Mother Church in Chiusa Sclafani
The Mother Church of Chiusa Sclafani, dedicated to San Nicola di Bari, also known as the Santuario della Madonna delle Lacrime, is the main building of worship in the village. With its imposing size it seems to dominate the houses of the town centre.
The first news regarding the church dates back to 1350: it is known that the original structure was not very large but was important for its Gothic style. During the 18th century a landslide destroyed the ancient building which was rebuilt starting from 1772. The church was opened for worship in 1816, although over the centuries it has undergone subsequent enrichments of the original project.
The façade looks like in neoclassical style.
The interior, in the shape of a Latin cross, is divided into three naves and is dominated by an elegant dome located at the intersection between the transept and the central nave. The vaults of the side naves and the chapels are enriched with polychrome stuccoes by Bernardo Sesta da Serradifalco, dating back to the late nineteenth century.
The works kept inside the church are of particular artistic and historical value: a very valuable triptych consisting of three paintings belonging to the seventeenth century and depicting the Annunciation, the Adoration of the Magi and the Transfiguration; a painting dating back to 1617 located in the crypt portraying the Holy Face, one of the very few copies of the effigy kept in St. Peter's in Rome, donated to the Church by Gregory XV; a valuable marble statue attributable to the Gaginesque school and portraying the Madonna and Child located in an area adjacent to the building accessible from the left transept.
Inside the Sanctuary there is also an oil on glass depicting the Holy Family to which it is attributed the miracle of tearing.
