Church of the Holy Trinity

More and more pilgrims are descending on Fatima - the number today stands at 4/5 million a year. This has called for a large new place of worship to be built. The competition held in the late-Nineties was won by Alexandros Tombazis and the Church of the Holy Trinity was inaugurated in 2007.
The project set out not to dominate the site, monumental though it was bound to be, but preserve the central square as a feature. The new round edifice stands on a levelled extension of the forecourt to the existing basilica. It is 125 m in diameter, supported by two huge horizontal beams on which rests the roof. The lack of a main façade avoids any new polarity being set up. The two great beams jut out to frame the central avenue and thus emphasize the route that processions take from the new church door to the historic sanctuary.
Mapei supplied the site with paving and wall-tiling materials, floor grouts and seals, flagstones and steps both indoors and out, made of Vidraço de Ataíja and Branco do Mar, local limestones. They also prepared the substrate and laid the terracotta and gold mosaic of the wall behind the altar. Assistenza Tecnica Mapei had previously analyzed the materials at its R&D Lab in Milan. This phase tested their size- performance and compatibility with the adhesive, grouts and seals to be used at the application stage.

MAPEI
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I - 20158 Milano
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