Giacobbe Giusti, Oplontis, ancient Roman archaeological site: Villa Poppaea

Giacobbe Giusti, Oplontis, ancient Roman archaeological site: Villa Poppaea

 

Oplontis Caldarium room

 

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Oplontis, ancient Roman archaeological site: Villa Poppaea

Oplontis Peristyl room

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Oplontis, ancient Roman archaeological site: Villa Poppaea

Oplontis Oecus

Giacobbe Giusti, Oplontis, ancient Roman archaeological site: Villa Poppaea

Pompeii Fresco

Giacobbe Giusti, Oplontis, ancient Roman archaeological site: Villa Poppaea

 

Oplontis

Location	Torre Annunziata, Province of Naples, Campania, Italy
Coordinates	40.757192°N 14.45258°ECoordinates: 40.757192°N 14.45258°E
Site notes
Management	Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei
Website	Oplontis (in Italian)
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Archaeological Areas of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Torre Annunziata
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iii, iv, v
Designated	1997 (21st session)
Reference no.	829
Region   Giacobbe Giusti, Oplontis, ancient Roman archaeological site: Villa Poppaea	Europe and North America

Oplontis and other cities affected by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. The black cloud represents the general distribution of ash and cinder. Modern coast lines are shown.

Oplontis is an ancient Roman archaeological site located in the middle of the city of Torre Annunziata, which is south of Naples in the Campania region of southern Italy.^[1].The name « Oplontis » most likely referred originally to the baths in the area of Campo Oncino. The site comprises two Roman villas, the best-known of which is the so-called Villa Poppaea. Like the nearby towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum, Oplontis was buried in ash and lava during the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79.,^[2]

The first villa, referred to by archaeologists as Villa A, was rediscovered in 1590 during the construction of a canal, but no attempt was made to explore the ruins. In 1839-40, archaeological excavations were begun, but ceased due to lack of funds. It was only in 1964-84 that a full-scale excavation was performed that revealed about 60% of the villa, including a large swimming pool and private baths. The parts of the villa lying under modern structures remain unexcavated.

A pottery sherd bearing the name of freedman of Poppaea Sabina, the second wife of Nero was found at the site, which suggests the villa may have been the Empress’ residence when she was away from Rome. Badly damaged in the earthquake of A.D. 62, Villa A was probably uninhabited and in the process of being rebuilt (a number of tools were found on the site) at the time of the A.D. 79 eruption.

Villa A is famous for its Second- and Third-Style wall paintings. The former are found in the oldest part of the building, which date from c. 50 B.C., while the latter were created when the villa was rebuilt after the earthquake.

A second villa, Villa B, the Villa of L. Crassius Tertius, was discovered in 1974, 300 metres east of the Villa Poppaea,^[3] during the construction of a school. A bronze seal bearing Crassius’ name was found at the site. Villa B is much smaller than Villa A, and lacks the latter’s lavish decoration.

A large number of artifacts from Oplontis are preserved in the Naples National Archaeological Museum.

• Herculaneum
• Pompeii
• Stabiae

References

1. ^ « Oplontis – AD79eruption ». sites.google.com.
2. ^ « Oplontis ». Retrieved 23 May 2017.
3. ^ « Villa B ». Retrieved 23 May 2017.

Scavi archeologici di Oplonti Giacobbe Giusti, Oplontis, ancient Roman archaeological site: Villa Poppaea
Il calidarium della Villa di Poppea.
Localizzazione
Stato	Italia
Comune	Torre Annunziata
Scavi
Data scoperta	XVIII secolo
Date scavi	1839
Archeologo	Francesco La Vega
Amministrazione
Ente	Soprintendenza Pompei
Responsabile	Teresa Elena Cinquantaquattro
Visitabile	Sì
Sito web	www.pompeiisites.org
Modifica dati su Wikidata · Manuale

Bene protetto dall’UNESCO
Patrimonio dell’umanità
Aree archeologiche di Pompei, Ercolano e Torre Annunziata (EN) Archaeological Areas of Pompei, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata Giacobbe Giusti, Oplontis, ancient Roman archaeological site: Villa Poppaea
Tipo	Culturale
Criterio	(III)(IV)(V)
Pericolo	Non in pericolo
Riconosciuto dal	1997
Scheda UNESCO	(EN) Scheda (FR) Scheda
Manuale

Per scavi archeologici di Oplonti si intende una serie di ritrovamenti archeologici appartenenti alla zona suburbana pompeiana di Oplontis, seppellita insieme a Pompei, Ercolanoe Stabiae dopo l’eruzione del Vesuviodel 79 d.C.: oggi l’area archeologica è situata nel centro della moderna città di Torre Annunziata e comprende una villa d’otium chiamata « di Poppea » e una villa rustica detta « B o di Lucius Crassius Tertius ».

Le prime campagne di scavi nell’area oplontina furono effettuate prima nel ‘700 e poi durante la seconda metà del XIX secolo, anche se i primi scavi sistematici si sono svolti dal 1964riportando alla luce la Villa di Poppea. Nel 1974 è stata rinvenuta la Villa di Lucius Crassius Tertius: ad oggi le esplorazioni delle due strutture non sono ancora terminate.

Dal 1997 l’area archeologica di Torre Annunziata, insieme a quella di Pompei e Ercolano è stata inserita nella lista dei patrimoni dell’umanitàdell’UNESCO. Nel 2016 gli scavi hanno fatto registrare 54 403 visitatori^[1].

Storia

Giacobbe Giusti, Oplontis, ancient Roman archaeological site: Villa Poppaea

Il peristilio

I primi scavi per il recupero dell’area dove sorgeva l’antica Oplontis, un insediamento suburbano della vicina Pompei, con diverse attività commerciali e ville d’otium, seppellita durante l’eruzione del Vesuvio del 79, furono condotti per la prima volta durante il ‘700 da Francesco La Vega, il quale scavando un cunicolo nei pressi del canale Conte di Sarno riportò alla luce parte di una costruzione che venne denominata Villa A, in seguito Villa di Poppea: gli scavi vennero ben presto abbandonati per l’aria malsana che si respirava nella zona. Nel 1839 vennero effettuati altri scavi che riportarono alla luce il peristilio del quartiere servile della Villa A, oltre ad una fontana: per mancanza di fondi l’opera di scavo venne sospesa nel 1840 anche se, riconosciuta l’importanza del sito, i resti rinvenuti vennero acquistati dallo Stato.

Una campagna di scavi ordinata venne nuovamente iniziata nel 1964, sempre nel sito della Villa di Poppea, dove furono alzate le mura e i tetti e furono restaurati pavimenti e mosaici. Durante i lavori per lo scavo delle fondamenta di una scuola, nel 1974, a circa 250 metri dalla Villa venne alla luce un nuovo edificio su due livelli con un peristilio centrale: si tratta di una villa rustica a cui fu dato il nome di villa di Lucio Crasso Tertius o Villa B. Nei pressi di questa villa fu inoltre ritrovato un tratto di strada e diverse altre piccole costruzioni.

Nel 1997 gli scavi sono stati dichiarati patrimonio dell’umanità dall’UNESCO.

Villa di Poppea

Storia

Giacobbe Giusti, Oplontis, ancient Roman archaeological site: Villa Poppaea

Affresco con maschera teatrale e pavone

La villa di Poppea, in un primo momento denominata « villa A », è stata scavata per la prima volta nel ‘700 con alterne fortune, mentre un recupero più ampio e sistematico si è avuto solo a partire dal 1968: si tratta di una villa d’otium dove comunque non mancavano sale dedicate alla produzione del vino e dell’olio. La villa, risalente al I secolo a.C. ed ampliata nel corso dell’età claudia, viene attribuita a Poppea Sabina per l’iscrizione dipinta su un’anfora, indirizzata ad un liberto della moglie di Nerone; al momento dell’eruzione del Vesuvio la villa era disabitata, forse in fase di restauro a causa del terremoto di Pompei del 62 e tutti gli oggetti sono stati ritrovati accantonati in alcune stanze. Ad oggi la costruzione non è ancora interamente scavata: l’area riportata alla luce corrisponde alla zona orientale, mentre l’ingresso principale e la zona occidentale sono ancora da recuperare ostacolati anche dalla presenza di una strada moderna ed un edificio militare.

Struttura

La pianta della villa è molto complessa e ancora oggi non ancora redatta con certezza in quanto non esplorata totalmente e viene convenzionalmente divisa in quattro parti: una zona nord, sud, ovest e est. Nella parte nord è presente un ampio giardino nel quale sono state rinvenute diverse sculture in marmo ed è stato possibile ricostruire i calchi delle radici di grandi alberi, ossia degli ulivi, anche se fino a poco tempo fa si credeva potessero essere o dei melograni o degli oleandri. Nella zona sud invece si trova un altro giardino circondato da un colonnato sui tre lati: sono stati oggi piantati alberi di alloro, che si pensa fossero anche presenti al momento dell’eruzione.

Giacobbe Giusti, Oplontis, ancient Roman archaeological site: Villa Poppaea

Affresco di un cestino di frutta

Nella parte ovest è presente l’atrio con un compluvium che raccoglieva l’acqua piovana nell’impluvium: le decorazioni della sala sono in secondo stile ed è molto utilizzata la tecnica del trompe l’oeil per raffigurare ambientazioni architettoniche e colonnati. La cucina presenta un banco in muratura con un ripiano sovrastante adibito a piano cottura, mentre nella parte sottostante piccoli vani con forma a semicerchio probabilmente contenevano legna da ardere; una vasca era probabilmente utilizzata per lo scarico di liquidi. Il triclinium, nella zona in cui si trovava probabilmente la mensa, è adornato con un mosaico con figure romboidali mentre nel resto della sala si riscontrano affreschi in secondo stile raffiguranti colonne dorate decorate con rampicanti: tra le decorazioni, una graziosa natura morta rappresentante un cestino con fichi. Seguono due saloni: uno aperto verso il mare con un’unica parete affrescata con rappresentazioni di un santuario di Apollo, pavoni e maschere teatrali, mentre nel secondo salone, più grande, sono rappresentati un cestino di frutta coperto da un velo semitrasparente, una coppa di vetro contenente melograni, una torta poggiata su un supporto e una maschera teatrale. La villa era dotata anche di un quartiere termale: il calidarium ha pareti affrescate in terzo stile, dove l’opera principale è il mito di Ercole nel giardino dell’Esperidi; gli affreschi del tepidarium sono a fondo nero o rosso scuro, secondo quanto indicato dal quarto stile pompeiano. Nella zona ovest è inoltre presente un cubicolo dove è stato possibile ottenere i calchi della porta in legno e della finestra ed un piccolo peristilio le cui pareti sono decorate con fasce grigie e nere e dove è presente il larario decorato in quarto stile e con la trave di sostegno originale posta sopra la nicchia seppur carbonizzata.

Nella parte est della villa sono presenti due sale poste in modo speculare una all’altra: nella prima non ci sono dipinti ma solo una zoccolatura in marmo ed una pavimentazione incompleta con alcune piastrelle in marmo, segno che la villa era in ristrutturazione; la seconda sala presenta decorazioni in quarto stile. Segue una sala priva di affreschi con le pareti in bianco, rosso, giallo e nero riservata agli ospiti, un piccolo viridario con decorazioni in secondo stile raffiguranti piante, fontane ed uccelli e due saloni speculari: il primo che presenta una nicchia semicircolare nella quale era alloggiata una scultura mentre il secondo è identico al precedente con la presenza di marmi alle pareti. Nella villa è infine presente una grande piscina di 61 metri di lunghezza e 17 di larghezza, pavimentata in cocciopesto e risultava adornata ai bordi con statue di marmo, copie di epoca romana di originali greci: attorno sorgeva un prato con platani, oleandri e limoni.

Villa di Lucius Crassius Tertius

Giacobbe Giusti, Oplontis, ancient Roman archaeological site: Villa Poppaea

Uccello che mangia i fichi

La villa di Lucius Crassius Tertius risale al II secolo a.C. e deve il suo nome ad un sigillo in bronzo rinvenuto nell’area della costruzione, che reca proprio questo nome: scoperta nel 1974 a seguito dei lavori di costruzione di una scuola, si ritiene che sia una villa rustica, sia per il tipo di struttura che per i reperti ritrovati^[2]. Lo scavo della villa non è ancora terminato e non è visitabile.

