La Cattedrale di Tripoli
The fine art of Romanesque architecture
The Tripoli Cathedral was built circa 1923 and officially opened in 1928, during the Italian Libya colonial era. The original architect was Saffo Panteri, who designed the Cathedral in a Romanesque style with a cupola (dome) reaching the height of 46 meters in total. The belltower (campanile) was decorated with Venetian style engravings.
The Tripoli Cathedral was the second commissioned Catholic Church in the city, with the first commissioned Santa Maria degli Angeli, constructed by the Maltese community in 1870.
There were around 50,000 Catholics in Libya (mostly in Tripoli and surroundings), most of the Catholic population was composed of the remaining Italian Libyans, Maltese Libyans, Filipinos and other Catholic migrants.
