Chiesa di Santa Maria 'e Contra

The church of Santa Maria 'e Contra is a country church located in the territory of Cargeghe, a town in northwestern Sardinia. Consecrated to Catholic worship, it is part of the parish of Saints Quirico and Giulitta, archdiocese of Sassari. The church was included in the curatoria of Ploaghe and was a dependency of the basilica of Saccargia; the title "Sancte Mariae in Contra" is mentioned among the Sardinian possessions of San Salvatore di Camaldoli from 1125. It is considered the smallest Romanesque church in Sardinia.

The building has a single-nave layout with an oriented apse. The construction falls within the building canons of the Romanesque style: in particular, one can assume an influence of the workers active in the nearby curatoria of Ploaghe and Goceano around the second half of the 12th century.

The fabrication is in medium-sized limestone cantons. In the eastern elevation, surmounting the entrance, is a small cruciform window; a similar one is also found on the eastern side of the nave, immediately above the apse. On each side and in the apse are double splayed single lancet windows with ogival ribs. The facade is surmounted by a bell gable, and the portal is made with monolithic block jambs and a raised archway of one ashlar. Note the presence of two corbels supporting what must have been a wooden canopy or porch above the same portal.