Chiesa di Santa Croce
Chiesa di Santa Croce
Names are treasure chests of memory that reveal the stories that generated them and offer, to those who question them, the precious opportunity to feel part of them. It happens in Uri, questioning the word 'paùlis' associated with the name of Our Lady, to whom this church is dedicated. The Sardinian term 'paùlis', derived from the Latin 'paludis', which was the original place name, still designates many Sardinian settlements, a legacy of a long period in which much of the island's territory was marshy and unhealthy. The Abbey of Our Lady of Paulis was created in 1205, following a donation by the King of Torres Còmita II to the Cistercian Benedictines, and remained in activity as a monastic community until the 15th century. Nostra Signora di Paulis was built along the route of a Roman road later called 'S'Istradas de sos Padres', since it connected this abbey to the abbey, also Cistercian, of Santa Maria di Corte in the territory of Sindia. The limestone structure shows clear traits that can be traced back to the work of the Cistercian masters operating in Sardinia between the 12th and 13th centuries. Of the original complex, subject to progressive deterioration and restored several times, the remains, now reduced to ruins, of the cloister and some rooms of the convent adjacent to the abbey, visible around the main building, are preserved.
The plan of the church was in the shape of a commissa cross, divided by aisles marked by arcades on pillars and a slightly protruding transept on which the square-plan apse and two chapels, one on each side, were inserted. The rooms had a barrel-vaulted roof. In the east-facing aside, a Latin cross window opened on the south side, while on the east side of the choir there was, as a reminder of the Trinity, a double lancet window surmounted by a single lancet window in which a Greek cross tile was placed.