La villa si sviluppa intorno ad un peristiliocostituito da un porticato con due ordini di colonne doriche in tufo grigio: intorno al peristilio si aprono delle stanze adibite a magazzini, dove al loro interno sono state ritrovate suppellettili, pelli, ceramica, paglia carbonizzata ed una grande quantità di melograni utilizzati per la concia delle pelli^[2]. Inoltre è stato rinvenuto anche un fornello in pietra con una pentola contenente resine di conifere, utilizzata per la manutenzione delle anfore: infatti circa 400 anfore si trovavano nella villa al momento dello scavo e con molto probabilità venivano utilizzate per la lavorazione dei prodotti agricoli e il trasporto del vino. La villa era abitata al momento dell’eruzione; infatti nelle stanze adiacenti, caratterizzate da soffitto a volta, sono stati trovati i corpi di 54 individui e nelle loro vicinanze anche gioielli e monete, sia in oro che in argento.

Il piano superiore della villa invece era invece la zona residenziale della domus: gli ambienti sono decorati sia in IV stile pompeiano sia in II stile con la tecnica schematizzata, risalente all’età repubblicana. Dal piano superiore proviene anche una scatoletta in legno contenente gioielli in oro ed argento, 170 monete, unguentari, stecche in osso e diversi monili^[2]: tra i gioielli si riconoscono orecchini di tipo a spicchio di sfera, a canestro con quarzi incastonati oppure pendenti con perle, collane molto lunghe con grani in oro e smeraldo, bracciali di tipo tubolare decorati con gemme e smeraldi ed anelli con gemme lisce o incise con figure di animali o divinità.

A nord della villa sono presenti alcuni edifici a due piani: si tratta probabilmente di soluzioni indipendenti dalla villa, che si affacciano direttamente sulla strada. Con molta probabilità queste costruzioni venivano usate come botteghe con abitazione al piano superiore^[2].

Villa di Caio Siculi

Imponente villa, scoperta durante lo scavo della trincea per la costruzione della strada ferrata in prosecuzione da Portici verso Torre Annunziata, è quella di Caio Siculi. Fu riseppellita e troncata in due per detta strada ferrata e i reperti rinvenuti furono trasportati al Museo archeologico nazionale di Napoli. Noto l’affresco raffigurante il mito di Narciso ed Eco con lo sfondo del monte Parnaso.

Terme

Le Terme del console Marco Crasso Frugi risalgono al 64 d.C. ed i ruderi sono visibili lungo la via litoranea Marconi e all’interno delle attuali Terme Vesuviane, complesso termale fondato dal generale Vito Nunziante nel 1831 sul luogo delle antiche terme.

Note

1. ^ Dati dei visitatori nei siti vesuviani per l’anno 2016, su pompeiisites.org. URL consultato il 17 gennaio 2017.
2. ^ ^{Salta a:a b c d} Descrizione della Villa di Lucio Crasso Tertius, su pompeiisites.org. URL consultato il 29 ottobre 2009.

Bibliografia

• Lorenzo Fergola e Mario Pagano, Oplontis – Le splendide ville romane di Torre Annunziata, Reggio Emilia, T&M 1998. ISBN 88-87150-02-8

Voci correlate

• Oplontis
• Torre Annunziata

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scavi_archeologici_di_Oplonti

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Padula Charterhouse

Giacobbe Giusti, Padula Charterhouse

Scalone della certosa di Padula.

Giacobbe Giusti, Padula Charterhouse

La cuisine de la Certosa di San Lorenzo (Padula).

Giacobbe Giusti, Padula Charterhouse

Le jardin du prieur de la Certosa di San Lorenzo (Padula).

Giacobbe Giusti, Padula Charterhouse

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Padula Charterhouse

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Padula Charterhouse

Patio et clocher dans la Certosa di San Lorenzo (Padula).

Giacobbe Giusti, Padula Charterhouse

Scalone della Certosa di Padula – Italy.

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Padula Charterhouse
Type	Monastery
Location	Padula, Campania, Italy
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name: Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park with the Archaeological sites of Paestum and Velia, and the Certosa di Padula
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iii, iv
Designated	1998 (22nd session)
Reference no.	842
Region	Europe and North America

Padula Charterhouse, in Italian Certosa di Padula(or Certosa di San Lorenzo di Padula), is a large Carthusianmonastery, or charterhouse, located in the town of Padula, in the Cilento National Park(near Salerno) in Southern Italy. It is a World Heritage site.

The monastery is the largest in Italy. Its building history covers 450 years, but the principal parts of the buildings are in Baroque style. It is a very large monastery, comprising 51,500 m² (12.7 acres), with 320 rooms and halls.

History

Padula Charterhouse was founded by Tommaso di San Severino on 27 April 1306 on the site of an earlier monastery. It is dedicated to Saint Lawrence, and its architectural structure supposedly recalls the griddle-iron upon which the saint was burnt alive.

Facade of the monastery

The monastery has the biggest cloister in the world, covering 12,000 m² (2.97 acres) and surrounded by 84 columns. A famous spiral staircase of white marbleinside an annex leads to the large library.

According to the strict Carthusian distinction between contemplation and work, there are two distinct places for these practices: on the one hand the peaceful cloisters, the library with its fine Vietri ceramic tiled floor, the chapels decorated with fine inlaid marble works. The altar frontals in most of the chapels are inlaid, not with marble, but with some of the most spectacular 18th. century scagliola work ever created. This is the highest concentration of such work in one place. One of the centres of production was in Naples. the cloister orchards; and on the other hand the large kitchen,^[1] the cellars with their enormous wine vats, the laundries, and the huge external yards, where there were people working in the stables, ovens, stores, and at the olive oil mill. The yards were used for productive activities and for trade between the charterhouse and the external world.

The monastery also houses the archaeological museum of Western Lucania, which preserves a collection of all the finds unearthed in the excavations at the necropolis of Sala Consilina and Padula. This museum represents a period of time ranging from protohistory to the Hellenistic Age.

The building has also played a role in the military history of Italy. It served as French headquarters during the Napoleonic Wars, then as a base of Garibaldi‘s Southern Army during the Risorgimento, finally, as an internment camp for prisoners during the World War 1 and World War 2. It was here that the Czechoslovak Legion in Italy was established in 1917.

References

1. Jump up^ More info on the legendary thousand egg omelette cooked forCharles V

• Villaprato

hide v t e World Heritage Sites in Italy
Northwest	Crespi d’Adda Genoa Ivrea Mantua and Sabbioneta Monte San Giorgio1 Porto Venere, Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto, Cinque Terre Corniglia Manarola Monterosso al Mare Riomaggiore Vernazza Residences of the Royal House of Savoy Castle of Moncalieri Castle of Racconigi Castle of Rivoli Castello del Valentino Royal Palace of Turin Palazzo Carignano Palazzo Madama, Turin Palace of Venaria Palazzina di caccia of Stupinigi Villa della Regina Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes1 Rock Drawings in Valcamonica Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe–Roero and Monferrato
Northeast	Aquileia The Dolomites Ferrara Modena Cathedral, Torre della Ghirlandina and Piazza Grande, Modena Orto botanico di Padova Ravenna Venice Verona City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto
Central	Assisi Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tarquinia Florence Hadrian’s Villa Medici villas Piazza del Duomo, Pisa Pienza Rome2 San Gimignano Siena Urbino Val d’Orcia Villa d’Este
South	Alberobello Amalfi Coast Castel del Monte, Apulia Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park, Paestum and Velia, Certosa di Padula Herculaneum Oplontis and Villa Poppaea Naples Palace of Caserta, Aqueduct of Vanvitelli and San Leucio Complex Pompeii Sassi di Matera
Islands	Aeolian Islands Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale Archaeological Area of Agrigento Barumini nuraghes Mount Etna Syracuse and Necropolis of Pantalica Val di Noto Caltagirone Catania Militello in Val di Catania Modica Noto Palazzolo Acreide Ragusa Scicli Villa Romana del Casale
Countrywide	Longobards in Italy, Places of Power (568–774 A.D.) Brescia Cividale del Friuli Castelseprio Spoleto Temple of Clitumnus located atCampello sul Clitunno Santa Sofia located at Benevento Sanctuary of Monte Sant’Angelo located at Monte Sant’Angelo Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps3 Primeval Beech Forests of Europe4 Venetian Works of Defence between 15th and 17th centuries5 Bergamo Palmanova Peschiera del Garda

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certosa_di_Padula

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilique Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs, Rome

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilique Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs, Rome

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilique Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs, Rome

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilique Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs, Rome

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilique Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs, Rome

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilique Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs, Rome

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilique Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs, Rome

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilique Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs, Rome

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilique Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs, Rome

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilique Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs, Rome

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilique Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs, Rome

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilique Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs, Rome

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilique Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs, Rome

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilique Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs, Rome

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilique Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs, Rome
Façade de la basilique
Présentation
Nom local	Basilica di San Paolo Fuori le Mura
Culte	Catholicisme
Type	Basilique majeure
Début de la construction	ive siècle
Fin des travaux	xixe siècle
Style dominant	Architecture néoclassique
Protection	Patrimoine mondial (1980)
Site web	http://www.vatican.va/various/basiliche/san_paolo/index_it.html [archive]
Géographie
Pays	Italie
Région	Latium
Ville	Rome
Géolocalisation sur la carte : Rome (Voir situation sur carte : Italie)

La basilique Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs est une des quatre basiliques majeures de Rome, les trois autres étant les basiliques Saint-Jean-de-Latran, Sainte-Marie-Majeure et Saint-Pierre.

Historique

Selon la tradition chrétienne, Paulest décapité dans un vallon désert appelé les Eaux salviennes sur le site actuel de l’abbaye de Tre Fontane. Son corps est réclamé par une femme appelée Lucina, une matrone romaine appartenant à la communauté chrétienne et qui possédait un domaine agricole le long de la Via Ostiense, en dehors du Mur d’Aurélien (d’où le qualificatif « hors-les-Murs » associé au nom de l’édifice), au niveau de la Porta Ostiensis (ou « Porte Saint-Paul »), propriété adjacente à une nécropole¹. Lucina l’enterre dans la tombe familiale près d’un vignoble sur les rives du Tibre. Sa tombe étant celle d’un citoyen romain, elle n’a pas à être cachée et devient rapidement un lieu de vénération des chrétiens, si bien que le pape Anaclet y fait construire un oratoirefunèbre (édicule appelé Cella Memoriae ou tropaeum), comme sur la tombe de Saint Pierre².

La basilique paléochrétienne et médiévale

Dès l’officialisation du Christianisme avec l’édit de Milan en 313, Constantin crée une basilique sur la nécropole contenant la tombe de Saint Paul, à environ 2 km de la muraille aurélienne qui ceinturait Rome et place le corps du saint dans un sarcophage de bronze sous le maître-autel. Ce premier édifice, occidenté, est consacré le 18 novembre 324 par le pape Sylvestre.

En 383, Valentinien II, devant l’afflux de pèlerins, décide de raser la basilique et d’en construire une nouvelle, comme en témoigne une lettre adressée par l’empereur au préfet de la ville de Rome, Sallustius, qui était chargé de l’étude des travaux. La construction de cet édifice est poursuivie à partir de 386 sous le règne de Théodose I^er et est achevée sous Honorius en 395. La basilique nouvelle, orientée cette fois, et beaucoup plus vaste, est construit par Cirade, dit « Professeur Mechanicus » qui projette le plan à cinq nefs et le portique à quatre arcades. L’édifice est consacré par le pape Sirice en 391 et est désigné à cette époque comme la « basilique des trois Empereurs »³.

Galla Placidia, fille de Théodose, et demi-soeur d’Honorius, fait ajouter la mosaïque de l’arc triomphal, datée de 440, qui sera refaite entre les VIII^e et ix^e siècles⁴.

Léon le Grand entreprend de représenter tous les Papes de l’histoire dans une série de médaillons peints dans la nef centrale. Après l’incendie de 1823, le pape Pie IX reprend le même principe en 1847 avec des médaillons en mosaïque sur fond d’or.

Le pape Grégoire II y établit de façon stable la communauté et l’abbaye bénédictine. Chargée de garder la dépouille mortelle du saint et de l’honorer, cette communauté perdure jusqu’à aujourd’hui.

La basilique est saccagée par les Lombards, en 739, et par les Sarrasins en 846. Pour défendre le lieu saint, Jean VIII ordonne la construction d’un fortin, autour duquel se forma un bourg appelé Giovannipoli (« ville de Jean »), dont il ne reste aujourd’hui plus aucune trace.

Le pape Grégoire le Grand fait rétablir la communauté monastique de Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs et restaure la basilique, élevant notamment un campanile (détruit au xix^e siècle).

La basilique subit un incendie en 1115, un séisme en 1349 et une inondation en 1700⁵.

