Udine Ossuary Temple

The Temple Shrine of San Nicolò, better known as the Udine Ossuary Temple, stands on the central Rotonda XXVI Luglio at the end of Viale Venezia.

It is divided into the parish church of San Nicolò, for which the building had originally been planned, and the underground ossuary.

Conceived by the parish priest Don Clemente Arturo Cossettini and designed by the architects Alessandro Limongelli and Provino Valle, the temple was built in several stages between 1925 and 1940. It contains the remains of more than 20,000 Italian soldiers who fell in the First World War, brought from war cemeteries scattered across the Prealps, part of Carnia, the Canal del Ferro, the Friulian plain, the Friulian hills and the area west of the Tagliamento. It also houses 344 casualties from the Second World War, received in later periods. The identified dead are arranged in loculi along the walls of the vast underground crypt, while two large mass graves contain the remains of more than 5,600 unknown soldiers, remembered by the inscription “Et nomen una cum sanguine pro Patria dedimus” (“For the Fatherland we offered, together with our blood, even our name”).

The temple is majestic and its imposing dome makes it visible even from afar. The Romanesque-inspired façade is enriched by four statues depicting the Alpino, the Infantryman, the Airman and the Sailor. Inside, visitors can admire the 14 stations of the Via Crucis by Giannino Castiglioni—the celebrated sculptor who also worked on the shrines of Redipuglia, Caporetto, Timau and Monte Grappa—placed in front of the burials in the side chapels.