The church of Santa Chiara was built at the same time as the Lanfranchi Seminary between 1668 and 1672, on the initiative of the Bishop of Matera Antonio del Ryos Culminarez; the church was part of the ‘new houses’ district built to house those who worked in the Seminary. Its construction and that of the adjacent area date back to the phase immediately following the appointment of Matera as the seat of the Royal Audience of Basilicata: in this period political and commercial activities began to move, focusing on the Plan.
The façade has several ornamental and artistic elements. The wooden main door is of eighteenth-century workmanship and is richly decorated, around it the decorations of the portal on whose sides two columns develop; at the top there is the coat of arms of the Bishop of Ryos.
The overhanging central niche houses a statue representing the Madonna del Carmine, while in the two lateral ones we find St. Clare on the right and St. Francis on the left. On the top of the semicircular window there is another niche inside which there is a representation of God blessing.
Inside there is a single nave with a barrel roof that ends in a pointed arch. Behind the high altar there is a wooden riser which is one of the most interesting elements of the church. There are also other altars adorned with paintings and statues of undoubted artistic value.