La basilique après l’incendie

Vue intérieure de la basilique après son incendie.

Sous le pontificat de Pie VII, dans la nuit du 15 au 16 juillet 1823, un incendie détruisit la majeure partie de l’édifice, mais l’abside, le transept et le cloître ne furent pas endommagés. Léon XII s’occupa de la reconstruction de l’édifice qui débuta en 1825. Il fut choisi de garder le plan paléochrétien et de construire un nouveau bâtiment.

Le projet de Giuseppe Valadier fut retenu par le Saint-Siège. Mais la Commission pour la reconstruction confia les travaux à Pasquale Belli (it). À sa mort Luigi Poletti lui succéda à la tête des travaux achevés en 1831. Le 5 octobre 1840, le pape Grégoire XVIconsacra la nef transversale et y célébra la première messe, à l’autel pontifical. Pie IX consacra l’église entière le 10 décembre 1854⁶.

Le résultat final, bien qu’ayant gardé la typologie basilicalepaléochrétienne, et respectant très bien le plan et l’élévation d’origine, n’en est pas moins assez différent, au niveau des détails et du décor, de l’édifice de Théodose.

On supprima toutes les irrégularités (colonnes torsadées, décors sous les arcades…). On remplaça le pavement de marbre uniforme par un pavement géométrique. On plaça un plafond à caissons sur la nef centrale, masquant la charpente. On boucha la moitié des fenêtres de la nef centrale pour ajouter 36 fresques représentant des épisodes de la vie de saint Paul et au-dessous, une frise sur laquelle sont peints les portraits de tous les papes de Pierre au plus récent, actuellement François, le tout étant mis à jour après chaque nouvelle élection pontificale. Une superstition populaire s’inspirant de la Prophétie de saint Malachie⁷ affirme qu’une fois tous les médaillons de la frise remplis le temps de l’Église prendra fin, mais de nouveaux médaillons ont été ajoutés avant que tous ne soient utilisés.

La mosaïque de la façade, du xi^e siècle, fut remplacée par une nouvelle, loin des canons esthétiques paléochrétiens. Des restes de la première mosaïque sont visibles derrière l’arc de triomphe.

À la suite du jubilé de l’an 2000 et de la demande croissante des pèlerins, l’archevêque Francesco Gioia (it), administrateur pontifical de la basilique, lance des fouilles menées par l’archéologue Giorgio Filippi afin de vérifier la présence du tombeau de l’apôtre. En 2002 est identifié à 1,37 m sous l’autel papal un sarcophage qui pourrait contenir les reliques de l’apôtre Paul⁸. Le sarcophage porte sur le côté une inscription sur une plaque tombale de marbre d’époque constantinienne. Cette plaque munie d’orifices⁹ a comme mention épigraphique « PAULO APOSTOLO MART » (l’inscription complète étant « Paulo Apostolo martyri »)¹⁰.

La basilique actuelle est ainsi un édifice d’aspect plutôt néo-classique, style qui cherche ses références dans le Haut-Empire Romain, témoin du gout du xix^e siècle, et non plus vraiment l’ancien édifice paléochrétien issu de l’art des derniers temps de l’Empire Romain.

Architecture

Intérieur de la basilique

L’entrée est entourée d’un quadriportique réalisé par Guglielmo Calderini (it) en 1928 avec au milieu de l’atrium une statue colossale de Saint-Paul et ses attributs (l’épée, instrument de son martyre et livre) réalisée par le sculpteur Giuseppe Obici (1807-1878). Le pronaos de la façade compte dix colonnes monolithiques de granit rose de Baveno, une double rangée de colonnes sur les côtés, et une triple rangée du côté du Tibre, le portique de 70 mètres de longueur étant composé de 146 colonnes.

Le fronton de la façade est décoré de mosaïques exécutées entre 1854 et 1874 (cartons de Filippo Agricolaet Nicola Consoni) représentant : « au registre inférieur, Isaïe, Jérémie, Ezéchiel et Daniel ; au milieu, l’Agneau mystique entouré de quatre fleuves symbolisant les quatre Évangiles, et de douze agneaux représentant les douze apôtres. Au registre supérieur, le Christ entre Pierre et Paul ». La porte centrale monumentale en bronze représente des périodes de la vie de Pierre et de Paul¹¹.

L’intérieur de la basilique latine, gigantesque, mesure 131,66 mètres de long, 65 mètres de large, 29,70 mètres de haut avec 80 colonnes monumentales monolithiques en granit de Montofarno. La nef est divisée en cinq vaisseaux : le vaisseau central et deux doubles bas-côtés. Un large transept sépare le nef de l’abside. Le sol et les murs sont ornés de motifs géométriques en marbre polychrome tandis que le plafond à caissons est décoré de stuc doré.

• 

  Dans la nef, vue vers l’entrée.

• 

  Le transept et l’abside. Cette partie de l’édifice est d’origine.

• 

  Dans la nef, vue vers l’abside.

• 

  Dans l’un des bas-côtés.

• 

  Portique d’entrée

• 

  Le quadriportique et ses colonnes

Dans les médaillons représentant les papes et qui entourent la nef principale, celui du pape actuel est éclairé en permanence. Selon la légende, la fin du monde adviendra lorsqu’il n’y aura plus de place pour un nouveau portrait¹².

Candélabre du cierge pascal.

La mosaïque de l’arc triomphal représente un passage de l’apocalypse de Jean avec le buste du Christ en majesté entouré de la cour céleste de 24 vieillards (les docteurs de l’église) qui vont déposer les 24 couronnes d’or. Les symboles des quatre évangélistessont représentés au-dessus ainsi que saint Pierre et saint Paul au-dessous. La mosaïque de la voûte absidale en cul-de-four, exécutée au xiii^e siècle sous Innocent X et restaurée à la suite de l’incendie, représente le Christ bénissant entouré de saints.

Sous le ciborium (un dais gothique réalisé par Arnolfo di Cambio en 1285) du chœur se trouve la confessio de saint Paul. Une fenêtre est créée lors de la dernière restauration en 2006 afin de permettre aux fidèles et visiteurs de voir le sarcophage.

Près du ciborium, un candélabre pascal, réalisé à la fin du xii^e siècle par Nicolas, fils d’Angilo et par Pietro Vassalletto (en), témoigne de la richesse du mobilier presbytéral de la basilique. Ses registres alternent des scènes de la vie de Jésus (Passion et Résurrection) avec des motifs végétaux et animaliers¹³.

Le cloître, réalisé au xiii^e siècle par des Vassaletto, est accessible depuis le bas-côté gauche. De style roman, ses arcades sont soutenues par une série de doubles colonnes torsadées cosmatesques (incrustées de porphyre rouge et vert, tesselles d’or), toutes de formes différentes.

• 

  Le cloître roman du xiii^e siècle.

• 

  Mosaïques décorant le cloître

• 

  Le jardin du cloître.

Tombeaux et reliques

• Tombeau de saint Paul de Tarsesous l’autel central
• Chaînes de saint Paul de Tarselors de sa captivité
• Tombeau de saint Félix III
• Reliques de saint Ananie (Damas)

 Cliquez sur une vignette pour l’agrandir.

• 

  Confessio de saint Paul

• 

  Chaînes de Paul

Archiprêtres

Le 31 mai 2005, le Motu proprio du pape Benoît XVI fait de la basilique Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs un vaste complexe extraterritorial (l’ensemble comprenant l’abbaye bénédictine ainsi que des musées et des annexes), régi par un cardinalarchiprêtre, comme les trois autres basiliques majeures¹⁴.

Le premier cardinal archiprêtre en a été Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo.

Liste des archiprêtres

• Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo: 2005-2009
• Francesco Monterisi: 2009-2012
• James Michael Harvey: 2012-

Notes et références

1. ↑ Cette nécropole comporte des tombes païennes qui vont des derniers temps de la république romaine jusqu’au iv^e siècle.
2. ↑ Norbert Hugedé, Saint Paul et Rome, Les Belles Lettres, 1986, p. 230
3. ↑ André Chastagnol, Aspects de l’antiquité tardive, L’Erma di Bretschneider, 1994, p. 321
4. ↑ (en) Frank J. Korn, A Catholic’s Guide to Rome. Discovering the Soul of the Eternal City, Paulist Press, 2000, p. 67
5. ↑ (en) Margaret Varnell Clark, Walking Through Rome, iUniverse, 2013, p. 138
6. ↑ Baedekers Autoführer-Verlag, Italie centrale, K. Baedeker, 1909, p. 424
7. ↑ « Prophétie de Saint Malachie et Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs » [archive] (consulté le11 février 2013)
8. ↑ (it) Giorgio Filippi, « La tomba di san Paolo: i dati archeologici del 2006 e il taccuino Moreschi del 1850 », Bollettino dei Monumenti musei a gallerie pontificie, vol. 26,‎ août 2008, p. 321-352
9. ↑ Un orifice rond est relié à un petit conduit qui rejoint la tombe, et évoque l’usage romain, puis chrétien, de verser des parfums ou des pièces de tissu dans les tombeaux pour qu’ils soient sanctifiés par le contact des reliques et récupérés par les pèlerins.
10. ↑ Jérôme Carcopino, Études d’histoire chrétienne, Albin Michel, 1963, p. 243
11. ↑ Basilique Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs. À l’extérieur [archive], site du Vatican
12. ↑ Lonely Planet, Rome, Place Des Editeurs, 2014, p. 321
13. ↑ René Jullian, « Le candélabre pascal de Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs », Mélanges d’archéologie et d’histoire, vol. 45,‎ 1928, p. 75-96
14. ↑ Basilique Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs. Les origines [archive], site du Vatican

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilique_Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, West Kennet Long Barrow

Giacobbe Giusti, West Kennet Long Barrow

 

 

Giacobbe Giusti, West Kennet Long Barrow

 

Giacobbe Giusti, West Kennet Long Barrow

Giacobbe Giusti, West Kennet Long Barrow

View of the outside of West Kennet Long Barrow
Map showing location in Wiltshire
Location	Wiltshire, England
Type	Tumulus
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, ii, iii
Designated	1986 (10th session)
Reference no.	373
Region	Europe and North America

The West Kennet Long Barrow is a Neolithic tomb or barrow, situated on a prominent chalk ridge, near Silbury Hill, one-and-a-half miles south of Aveburyin Wiltshire, England. The site was recorded by John Aubrey in the 17th century and by William Stukeley in the 18th century.

Archaeologists classify it as a chambered long barrow and one of the Severn-Cotswold tombs. It has two pairs of opposing transept chambers and a single terminal chamber used for burial. The stone burial chambers are located at one end of one of the longest barrows in Britain at 100 m: in total it is estimated that 15,700 man-hours were expended in its construction. The entrance consists of a concave forecourt with a facade made from large slabs of sarsen stones which were placed to seal entry.

The construction of the West Kennet Long Barrow commenced about 3600 BC, which is some 400 years before the first stage of Stonehenge, and it was in use until around 2500 BC. The mound has been damaged by indiscriminate digging, but archaeological excavations in 1859 and 1955-56 found at least 46 burials, ranging from babies to elderly persons. The bones were disarticulated with some of the skulls and long bones missing. It has been suggested that the bones were removed periodically for display or transported elsewhere with the blocking facade being removed and replaced each time. Recent re-analysis of the dating evidence suggests that the 46 people all died within 20 – 30 years of each other, and that the tomb was open for 1,000 years.

The latest excavations also revealed that the side chambers occur inside an exact isosceles triangle, whose height is twice the length of its base. Artefacts associated with the burials include Neolithic Grooved ware similar to that found at nearby Windmill Hill.

It is thought that this tomb was in use for as long as 1,000 years and at the end of this period the passage and chamber were filled to the roof by the Beaker peoplewith earth and stones, among which were found pieces of Grooved ware, Peterborough ware and Beaker pottery,^[1] charcoal, bone tools, and beads. Stuart Piggott, who excavated this mixture of secondary material, suggested that it had been collected from a nearby ‘mortuary enclosure’ showing that the site had been used for ritual activity long after it was used for burial. The finds from the site are displayed at the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes, including some of the most impressive beakers from Britain.

Michael Dames (see References) put forward a composite theory of seasonal rituals, in an attempt to explain the Long Barrow and its associated sites (the Avebury henge, Silbury Hill, The Sanctuary and Windmill Hill).

Location

The West Kennet Long Barrow is located at Ordnance Survey mapping six-figure grid reference SU 104677.

