assess and mourn the damage to the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi by two earthquakes a day earlier that shook central Italy.
The temblors killed 10 in all, including a Franciscan friar and novice inside the basilica. They destroyed whole villages in the mountainous area, leaving several thousand people homeless.
The second jolt sent swaths of vaulted ceiling in the basilica's upper section plunging to the floor, completely destroying frescoes by early master Cimabue and others by followers of the Italian master Giotto.
A cycle depicting the life of the saint, attributed by many to Giotto, suffered cracks, and a 3-foot fissure opened in the bell tower.
The basilica, a religious space known to millions of tourists and perhaps Italy's most sacred place, became the repository of yard-high piles of rubble. Fine chalky dust obscured the remaining frescoes. The altar was crushed. There were cracks and broken masonry over much of the two-level complex, plus the monastery area.
The damage to the basilica and other places holy to the friars who follow Francis' precepts of poverty, selflessness and humility was "for us like painful wounds," said Agostino Gardin, the order's worldwide leader, who visited the scene yesterday.
"These are, in fact, the places where we brothers can re-create the spiritual life of our father St. Francis and of St. Clare, the most important and most significant places of our Franciscan family," he said.
He said Oct. 4 celebrations of St. Francis' name day would be stripped down to the simplest form as an act of mourning.
Pope John Paul II had chosen the basilica twice as the site of multifaith prayer services for peace, and he, too, grieved.
At a spiritual gathering for Italian Roman Catholics in Bologna, the pope offered his condolences and "affectionate thoughts" to the quake victims.
The "enormous damage born by the artistic and religious patrimony, particularly the upper basilica of St. Francis ... was the cause of sadness" to him, John Paul said.
Restoration officials put the cost of restoration at tens of millions of dollars, and the government immediately set aside $29 million for help to Assisi overall.
Offers of expertise came from the Louvre in Paris and London's British Museum and National Gallery. Florence set aside half of its museum income over the next two weeks to help fund the basilica restoration. A group of Italian restorers who earned their stripes working on the church's frescoes offered their services.
The earthquake was the latest disaster to hit Italy's cultural heritage. In recent years, fires destroyed Venice's La Fenice opera house and heavily damaged Turin's cathedral, endangering the Shroud of Turin, and Mafia car bombs lacerated Florence's Uffizi galleries and ancient churches in Rome.
Thieves regularly raid churches and ancient tombs, while vandals damage public fountains by Renaissance masters.
But this time, Italy was "so heavily struck in its heart," Premier Romano Prodi said.
"It will be impossible to return the cathedral to its former state," said Antonio Paolucci, a former culture minister appointed to oversee the work.
Paolucci said the first thing to do is cover up fragments brought outside the basilica to protect frescoed sections from the rain. Then, experts must assess structural damage and come up with a reinforcement plan. Only then can restoration of the frescoes begin.
Some showed stoicism in the face of the damage.
"This probably happened before, and it's been repaired for 700 years, so I believe it will be repaired again," said the Rev. Simon Sauer of Louisville, Ky., who leads tours of the monastery. "It is just one more step honoring St. Francis' life," he said.
Others had hope.
"Sometimes things need to be destroyed so they can be renewed," said Sister Angela Morgenston, a Franciscan nun.
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