Church and Convent of Santa Chiara: Overall view of facade with flying buttress

In 1255, Pope Alexander IV canonised St Clare. He granted plenary indulgences to those visiting her tomb on her feast day, a move that probably provided much of the initial funding for the proposed new church of Santa Chiara. The construction of the new church began beside San Giorgio in ca. 1257 (when the old hospice was demolished), although the final terms of the transfer of the site were not agreed until 1259. In 1260, the Bishops of Perugia, Spoleto and Assisi translated the relics of St Clare from San Giorgio to a burial vault under the high altar of the new church. Pope Clement V consecrated this church in 1265. The flying buttresses (visible along the left side but hidden within the convent on the right) were added in 1351 to support the vault. The campanile to the right of the polygonal apse is the tallest in Assisi; its current conical spire was built in 1926.