[Full screen]

Map with location of West Kennet Long Barrow, Wiltshire, and nearby Neolithic sites

Gallery

Giacobbe Giusti, West Kennet Long Barrow

• 

  Entrance to tomb
• 

  Final stone in front of entrance (more than 2m high)
• 

  Middle aisle
• 

  One of the north chambers
• 

  One of the south chambers
• 

  West chamber
• 

  detail of the entrance
• 

  « Smaller » stone in the row of stones in front of entrance
• 

  entrance to the tomb with final stone
• 

  View from WKLB to Silbury Hill
• 

  View of the outside of West Kennet Long Barrow
• 

  West Kennet Long Barrow
• 

  Kerbstones with Silbury Hill in background

• 
• 
• 

References

1. Jump up^ « Wiltshire Museum : Galleries ». Retrieved 15 September 2014.

West Kennet Long Barrow.

• grid reference SU104677
• English Heritage page on the site

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Kennet_Long_Barrow

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Flight into Egypt, Saint Catherine’s Monastery

Giacobbe Giusti, Flight into Egypt, Saint Catherine’s Monastery

Saint Catherine’s Monastery, 12th century

Giacobbe Giusti, Flight into Egypt, Saint Catherine’s Monastery

Saint Catherine’s Monastery, 12th century

   Giacobbe Giusti, Saint Catherine’s Monastery

 

Monastery information
Order	Church of Sinai
Established	AD 565
People
Founder(s)	Justinian I
Site
Location	Saint Catherine, South Sinai Governorate, Egypt
Website	www.sinaimonastery.com
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Saint Catherine Area
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, iii, iv, vi
Designated	2002 (26th session)
Reference no.	954
State Party	Egypt
Region	Arab States

Saint Catherine’s Monastery (Arabic: دير القدّيسة كاترين‎; Greek: Μονὴ τῆς Ἁγίας Αἰκατερίνης), officially « Sacred Monastery of the God-Trodden Mount Sinai » (Greek: Ιερά Μονή του Θεοβαδίστου Όρους Σινά), lies on the Sinai Peninsula, at the mouth of a gorge at the foot of Mount Sinai, in the city of Saint Catherine, Egypt in the South Sinai Governorate. The monastery is controlled by the autonomous Church of Sinai, part of the wider Eastern Orthodox Church, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Built between 548 and 565, the monastery is one of the oldest working Christian monasteries in the world.^[1][2]The site contains the world’s oldest continually operating library, possessing many unique books including the Syriac Sinaiticus and, until 1859, the Codex Sinaiticus.^[3][4] A small town with hotels and swimming pools, called Saint Katherine City, has grown around the monastery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Catherine%27s_Monastery

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

Giotto

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

St. Francis Basilica, or San Francesco Basilica, is the main site in Assisi. Shutterstock photo

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

Giotto

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

Giotto

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

Giotto

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

Giotto

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

Simone Martini. Resurrection of a Youth

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

Pietro Lorenzetti

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

Simone Martini

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

Maestà with Saint Francis, by Cimabue.

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

Saint Martin leaves the life of chivalry and renounces the army (fresco by Simone Martini) in the San Martino Chapel.

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

Pietro Cavallini (?)

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

Crucifixion by Cimabue

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

14th century Madonna dei Tramonti by Pietro Lorenzetti on canvas.

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

Giotto – Legend of St Francis – -12- – Ecstasy of St Francis

Ekstase des Heiligen Franziskus (Fresco von Giotto di Bondone)

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

Giotto. Isaac rejects Esau

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi

Papal Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi Basilica di San Francesco d’Assisi Basilica Sancti Francisci Assisiensis Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi
The Lower and Upper basilicas and the portico, as seen from the Lower Plaza of Saint Francis.
Basic information
Location	Assisi, Italy
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
Province	Pontifical Delegation for the Basilicas of St. Francis and St. Mary of the Angels in Assisi[1]
Year consecrated	1253
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	Papal minor basilica
Heritage designation	2000
Leadership	Attilio Cardinal Nicora(Pontifical Delegate)·
Website	www.sanfrancescoassisi.org
Architectural description
Architect(s)	Maestro Jacopo Tedesco [2]
Architectural type	Church
Architectural style	Romanesque, Italian Gothic
Groundbreaking	1228
Specifications
Direction of façade	ESE
Length	80 metres (260 ft)
Width	50 metres (160 ft)
Width (nave)	18 metres (59 ft)
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name: Assisi, the Basilica of San Francesco and Other Franciscan Sites
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, ii, iii, iv, vi
Designated	2000 (24th session)
Reference no.	990
State Party	Italy
Region	Europe and North America

The Papal Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi (Italian: Basilica Papale di San Francesco, Latin: Basilica Sancti Francisci Assisiensis) is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Order of Friars Minor Conventual in Assisi, a town of Umbria region in central Italy, where Saint Franciswas born and died. The basilica is one of the most important places of Christian pilgrimage in Italy. With its accompanying friary, Sacro Convento, the basilica is a distinctive landmark to those approaching Assisi. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000.

The basilica, which was begun in 1228, is built into the side of a hill and comprises two churches known as the Upper Church and the Lower Church, and a crypt where the remains of the saint are interred. The interior of the Upper Church is an important early example of the Gothic style in Italy. The Upper and Lower Churches are decorated with frescoes by numerous late medieval painters from the Roman and Tuscan schools, and include works by Cimabue, Giotto, Simone Martini, Pietro Lorenzetti and possibly Pietro Cavallini. The range and quality of the works gives the basilica a unique importance in demonstrating the development of Italian art of this period.

History

Basilica, as seen from the valley below.

The Franciscan friary (Sacro Convento) and the Lower and Upper Basilicas (Italian: Basilica inferiore e superiore) of Francis of Assisi were begun in honor of this local saint, immediately after his canonization in 1228. Simone di Pucciarello donated the land for the church, a hill at the west side of Assisi, known as « Hill of Hell » (Italian: Colle d’Inferno) where previously criminals were put to death. Today, this hill is called « Hill of Paradise ».

On 16 July 1228, Francis was canonized by Pope Gregory IX in Assisi, and he laid the foundation stone of the new church the following day, although construction may already have been begun. The construction having been begun at his order, the Pope declared the church to be the property of the papacy. The church was designed by Maestro Jacopo Tedesco, who was in those days the most famous architect.^[3]The construction was supervised by Brother Elias of Cortona, one of the first followers of Saint Francis and the former Vicar General of the Order under Saint Francis. The Lower Basilica was finished in 1230. On Pentecost 25 May 1230, the remains of Saint Francis were brought in a solemn procession to the Lower Basilica from its temporary burial place in the church of San Giorgio (St. George), now the Basilica of Saint Clare of Assisi. The burial place was concealed for fear that St Francis’ remains might be stolen and dispersed. The construction of the Upper Basilica was begun after 1239 and was completed in 1253. Both churches were consecrated by Pope Innocent IV in 1253.

Pope Nicholas IV, a former Minister-General of the Order of Franciscans, raised the church to the status of Papal Church in 1288. The Piazza del Loge, the square leading to the church, is surrounded by colonnades constructed in 1474. They housed the numerous pilgrims flocking to this church. In 1818, the remains of Saint Francis were rediscovered beneath the floor of the Lower Basilica. In the reign of Pope Pius IX the crypt was built so that the faithful might visit the burial place of the saint.

On 27 October 1986 and January 2002, Pope John Paul II gathered in Assisi with more than 120 representatives of different religions and Christian denominations for a World Day of Prayer for Peace.

Earthquake of 1997

On the morning of September 26, 1997, two earthquakes hit that region of Italy in rapid succession, registering 5.5 and 6.1 respectively on the Richter Scale. There was widespread devastation and many ancient buildings were destroyed or damaged. While a group of specialists and friars were inspecting the damage to the Basilica of Saint Francis, an aftershock shook the building, causing the collapse of the vault. Two Franciscan friars who were among the group and two of the specialists were killed. Much of the cycle of frescoes of the life of Saint Francis by Giotto in the Upper Church of the Basilica were slightly damaged whereas those of the sections of the vault which collapsed were almost entirely destroyed. The church was closed for two years for restoration.^[4][5] The collapse was filmed on tape.

Architecture

The church was designed by Maestro Jacopo Tedesco ^[3] on two levels, each of which is consecrated as a church. They are known as the « Basilica superiore » (The Upper Basilica), generally called « The Upper Church » and the « Basilica inferiore » (The Lower Basilica), generally called « The Lower Church ». The Lower Church was structurally a large crypt supporting the upper one. In the 19th century a lower crypt was constructed beneath the basilica. Architecturally, the exterior of the basilica appears united with the Friary of St. Francis, since the lofty arcades of the latter support and buttress the church in its apparently precarious position on the hillside.

Papal Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi from below

The architecture is a synthesis of the Romanesque and Gothic styles, and established many of the typical characteristics of Italian Gothic architecture. As originally built, both upper and lower churches had a simple cruciform plan with an aisless nave of four square bays, a square crossing, a transept that projected by half a bay one each side, and an apse, the lower being semicircular and the upper polygonal. To the left of the church stands a free-standing bell tower of Romanesque design.

The Lower Church was built entirely in the Romanesque style, having a low semi-circular ribbed cross-vaults over the nave and barrel vaults over the transept arms. However, the space has been greatly extended with a number of lateral and transept chapels added between 1350 and 1400. The main entrance to the nave is through an ornate Gothic doorway built between 1280 and 1300, and later enclosed with a simple Renaissance style porch of 1487 by Francesco di Bartolomeo da Pietrasanta(d. 1494). Set in the tympanum of the Gothic doorway is an ornate rose window which has been called « the eye of the most beautiful church in the world » ^[6]

The Upper Church has a façade of white-washed brick divided into two horizontal zones of about equal height, and with a simple gable of height equal to the lower zones. There is a single large doorway in the Gothic style, divided by a column and with a rose window set in the tympanun above the two cusped arches. Above the door, in the second zone is a large and ornate rose window in which most of the decorative details are Romanesque in style. Surrounding it are carved the symbols of the Four Evangelists, combining with the window to create a square composition. Above it in the gable is an ocular window. To the left of the façade and visible from both the forecourts of the Upper Church and the Lower Church is the Benediction Loggia in the Baroque style which was built in 1754, when the church was raised to the status of basilica.

Internally, the Upper Church maintains Brother Elias’ original simple aisleless cruciform plan. Like the Lower Church, there is a nave of four bays with ribbed cross-vaulting. Unlike that of the Lower Church, it is only the diagonal ribs which are of semi-circular form. The transverse ribs are pointed in the Gothic manner, and thus rise to the full height of the wider diagonal ribs. Each group of ribs springs from a group of clustered columns. Externally the columns and vault are supported by stout buttresses of semi-circular plan. Unlike the Lower Church, the transepts also have ribbed vaulting.

There are tall Gothic windows with Geometric tracery in each bay of the nave and in the polygonal apse of the chancel. The windows of the apse are believed to have been created by German craftsmen active around Assisi at the end of the 13th century. The windows on the left hand side of the nave were made by a French workshop (1270), while those on the right hand side are attributed to the workshop of Maestro di San Francesco. These stained glass windows are among the best examples of 13th-century Italian glasswork.

As is characteristic of Italian church architecture, the main decorative feature, and the main medium used for conveying the Church’s message is fresco, rather than stained glass. The earliest frescoes are some of those in the Lower Church. The work proceeded with a number of different projects and appears to have involved numerous artists, some of whom are as renowned as Cimabue and Giotto, but many of whom are no longer known by name.

Upper Basilica

Nave of the upper basilica.

This bright and spacious basilica consists of a single four-bay nave with cross-vaulted ceiling bordered with patterns of crosses and leaves, a transept and a polygonal apse. The four ribbed vaults are decorated alternately with golden stars on a blue background and paintings. The second vault is decorated with roundels with busts of Christ facing Saint Francisand the Virgin facing Saint John the Baptist. The entrance vault gives us the Four Latin Doctors of the Church: St Gregory facing St. Jerome and Saint Ambrose facing St. Augustine. These are ascribed to the Isaac Master.

The choir has 102 wooden stalls with carvings and marquetry by Domenico Indovini (1501). In their centre, on a raised platform, stands the papal cathedra.

Crucifixion by Cimabue

The west end of the transept and the apse have been decorated with many frescoes by Cimabue and his workshop (starting in c. 1280). The magnificent Crucifixion, with Saint Francis on his knees at the foot of the Cross, stresses again the veneration of the Passion of Christ by Saint Francis. The frescoes of Cimabue soon suffered from damp and decay. Due to the use of lead oxide in his colours and to the fact that the colours were applied when the plaster was no longer fresh, they have deteriorated and have been reduced to photographic negatives.

