Ex chiesa di Santa Croce (UK)

Period: It is an ancient church which belonged to the Augustinians. Consecrated in 1344, it was erected to venerate, as a reliquary, a fragment of the Cross of Jesus

Present Use: Since 1994 it has been converted into a shopping centre

Façade: The present façade, in exposed brick-work, was designed in 1748 by the Casalese architect Francesco Ottavio Magnocavalli. It is marked by four enormous grooved columns placed on high plinths that sustain a trabeation of the Doric order. The Church was an integral part of the former Convent of the Holy Cross, property of the Augustinian fathers

The Interior: Although stripped and desecrated during the French occupation of Piedmont at the beginning of the 1800s, the polygonal apse with its cross vaults and rib supports can still be admired today