Prior to him there had been some decorations in the upper right hand section of the transept by an (anonymous) Northern Master, probably an English artist (1267–1270). He realized the two lunettes and the roundels on the west wall with paintings of the Angel and the Apostles. Another (anonymous) master, the Roman Master, painted the Isaiah and the David and the remainder of the wall under the eastern lunette.

Isaac rejects Esau

The upper part on both sides of the nave, badly damaged by the earthquake of 1997, was decorated in two rows with in total 32 scenes from the Old Testament (starting with Creation of the World and ending with Joseph forgives his brothers) and the New Testament (from the Annunciation to The Women at the Tomb), while the upper register of the entrance wall is covered with two frescoes Pentecostand Ascension of Jesus. Since it took about six months to paint one bay of the nave, different Roman and Tuscan masters, followers of Cimabue, have performed this series of scenes such as Giacomo, Jacopo Torriti and Pietro Cavallini.

The two frescoes of the life of Isaac (Isaac blesses Jacob and Esau in front of Isaac) in the middle register of the third bay, are traditionally ascribed to the young Giotto (1290–1295) (previously wrongly ascribed to Cimabue by Vasari). But even this has been controversial. Many critics esteem these the work of the anonymous Isaac Master and his workshop. Deducing from stylistic details, attesting to his Roman background, some think that the Isaac Master may have been Pietro Cavallini or a follower. Pietro Cavallini had painted around 1290 a similar fresco Isaac blessing Jacob in the convent of the church Santa Cecilia in Trastevere in Rome. The position of the resting Isaac looks like the same position of the Virgin in Cavallini’s mosaic Birth of the Virgin in the apse of the church Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome. The Isaac Master is considered one of the first practitioners of the true fresco (buon fresco) technique, which revolutionized mural painting for the subsequent centuries.^[7]

Saint Francis preaches in the presence of pope Honorius III

But the most important decorations are the series of 28 frescoes ascribed to the young Giotto along the lower part of the nave. Each bay contains three frescoes above the dado on each side of the nave, two frescoes in the east galleries beside the entrance, and two more on the entrance wall. Giotto used the Legenda Maior, the biography of Saint Francis by Saint Bonaventure (1266) to reconstruct the major events in the life of Saint Francis. The prototype for this cycle may have been the (now lost) Saint Francis cycle by Pietro Cavallini in the church San Francesco a Ripa in Rome. The paintings are as vivid as if Giotto had been a witness to these events. According to Vasari, they were executed in the period between 1296 and 1304.

However the authorship of Giotto is disputed, due to the ambiguous attributions given in early descriptions of this work. Many Italian critics continue to support the authorship of Giotto and his workshop. But because of small differences in style with the frescoes of Isaac, it is thought that several or even all of these frescoes were painted by at least three separate painters, using the original concept of Giotto : the Master of Legend of Saint Francis (the principal painter and probable supervisor of the cycle), the Master of the Obsequies of Saint Francis and the Cecilia Master.

The first span of the ceiling is decorated with frescoes of the « Four Doctors of the Church“ ( Jerome, Augustine, Gregory and Ambrose), attributed either to a young Giotto or to one of his followers. The third span presents four heart-shaped medallions of the Christ, Mary, John the Baptist and Francis, painted by Jacopo Torriti.

The cuspidate façade of the upper basilica has a portal in Gothic style with twin doors and a beautiful rose window.

Lower Basilica

Side entrance to the lower basilica.

Brother Elias had designed the lower basilica as an enormous crypt with ribbed vaults. He had acquired his experience by building huge sepulchres out of hard rock in Syria.

The doors are surmounted by a large rose window, flanked by two smaller ones, called « the eye of the most beautiful church in the world » ^[6] The decorations on the left wooden door were executed by Ugolinuccio da Gubbio (circa 1550) and those on the right door by an anonymous Umbrian artist (1573). They portray stories from the lives of Saint Francis, Saint Clare, Saint Louis and Saint Anthony. On the left wall of the porch stands the bust of Pope Benedict XIV who granted this church the title of Patriarchal Basilica and Cappella Papale. Pope Benedict XVI’s theological act in 2006 of renouncing the title of « Patriarch of the West » has had the consequence of the basilica changing its name to that of the Papal Basilica of St. Francis.

Entering the lower basilica, one sees at the other side of the vestibule the chapel of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, erected about 1270. It was enlarged by Gattapone da Gubbio and decorated at the expense of Cardinal Egidio Albornoz, papal legate in charge of the Papal States (from 1350 to 1367). He was initially buried here but his body was later transferred to Toledo, Spain. The frescoes with the eight episodes from the life of Saint Catherine were painted in 1368-1369 by ‘Andreas pictor de Bononia’. This painter, called Andrea, is most probably Andrea de’ Bartoli (c. 1349 – 1369), the court artist of Albornoz (and not Andrea da Bologna, as usually, but wrongly, attributed). The saints in this chapel were painted by Pace di Bartolo d’Assisi (1344–1368). The stained glass windows are the work of Giovanni di Bonino of Assisi (mid-14th century).

On the left side of the entrance is the small Chapel of St. Sebastian with a canvas by Giorgetti and episodes of the life of the saint on the walls painted c. 1646 by G. Martelli (Irene taking care of St. Sebastian; St. Sebastian before Domitian). The left wall of this chapel is decorated by some paintings by Ottaviano Nelli (15th century) and a painting of Saint Christopher (Umbrian School, 14th century).

On the right side of the entrance there are two monuments by anonymous artists: in the first span, the mausoleum of Giovanni de’ Cerchi, surmounted by an early 14th-century porphyry vase (a gift of a queen of Cyprus) and the mausoleum of John of Brienne, king of Jerusalem and emperor-regent of Constantinople. Above this last burial monument stands a statue of the Blessed Virgin and on its left the figure of a crowned woman seated on a lion, made by Cosmatesco (1290).

The badly deteriorating frescoes on the walls and the vaults of the third section of this entrance are the work of Cesare Sermei and G. Martelli (1645). The chapel on the right side of the third section is dedicated to St. Anthony the Abbot. The niches in the wall contain the burial monuments of the Governor of Spoleto (by then part of the Papal States) Blasco Fernandez and his son Garcia, both assassinated in 1367 (anonymous local artist, 14th century).

The lower basilica consists of a central nave with several side chapels with semi-circular arches. The nave is decorated with the oldest frescoes in the church by an unknown artist, called Maestro di San Francesco. They feature five scenes from the Passion of Christ on the right side, while on the left side equally five scenes from the Life of St. Francis. By this juxtaposition, the Franciscans wanted to contribute to the idea of their founder as a second Christ.

They are connected by a low blue-painted ceiling decorated with golden stars. Most images on the lower walls have decayed to leave almost no trace, except on the right wall fragments of Virgin and Child with an Angel by Cimabue.

These frescoes, executed in tempera on dry plaster, were completed about 1260-1263. They are considered by many as the best examples of Tuscan wall paintings prior to Cimabue. As the popularity of this church increased, side chapels for noble families were added between 1270 and 1350, destroying the frescoes on the opened walls.

The first chapel on the left is the San Martino Chapel, dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. It was built by the Franciscan Cardinal Gentile Partino da Montefiore and was decorated between 1317 and 1319 with ten frescoes depicting the saint’s life by Simone Martini. This dedication most likely referred to the Cardinal’s position as Cardinal-Priest of the Basilica of St. Martin « ai Monti » in Rome, and was intended to be his burial place. It was probably incomplete at the time of Montefiore’s death (October 1312), thus he was interred in the neighboring Chapel of St. Louis.^[8] Martini also painted a triptych depicting the Madonna and Child with Two Hungarian Royal Saints with a row of five attendant saints in the St. Elizabeth Chapel (southern arm of the transept). These are among the greatest Martini’s works and the finest examples of 14th-century painting. Over time, however, his use of lead paint has led to the darkening of several sections of these works.

Saint Martin leaves the life of chivalry and renounces the army (fresco by Simone Martini) in the San Martino Chapel.

The other chapel on the left is dedicated to St. Peter of Alcantara.

The chapels on the right are dedicated to Saints:

• Louis of Toulouse and Stephen I of Hungary, with frescoes by Dono Doni (1575) and stained glass, attributed to Simone Martini.
• Anthony of Padua, with frescoes by Cesare Sermei (1610,)
• Mary Magdalene. This chapel, built by Teobaldo Pontano (the Bishop of Assisi from 1296 to 1329), contains some of the best works of the workshop of Giotto and maybe by the Master himself (about 1320). (It was wrongly attributed by Vasari to Puccio Capanna.) On the lateral walls are scenes from the Life of Mary Magdalene (above the portrait of Teobaldo Pontano), while in the vault there are roundels with busts of Christ, the Virgin, Mary Magdalene and Lazarus.

The nave ends in a richly decorated semicircular apse, preceded with a transept with barrel vaulting.

The frescoes in the right transept depict the childhood of Christ, partly by Giotto and his workshop and the Nativity by the anonymous Maestro di San Nicola. The lowest level shows three frescoes representing St. Francis posthumously intervening in favour of two children. These frescoes by Giotto were revolutionary in their time, showing real people with emotions, set in a realistic landscape.

Maestà with Saint Francis, by Cimabue.

On the transept wall Cimabue painted an image of Our Lady enthroned and Saint Francis (1280). This is probably the nearest likeness existing, showing the actual appearance of Saint Francis. This static painting in Gothic style is in stark contrast with the lively frescoes of Giotto.

This Chapel of Saint Nicholas of Bari, at the northern end of the transept, was commissioned by the papal legate Cardinal Napoleone Orsini and it contains the tomb of the cardinal’s brother, Giovanni Orsini, who died between 1292 and 1294 . The funerary monument is set in a niche above the altar, with the recumbent effigy of a young man placed inside a mortuary chamber and flanked by two angels. The reliefs were carved by an Umbrian sculptor, probably of local origin. Between the tomb and the stained glass window appears a frescoed triptych attributed to Giotto’s school, representing the Madonna and Child with Saint Francis and Nicholas . The cycle decorating the walls of the chapel, completed by 1307, comprises twelve scenes painted on the ceiling and on the walls illustrating the life and miracles of St Nicholas A scene of the chapel’s dedication is painted above the arch of the entrance on the southern wall: the Redeemer receives the homage of Giovanni Orsini, presented by St. Nicholas, and of Napoleone Orsini, presented by Saint Francis. The stained glass windows show Cardinal Napoleone presented to Christ in the summit and his brother presented to Saint Nicholas in the zone below. At the southern end of the transept cardinal Orsini commissioned another chapel, dedicated to St John the Baptist, which was probably originally built for the tomb of Napoleone Orsini himself, but the cardinal was never buried there and the tomb remained empty . The parallel architectural arrangement of both Orsini chapels suggests that they were conceived together. However, the decorations of the chapel dedicated to Saint John the Baptist were never finished . Pietro Lorenzetti ( or his workshop) executed a frescoed triptych with a Madonna and Child with Saints John the Baptist and Francis.

14th century Madonna dei Tramonti by Pietro Lorenzettion canvas.

The left transept was decorated by the Sienese painter Pietro Lorenzetti and his workshop between 1315 and 1330 (attributed by Vasari to Pietro Lorenzetti and also (wrongly) to Giotto and Puccio Capanna) . This cycle of tempera frescoes are his masterworks. They depict six scenes from the Passion of Christ. The fresco of Deposition of the Cross is especially emotional. There were about 330 work-stages needed to complete this cycle. Beneath the monumental « Crucifixion » scene, Pietro Lorenzetti has executed a fresco of the Madonna and Child, accompanied by Saints John the Evangelist and Saint Francis (the so-called Madonna dei Tramonti). The fresco is accompanied by a frescoed niche containing the liturgical implements and a fictive bench.

The juxtaposition of the Childhood and the Passion frescoes emphasizes the parallel between the passion of Christ and the compassion of St. Francis.

Papal altar with frescoes

The papal altar in the apse was made out of one block of stone from Como in 1230. Around the altar are a series of ornamented Gothic arches, supported by columns in different styles. The fine Gothic walnut choir stalls were completed in 1471 by Apollonio Petrocchi da Ripatransone, with the help of Tommaso di Antonio Fiorentino and Andrea da Montefalco.

Once featuring frescoes depicting an allegory of the Crucifixion by Stefano Fiorentino (destroyed in 1622), the walls of the apse are now covered with a « Last Judgment » by Cesare Sermei di Orvieto (1609–1668).

The paintings in the lunettes of the vaults (1315–20) depict the Triumph of St Francisand three allegories of Obedience, Poverty and Chastity by the so-called Maestro delle Vele (Master of the Assisi vaults), a pupil of Giotto (about 1330).

The stained glass windows in this lower basilica are attributed to Giovanni di Boninoand his workshop.

Crypt

Tomb of Saint Francis in the crypt

Halfway down the nave one can descend into the crypt via a double stairway. This burial place of Saint Francis was found in 1818. His remains had been hidden by Brother Elias to prevent the spread of his relics in medieval Europe. By order of Pope Pius IXa crypt was built under the lower basilica. It was designed by Pasquale Belli with precious marble in neo-classical style. But it was redesigned in bare stone in neo-Romanesque style by Ugo Tarchi between 1925 and 1932.

The ancient stone coffin with iron ties is enshrined in an open space above the altar. In 1934 his most faithful brothers were entombed in the corners of the wall around the altar: Brother Rufino, Brother Angelo, Brother Masseo and Brother Leo.

At the entrance of the crypt, an urn with the remains of Jacopa dei Settesoli was added to the crypt. This woman of Roman nobility, affectionately referred to as « Brother Jacoba », was the most faithful friend and benefactress of Saint Francis. She was at his side in the Porziuncola at the hour of his death.

Friary of Saint Francis

Courtyard of the friary

Next to the basilica stands the friary Sacro Conventowith its imposing walls with 53 Romanesque arches and powerful buttresses supporting the whole complex. It towers over the valley below, giving the impression of a fortress. It was built with pink and white stone from Mount Subasio. It was already inhabited by the friars in 1230. But construction took a long time, with as result different styles intermingling : Romanesque with Gothic style. A major part was built under the reign of Pope Sixtus IV, a Franciscan, between 1474 and 1476.

The friary now houses a vast library (with medieval codices and incunables), a museum with works of art donated by pilgrims through the centuries and also the 57 works of art (mainly of Florentine and Sienese schools) of the Perkins collection.

The belfry, in Romanesque style, was finished in 1239.

• Giovanna of Italy
• John of Brienne

• Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels in Assisi
• Gothic architecture in Italy
• Basilica of San Francisco (La Paz)

References

Citations

1. Jump up^ Pope Benedict XVI (9 November 2005). « Totius Orbis Of The Holy Father Benedict XVI for the Coordination of Pastoral Activities and Initiatives at the Basilicas of St Francis and of St Mary of the Angels in Assisi ». Apostolic Letter « Motu Proprio ». Holy See. Archived from the original on 9 July 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
2. Jump up^ Giorgio Vasari « Vite de’più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architetti »
3. ^ Jump up to:^a b Francesco d’Assisi e le origini dell’arte del Rinascimento in Italia by Henry Thode
4. Jump up^ Croci, Giorgio (2000). « Emergency Stabilization of the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi » (PDF). Cultural Resource Management. Washington: National Park Service – US Department of the Interior. 23 (6): 30–32. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-01-09. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
5. Jump up^ Croci, Giorgio (2001). « Restoring the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi » (PDF). Cultural Resource Management. Washington: National Park Service – US Department of the Interior. 24 (8): 26–29. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-01-09. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
6. ^ Jump up to:^a b Belluci, Gualtiero (2001). Assisi, Heart of the World. Assisi: Edizione Porziuncola. p. 82.
7. Jump up^ Péter Bokody, « Mural Painting as a Medium: Technique, Representation and Liturgy, » in Image and Christianity: Visual Media in the Middle Ages, ed. Péter Bokody (Pannonhalma: Pannonhalma Abbey, 2014), 136-151. https://www.academia.edu/8526688/Mural_Painting_as_a_Medium_Technique_Representation_and_Liturgy
8. Jump up^ « Assisi ». Key to Umbria. Retrieved 2011-09-15.

Bibliography

• Bellucci, Gualtiero (2001). Assisi, Heart of the World. Assisi: Edizioni Porziuncola. ISBN 88-7135-131-2.
• Bonsanti, Giorgio (1998). The Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. New York: H.N. Abrams. ISBN 0-8109-2767-5.
• Belting, Hans (1977). Die Oberkirche Von San Francesco in Assisi: ihre Dekoration als Aufgabe u.d. Genese einen neuen Wandmalerei. Berlin: Mann. ISBN 3-7861-1135-9.
• Borsook, Eve (1980). The Mural Painters of Tuscany: From Cimabue to Andrea del Sarto. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-817301-6.
• Lunghi, Elvio (1996). The Basilica of St Francis at Assisi. The frescoes by Giotto his precursors and followers. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-27834-2.
• Turner, J. (ed.) (1996). Grove Dictionary of Art. Macmillan Publishers Limited. ISBN 1-884446-00-0.
• Vasari, Giorgio (1998). Vite. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-283410-X.
• Smart, Alastair (1971). The Assisi Problem and the Art of Giotto: a study of the Legend of St. Francis in the Upper Church of San Francesco, Assisi. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-817166-8.

Bokody, Péter. « Mural Painting as a Medium: Technique, Representation and Liturgy. » In Image and Christianity: Visual Media in the Middle Ages, ed. Péter Bokody (Pannonhalma: Pannonhalma Abbey, 2014), 136-151. https://www.academia.edu/8526688/Mural_Painting_as_a_Medium_Technique_Representation_and_Liturgy

Basilica di San Francesco.

The legend of Saint Francis painted by Giotto.

• Saint Francis review – The official review of the Basilica of Saint Francis
• The official website of the Basilica of Saint Francis
• To see the webcam in the tomb of Saint Francis
• The Basilica of Saint Francis
• Frescoes of Giotto in the upper basilica
• Frescoes of Pietro Lorenzetti in the lower basilica
• Frescoes of Simone Martini in the lower basilica
• Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi – Italy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Saint_Francis_of_Assisi

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, ZISA, Palermo

Giacobbe Giusti, ZISA, Palermo

Giacobbe Giusti, ZISA, Palermo

Giacobbe Giusti, ZISA, Palermo

Abside della Cappella Palatina della Santissima Trinità

Giacobbe Giusti, ZISA, Palermo

 

La Zisa: détail de l’arc de portique, dans le hall principa

Giacobbe Giusti, ZISA, Palermo

The Zisa of Palermo.
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalú and Monreale
Location	Palermo, Italy
Reference	1487-006
Inscription	2015 (39th Session)

The Zisa is a castle in the western part of Palermo in Sicily, southern Italy. It is included in the UNESCO Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale World Heritage Site.

The construction was begun in the 12th century by Arabian craftsmen for king William I of Sicily, and completed by his son William II. The edifice had been conceived as summer residence for the Norman kings, as a part of the large hunting resort known as Genoardo(Arabic: Jannat al-arḍ, literally « Paradise on Earth ») that included also the Cuba Sottana, the Cuba Soprana and the Uscibene palace.

The Zisa is clearly inspired by Moorish architecture. The name Zisa itself derives from the Arab term al-Azīz, meaning « dear » or « splendid ». The same word, in Naskh script, is impressed in the entrance, according to the usual habit for the main Islamic edifices of the time.

Niche with fountain in the main hall.

In the 14th century merlons were added, by partly destroying the Arab inscription (in Kufic characters) which embellished the upper part of the edifice. More substantial modifications were introduced in the 17th century, when the Zisa, reduced to very poor conditions, was purchased by Giovanni di Sandoval e Platamone, Marquis of S. Giovanni la Mendola, Prince of Castelreale, Lord of the Mezzagrana and the Zisa. The latter’s marble coat of arms with two lions can be seen over the entrance fornix. Several rooms of the interior were modified and others added on the ceiling, a great stair was built, as well as new external windows.

From 1808 to the 1950s the building was used a residence by the princes Notarbartolodi Sciara. Acquired by the Region of Siciliaand restored in the 1970s and 1980s (the Northern part had crumbled down in 1971 and has been rebuilt along the original lines), the Zisa today is opened to tourists. Some rooms houses Islamic art pieces, tools and artifacts from the Mediterranean area. The most notable room is the central hall, with a mosaic decoration; once it had a fountain too, from which the water flowed outside. On 3 July 2015 it became UNESCO World Heritage Site.

La Zisa

 Giacobbe Giusti, ZISA, Palermo

La Zisa, Palermo

La Zisa, auch Castello della Zisa oder einfach kurz nur Zisa genannt, ist ein Palast im Westen von Palermo, das den normannischen Königen von Sizilien als Sommerresidenz diente. Es liegt im ehemaligen „Parco Nuovo“, dem im Westen der Stadt gelegene Teil des königlichen Parks. Neben La Cuba, einem weiteren Palast in diesem ehemaligen Park, ist La Zisa eines der besterhaltenen normannischen Paläste Siziliens. Im Inneren des Palastes ist das Museum für Islamische Kunstuntergebracht.

Geschichte

La Zisa, Druck von 1830

La Zisa, Fotografie (Albumin) von Giorgio Sommer, ca. 1865–70

La Zisa wurde 1165 unter Wilhelm I. begonnen und 1167 unter dessen Sohn Wilhelm II. fertiggestellt. Deutlich zu erkennen sind normannische und arabische Einflüsse. Dies ist darauf zurückzuführen, dass die Mehrzahl der mitwirkenden Handwerker und Bauarbeiter Araber waren, die zu dieser Zeit noch einen großen Anteil an der Bevölkerung Siziliens stellten. Auch der Name des Schlosses hat seinen Ursprung im Arabischen er leitet sich von al-ʿazīz (mächtig, stark) ab. Das Schloss lag im königlichen Park, und vor seiner Hauptfassade, die in etwa nach Osten zur Stadt hin ausgerichtet ist, befand sich ein großes Wasserbecken.

Im 14. Jahrhundert wurde die Zisa zur Festung ausgebaut. Später kam sie in privaten Besitz. Während einer Pestepidemie 1624 wurde die Zisa als Lager für Gegenstände verwendet, die augenscheinlich mit Pesterregern in Kontakt waren. Welcher Art diese Gegenstände waren, lässt sich heute nicht mehr feststellen. 1635 wurde der Palast von der Adelsfamilie de Sandoval erworben und in einen Barockpalast umgebaut. 1806 gelangte er im Erbwege an die Familie Notarbartolo, die ihn teilweise restaurierte. 1951 kam die Zisa in staatlichen Besitz. Bereits in den 50er Jahren wurden die barocken Umbauten rückgängig gemacht. Nach einem teilweisen Einsturz von Decken und Wandverkleidungen im Oktober 1971 begannen 1972 umfangreiche Restaurierungsarbeiten.

Nach Abschluss der Restaurierungen wurde die Zisa wieder der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich gemacht. Heute beherbergt sie Palermos Museum für Islamische Kunst.

Das Äußere

Luftschacht

Außenansicht

La Zisa ist ein kubusförmiger Bau mit drei Stockwerken und einer Höhe von 25,70 m. In der Mitte der beiden Schmalseiten springen Risaliten vor, die als Lüftungsschächte für eine Klimatisierung der Innenräume sorgten. Diese Risaliten tragen kleine Turmaufsätze, die die Gebäudeoberkante überragen.

An der Hauptfassade führen drei spitzbogige Eingänge in den Bau. Der mittlere ist größer und prachtvoller ausgestaltet als die seitlichen und reicht bis in das erste Obergeschoss. Sein Spitzbogen ruht auf beiden Seiten auf je einem Paar Säulen.

Die Fassade ist nur durch flache Blendbögen gegliedert. Ein schmaler, gerader Sims verläuft zwischen dem ersten und zweiten Obergeschoss rund um das gesamte Gebäude und betont so die horizontale Ausrichtung.

Ursprünglich bildete ein Fries mit einer arabischen Inschrift, wie er heute noch bei der Cuba zu sehen ist, einen geraden oberen Abschluss des Gebäudes. Bei einem Umbau im Mittelalter wurde dieser Fries durch den heute noch vorhandenen Zinnenkranz ersetzt.

Die barocken Dachaufbauten, die beim Umbau der Zisa durch die Familie de Sandoval hinzugefügt worden, sind von der Gebäudekante zurückgesetzt und daher nur aus der Ferne zu sehen.

Das Innere

Vestibül

Die spitzbogigen Durchgänge der Hauptfassade führen in ein Vestibül, das sich als langer Gang entlang der Hauptfassade quer durch das ganze Gebäude erstreckt und auch zu den Seitenfassaden hin einen bogenförmigen Durchgang aufweist. Von diesem Vestibül aus sind die weiteren Räume des Erdgeschosses und die Treppenhäuser, über die man in die Obergeschosse gelangt, erreichbar.

Nische mit Muqarna im Audienzsaal

Direkt gegenüber dem mittleren Spitzbogen führt ein Durchgang mit einem großen, auf Doppelsäulen ruhenden Bogen von dem Vestibül aus in den großen zweistöckigen Audienzsaal im Zentrum des Baus. Dieser Saal hat gegenüber dem Eingang und auf beiden Seiten jeweils eine Nische, die oben durch Muqarnas abgeschlossen ist. Von den Mosaikarbeiten, die die Wände zierten, ist nur ein Teil erhalten. In der Nische gegenüber dem Eingang befindet sich ein Paradiesbrunnen, von dem aus das Wasser über eine Schräge Platte in einen in den Boden eingelassenen Kanal floss, der durch die Mitte des Saals floss und sich zu mehreren kleinen Becken erweiterte. Draußen führte der Kanal in der Mittelachse des Baus zu einem Wasserbecken vor dem Schloss.

Großer Saal im zweiten Obergeschoss

Die weiteren Räume im Erdgeschoss und im ersten Obergeschoss sind auf beiden Seiten dieses Saals angeordnet. Im ersten Obergeschoss sind die beiden Seiten über einen schmalen Gang an der Rückseite des Gebäudes miteinander verbunden. Im zweiten Obergeschoss befindet sich in der Mitte, also über dem Audienzsaal, ebenfalls ein großer Saal. Da dessen Fußboden zur Mitte hin geneigt ist, wird angenommen, dass es sich dabei um ein Atrium mit Impluvium gehandelt hat, das vermutlich erst bei dem Umbau im 17. Jahrhundert durch die Familie de Sandoval überdacht wurde.

Park

Kanal in der Mittelachse des Parks

Vor dem Schloss befindet sich noch das Wasserbecken, in den das Wasser aus dem Paradiesbrunnen floss. In der Mitte ist noch die Basis des Pavillons zu erkennen, der ursprünglich in dem Becken stand und über einen Steg zugänglich war.

In Verlängerung des Wasserkanals, der in dieses Becken führte, wurde 2005 ein Park mit Grünflächen und einem Wasserkanal angelegt, der über Kaskaden und rechteckige Becken durch die Grünanlage fließt.

Nördlich des Palastes wurden 1972 Reste einer römischen Wasserleitung und einer Thermenanlage entdeckt. Ebenfalls nördlich der Zisa befindet sich die Cappella della Santissima Trinità alla Zisa.

Literatur

• Brigit Carnabuci: Sizilien. Griechische Tempel, römische Villen, normannische Dome und barocke Städte im Zentrum des Mittelmeeres (= DuMont Kunst-Reiseführer). 6., aktualisierte Auflage. DuMont Reiseverlag, Ostfildern 2011, ISBN 978-3-7701-4385-6.
• Museum ohne Grenzen (Hrsg.): Arabisch-normannische Kunst – Siziliens Kultur im Mittelalter. Internationaler Ausstellungsstraßen-Zyklus Die Islamische Kunst im Mittelmeerraum, Ernst Wasmuth Verlag Tübingen Berlin, 2004, ISBN 3-8030-4102-3
• Chris Gravett: Atlas der Burgen. Die schönsten Burgen und Schlösser. Tosa, Wien 2001, S. 122, ISBN 3-85492-470-4.
• Hans-Rudolf Meier: Die normannischen Königspaläste in Palermo. Studien zur hochmittelalterlichen Residenzbaukunst. Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 1994, S. 68–79, 122–126, ISBN 3-88462-941-7.
• Ursula Staacke: Un palazzo normanno a Palermo: La zisa. La cultura musulmana negli edifici dei Re. Ricerche e documenti, Palermo 1991.
• Adolph Goldschmidt: Die normannischen Königspaläste in Palermo, Zeitschrift für Bauwesen, Bd. 48, 1898, S. 542–590 mit Abbildungen auf Blatt 56–59 im Atlas

 Commons: La Zisa (Palermo) – Sammlung von Bildern, Videos und Audiodateien

• La Zisa. In: Palermo e i suoi giardini nell’età arabo normanna. Scuola Media « Falcone e Borsellino » Lascari, S. 65–71, abgerufen am 26. März 2009 (PDF, 1,7 MB, italienisch).

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Zisa

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

Resurrection of Christ

by Hendrick van den Broeck

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

A reconstruction of the way the Sistine Chapel may have appeared from the exterior at the time of Michelangelo

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

Trials of Moses by Botticelli

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

Perugino: Wanderung Moses nach Ägypten

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

Signorelli: Testament und Tod Mose

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

The Delivery of the Keys by Perugino

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

Rosselli: Das letzte Abendmahl

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

Michelangelo, volta della Cappella Sistina

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

Michelangelo, lunetta, Jacob – Joseph

Lunetta di Giacobbe e Giuseppe (dettaglio)

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

Michel-Ange — File:Lastjudgement.jpg

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

Das Jüngste Gericht in der Sixtinischen Kapelle nach der Restaurierung

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

Michel-Ange — File:Lastjudgement.jpg

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

Michel-Ange — File:Lastjudgement.jpg

Le Jugement dernier (détail).
Le Christ et la Vierge.

Giacobbe Giusti, Sixtinische Kapelle

Ansicht der Sixtinischen Kapelle von der Kuppel des Petersdoms aus
Daten
Ort	Vatikanstadt
Baujahr	1475–1483
Höhe	21 m
Grundfläche	550 m²

Die Sixtinische Kapelle (italienischCappella Sistina) ist eine der Kapellen des Apostolischen Palastes. Sie ist der Ort, an dem das Konklaveabgehalten wird, und beherbergt einige der berühmtesten Gemäldeder Welt. Ihr Name bezieht sich auf Papst Sixtus IV., unter dem sie zwischen 1475 und 1483 erbaut wurde. Am 15. August 1483 wurde die Kapelle geweiht. Sie steht unter dem Patrozinium der Aufnahme Mariens in den Himmel.

Sie liegt unmittelbar nördlich des Petersdoms und ist mit diesem über die Scala Regia und Sala Regiaverbunden. Für Touristen ist allerdings nur der Eintritt über die Vatikanischen Museenmöglich.

Architektur

Die Pläne für die Sixtinische Kapelle stammen von Baccio Pontelli. Der Grundriss ist rechteckig. Der Bau ist 40,9 Meter lang, 13,4 Meter breit und 20,7 Meter hoch. Die Kapelle ist in der Proportion des Salomonischen Tempels errichtet, ihre Länge entspricht in etwa der doppelten Höhe und der dreifachen Breite. Die Decke ist ein flaches Stichkappengewölbe.

Fresken

Blick in den Kapellenraum

Wandgemälde

Die Wandgemälde zeigen jeweils nach Osten Szenen aus dem Leben Jesu und Mose und wurden von verschiedenen Malern der Renaissance geschaffen: Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Cosimo Rosselli, Biagio d’Antonio und Luca Signorelli.

Nordwand: Geschichten aus dem Leben Jesu

Ursprünglich wurden Episoden aus dem Leben Jesu Christi in acht Bildern dargestellt. Der Zyklus begann mit der Geburt Christi, einem Werk von Perugino, das zugunsten des Jüngsten Gerichts von Michelangelo wieder entfernt werden musste. Die Motive aus dem Leben Jesu:

1. Taufe Christi (Perugino)
2. Versuchung Christi (Botticelli)
3. Berufung der ersten Apostel (Ghirlandaio)
4. Bergpredigt (Rosselli)
5. Schlüsselübergabe (Perugino)
6. Das Letzte Abendmahl (Rosselli)
7. Auferstehung Christi (ursprünglich von Ghirlandaio, 1522 zerstört, 60 Jahre später von Hendrick van den Broeckerneuert)

• 

  Perugino: Taufe Christi

• 

  Botticelli: Die Versuchung Christi

• 

  Ghirlandaio: Berufung der ersten Apostel

• 

  Perugino: Christus übergibt Petrus den Schlüssel zum Himmelreich

• 

  Rosselli: Die Bergpredigt

• 

  Rosselli: Das letzte Abendmahl

• 

  van den Broeck: Auferstehung Christi

Südwand: Leben des Mose

Auch die Geschichten aus dem Leben Mose füllten acht Bildfelder. Das Fresko mit der Auffindung des Mose von Perugino musste ebenfalls dem Jüngsten Gericht Michelangelos weichen. Die Motive aus dem Leben Mose (mit Parallelen zum Leben Jesu):

1. Wanderung des Mose nach Ägypten (Perugino)
2. Begebenheiten aus dem Leben des Mose (Botticelli)
3. Durchzug durch das Rote Meer (d’Antonio)
4. Übergabe der Gesetzestafeln (Rosselli)
5. Bestrafung von Korach, Datan und Abiram (Botticelli)
6. Testament und Tod des Mose (Signorelli)
7. Streit um den Leichnam von Mose (ursprünglich von Signorelli, 1522 zerstört, 60 Jahre später von Matteo Perez d’Aleccio erneuert)

• 

  Perugino: Wanderung Moses nach Ägypten

• 

  Botticelli: Begebenheiten aus dem Leben des Mose

• 

  Botticelli: Die Bestrafung von Korach, Datan und Abiram

• 

  Signorelli: Testament und Tod Mose

Deckengemälde

Besondere Berühmtheit erlangte die Kapelle durch ihre Ausschmückung mit Fresken. Die Deckenmalereien malte Michelangelo Buonarroti zwischen 1508 und 1512 im Auftrag von Papst Julius II. Sie wurden am 1. November 1512 enthüllt und zeigen Szenen aus der Genesis auf insgesamt 520 m² mit 115 überlebensgroßen Charakteren. Besonders der Ausschnitt Die Erschaffung Adams ist ein weltbekanntes und oft reproduziertes Werk. Es zeigt, wie Gottvater mit ausgestrecktem Finger Adam zum Leben erweckt.

vergrößern und Informationen zum Bild anzeigen

„Ohne die Sixtinische Kapelle gesehen zu haben, kann man sich keinen anschauenden Begriff machen, was ein Mensch vermag.“

– Johann Wolfgang Goethe^[1]

Zentrale Bildfelder

Deckenfresken, Übersicht

Der zentrale Grat besteht aus neun waagerechten Bildfeldern unterschiedlicher Größe, die die Szenen aus dem Alten Testamentdarstellen, wobei immer drei Felder zusammengehören: Schöpfung, Adam und Eva sowie Noah. Michelangelo malte diese Fresken in umgekehrter zeitlicher Reihenfolge, indem er mit der Trunkenheit Noahs begann. Ab der Erschaffung Evas wird die Darstellung monumentaler, auch die begleitenden Propheten und Sibyllen werden expressiver. Diese narrativen Felder sind umgeben von Motiven aus der Bibel und der antikenMythologie.

1. Die Scheidung von Licht und Finsternis: „Und Gott sprach, es werde Licht!“ (Genesis 1, 3–5)
2. Die Erschaffung der Sonne, des Mondes und der Pflanzen: „Und Gott machte zwei große Lichter: ein großes Licht, das den Tag regiere, und ein kleines Licht, das die Nacht regiere …“ (Genesis 1, 16–17)
3. Die Scheidung von Land und Wasser: „Und Gott sprach: Es werde eine Feste zwischen den Wassern, die da scheide zwischen den Wassern.“ (Genesis 1, 6–7)
   

   Die Erschaffung Adams

4. Die Erschaffung Adams: „Und Gott sprach: Lasset uns den Menschen machen …“ (Genesis 1, 26)
5. Die Erschaffung Evas: „Da ließ Gott der Herr einen tiefen Schlaf fallen auf den Menschen, und er schlief ein. Und er nahm eine seiner Rippen und schloss die Stelle mit Fleisch. Und Gott der Herr baute ein Weib aus der Rippe, die er von dem Menschen nahm.“ (Genesis 2, 21–23)
6. Der Sündenfall und die Vertreibung aus dem Paradies: „Da sprach die Schlange zum Weibe: … und ihr werdet sein wie Gott und wissen, was gut und böse ist.“ (Genesis 3, 4–7)
7. Das Opfer Noahs: „Noah aber baute dem Herrn einen Altar und nahm von allem reinen Vieh und von allen reinen Vögeln und opferte Brandopfer auf dem Altar.“ (Genesis 8, 20)
8. Die Sintflut: „Da sprach Gott zu Noah: Das Ende allen Fleisches ist bei mir beschlossen, denn die Erde ist voller Frevel …“ (Genesis 6, 13 und 7, 6)
9. Die Trunkenheit Noahs: „Und da er von dem Wein trank, ward er trunken und lag im Zelt aufgedeckt.“ (Genesis 9, 20–22)

Benachbarte Darstellungen

Medaillon mit dem Tod des Urija

1. Medaillons: vergoldete Kreisscheiben mit Darstellung der Kämpfe aus dem Buch der Könige. Sie wurden von Michelangelos Helfern angefertigt, wobei auffällt, dass die vor dem Jahr 1511 gemalten Medaillons sorgfältiger ausgeführt wurden als die späteren.
2. Ignudi: Darstellung 20 nackter, muskulöser junger Männer, die mit Bändern und Eichenblättern geschmückt sind (Traubeneiche heißt übrigens auf italienisch „rovere“ und ist eine Anspielung auf den Familiennamen des Papstes Julius II.: „della Rovere“).

Propheten und Sibyllen

Cumäische Sibylle

Das Jüngste Gericht in der Sixtinischen Kapelle nach der Restaurierung

Detail aus dem Jüngsten Gericht

Selbstporträt Michelangelos auf der Haut des Bartholomäus

Neben den Propheten des Alten Testaments stellte Michelangelo auch Sibyllendar, Figuren aus der antiken Mythologie, die ebenfalls die Gabe der Weissagung besessen haben sollen. Die bekannteste dieser Sybillen ist die Cumäische, die die Geburt eines Erlösers vorhergesagt haben soll:

Das letzte Zeitalter, das von der Cumäischen Sibylle besungen wurde, wird kommen: „[…] seid freundlich gegenüber dem Knaben, der geboren werden wird […].“ (Vergil, IV. Ekloge)

Begleitet werden diese Darstellungen von Genien, die vermutlich deren Gedanken verkörpern und einen Kontrast zu deren Monumentalität bieten. Auffällig ist, dass die Propheten und Sybillen von einem Ende der Kapelle zum anderen größer werden. Es ist möglich, dass Michelangelo dadurch die perspektivische Verkürzung korrigieren wollte.

1. Prophet Sacharja
2. Delphische Sibylle
3. Prophet Jesaja
4. Sibylle von Cumae
5. Prophet Daniel
6. Libysche Sibylle
7. Prophet Jona
8. Prophet Jeremia
9. Persische Sibylle
10. Prophet Ezechiel
11. Sibylle von Erythrai
12. Prophet Joel

Vier Eckzwickel

Diese Gewölbezwickelbestehen aus vier großen Dreiecksfeldern an den Ecken des Gewölbes, die heroische Ereignisse aus dem Alten Testament schildern. Michelangelo nutzte bei diesen Feldern den Kunstgriff der Verkürzung, sodass diese Felder von unten richtig erfasst werden können.

1. David und Goliath
2. Judith und Holofernes
3. Die Bestrafung des Haman
4. Die eherne Schlange

Vorfahren Jesu

In den vierzehn halbkreisförmigen Lünetten über den Fenstern sind die Vorfahren Jesu dargestellt, wie sie bei Matthäus aufgezählt werden (Mt 1,1-16). Ihre Namen sind auf Schrifttafeln vermerkt. Die Abbildungen in den acht Stichkappen dienen vermutlich als Ergänzung, eine einwandfreie Identifizierung dieser Personen ist aber – ebenso wie bei den Lünetten – nicht möglich. Michelangelo stellte die Vorfahrenreihe vollständig dar, entfernte aber Jahre später eigenhändig die Bilder von Abraham bis Aram, um Platz für sein Jüngstes Gericht zu schaffen. So sind heute nur noch die Vorfahren Jesu ab Amminadab erhalten. Die Reihe beginnt vorn rechts an der Südwand und wird dann abwechselnd an Nordwand und Südwand fortgesetzt. Allerdings gibt es eine Ausnahme: Die Gruppe Joschijah, Jojachin und Schealtiël ist nach der Gruppe Hiskija, Manasse und Amon ebenfalls an der Nordwand platziert.

1. Amminadab
2. Nachschon
3. Salmon, Boas und Obed
4. Isai, David und Salomo
5. Rehabeam und Abija
6. Asa, Joschafat und Joram
7. Usija, Jotam und Ahas
8. Hiskija, Manasse und Amon
9. Joschija, Jojachin und Schealtiël
10. Serubbabel, Abihud und Eljakim
11. Azor und Zadok
12. Achim und Eliud
13. Eleasar und Mattan
14. Jakob und Josef

Bildprogramm

Das Bildprogramm des Deckengemäldes wird seit Erwin Panofskyneuplatonisch gedeutet. Michelangelo habe unter dem Einfluss Marsilio Ficinos (1433–1499) gestanden, eines einflussreichen Florentiner Philosophen, der die Lehren des Christentums mit denen Platons und Plotins in Einklang zu bringen versuchte. Ihn hatte Michelangelo in seiner Jugend wohl noch persönlich kennengelernt, sein theologischer Berater, der Generalprior des AugustinerordensAegidius de Viterbo, war ein entschiedener Anhänger Ficinos. Die einzelnen Tableaus des Deckenfreskos zeigen in dieser Interpretation den Aufstieg der in Leiblichkeit und Laster befangenen menschlichen Seele zurück zu ihrem göttlichen Ursprung, von der Trunkenheit Noahs, der Sintflut und dem Sündenfall über die die Gottebenbildlichkeit betonende Erschaffung Adams, in der die unmittelbar bevorstehende Berührung der Finger den geistigen Funken überspringen lässt, bis zur Scheidung des Lichts von der Finsternis am ersten Tag. Dabei werde Gott immer weniger anthropomorph dargestellt. Mit der Abbildung der heidnischen Sibyllen, gleichberechtigt mit den alttestamentlichen Propheten, habe Michelangelo im Sinne einer Philosophia perennis zum Ausdruck bringen wollen, dass das Christentum die Erfüllung sowohl der altisraelischen als auch der griechischen Weissagungen gebracht habe.^[2]

Stirnwandfresko ‘Jüngstes Gericht’

1532, über zwanzig Jahre später, wurde Michelangelo von Clemens VII. beauftragt, ein weiteres Fresko für die Wand über dem Altar anzufertigen, das das Jüngste Gericht darstellen sollte. Dieses Werk ersetzte drei Fresken des Malers Perugino (Geburt Christi, Auffindung Moses’, Himmelfahrt Mariens).

Michelangelo arbeitete von 1536^[3] bis 1541 an dem Fresko, um es im Alter von 66 Jahren fertigzustellen. Das Gemälde enthält auf über 200 m² ca. 390 Figuren, viele davon überlebensgroß. Es wird angenommen, dass Michelangelo alle Arbeiten an den Fresken ohne Mithilfe anderer Künstler und Assistenten ausführte, was zu seiner Zeit durchaus nicht üblich war.

Das Wandgemälde war Anlass für einen heftigen Streit zwischen Michelangelo und Kardinal Carafa, der die Darstellung als amoralisch und obszön bezeichnete^[4].

Auf diesem Bild stellt sich Michelangelo auf der abgezogenen Haut des Märtyrers Bartholomäus dar.

Rezeption

Durch die Darstellung von Geschlechtsteilen stieß das Gemälde seinerzeit oftmals auf Ablehnung. Kurz vor Michelangelos Tod 1564 wurde der Erlass („Pictura in Cappella Ap[ostoli]ca coopriantur“)verabschiedet, der Übermalungen von als unsittlich empfundenen Ausschnitten vorsah. Die Übermalungen wurden bald begonnen und auch noch viele Jahrzehnte später fortgesetzt. Hiermit beauftragt wurde Daniele da Volterra, was diesem den Spottnamen Braghettone(„Hosenmaler“) eintrug.

Erst bei der letzten ausgiebigen Restaurierung (1980–1994) wurde das Gemälde wieder in seinen Urzustand zurückversetzt, auch durch Behebung der Beschädigungen durch vorangegangene Restaurierungen. Unter anderem wurden dabei Rußspuren entfernt und verschattete, im Laufe der Jahrhunderte nachgedunkelte Flächen aufgehellt, so dass geradezu leuchtende Farben zum Vorschein kamen. Kunsthistoriker hatten lange geglaubt, dass Michelangelo mit sehr gedämpften Farben gemalt habe. Die Nacktheit der Heiligen konnte jedoch nicht wiederhergestellt werden, da Volterra die entsprechenden Stellen abgeschlagen und auf frischen Putz neu freskiert hatte. Die Fresken des Michelangelo für die Sixtinische Kapelle werden mitunter als die bedeutendsten Werke des Künstlers und der ganzen damaligen Kunstepoche bezeichnet.

Restaurierung (1982–1994)

Die Decke der Sistina und die Stirnwand mit dem Jüngsten Gericht wurden ab 1982 unter Finanzierung eines japanischen Konzerns sorgfältig mit destilliertem Wasser und mit einer mit Ammoniumcarbonat verdünnten Lösung restauriert. Nippon Televisionhat die Autorenrechte an 170.000 Metern Film (250 Stunden Spieldauer) und an 500 Dias, auf denen die Fresken vor, während und nach der Restaurierung zu sehen sind.

Schon hundert Jahre nach dem Tod Michelangelos hatten die Versuche begonnen, die ersten durch eindringendes Regenwasser, Schmutz und Kerzenschmauch entstandenen Schäden zu beheben. Doch häufig verschlechterte sich der Zustand der Fresken durch ungeschickte Arbeit. So entstanden im Laufe der Zeit Legenden: Michelangelo selbst habe einen Schleier über seine Fresken gemalt, um einen besonderen Effekt zu erzielen, oder vom Dunkel überlagerte Farben seien ein Charakteristikum des alternden Künstlers. Jetzt sorgen eine neue Dachkonstruktion, Klimaanlage und Feuchtigkeitsregelung dafür, dass die Fresken keinen Schaden mehr nehmen. Ein Spezialläufer in den Vorräumen sorgt sogar dafür, den Besuchern den Straßenstaub von den Schuhen zu nehmen.^[5]

Daniel (Michelangelo) vor und nach der Restaurierung

Bei dieser jüngsten Restaurierung ist eine dicke Schicht von Ruß und anderem Schmutz entfernt worden, und dabei trat eine ungeahnt starke Farbigkeit zu Tage. Die reinen Restaurierungsarbeiten waren 1994 abgeschlossen; am 11. Dezember 1999 fand die feierliche Wiedereröffnung der gesamten restaurierten Kapelle durch Papst Johannes Paul II. statt,^[6] knapp vor Beginn des heiligen Jahres 2000.

Die Restaurierung unter der Leitung des Chefrestaurators Gianluigi Colalucci wurde folgendermaßen ausgeführt: Zuerst wurde die Fläche mit doppelt destilliertem Wasser abgewaschen, dann wurde der größte Teil mit einem Lösungsmittel behandelt, um die Nacharbeiten früherer Restauratoren zu beseitigen. Lösungsmittel und Oberflächenschmutz wurden anschließend mit einem wassergetränkten Schwamm abgewischt. Diese Prozedur wurde mehrfach wiederholt, es lagen aber immer 24 Stunden Trockenzeit dazwischen.

In früheren Zeiten ging man mit dem Kunstwerk derber um. Frühere Restauratoren arbeiteten mit Brot und Wasser. War der Schmutz zu hartnäckig, diente griechischer Harzwein als Lösungsmittel. Es entstand eine Schicht, die zwar schützte, aber auch die Farben verdunkelte. Bereits wenige Jahrzehnte nach der Fertigstellung ließ man die Fresken durch sog. „mundatores“, also Reiniger, bearbeiten. Frische Farben sollten durch Leinfirnis erreicht werden, die sich mit dem Untergrund verbanden, also in das Originalmaterial des Freskos eindrangen. Damit waren spätere Restaurierungen an der Originalschicht ausgeschlossen.

Solcher Vorgang sieht inzwischen anders aus: Zuerst werden Ruß und Schmutz im Labor untersucht. Die Konzentration des Lösungsmittels kann dann der jeweiligen Verschmutzung angepasst werden. Das Lösungsmittel besteht aus einer Mischung aus Ammonium- und Natriumhydrogencarbonat, Carboxymethylcellulose und Fungiziden, verdünnt mit destilliertem Wasser. Die Spuren früherer Restauratoren lassen sich durch Infrarot-Analysen sichtbar machen. Die Schäden im Mauerwerk sind mittlerweile beträchtlich. An Stellen, wo sich der Putz vom Mauerwerk abzulösen droht, wird mit einer Spritze ein PVC-Kleber unter den Putz gebracht.

Im Oktober 2014 wurde eine neue LED-Beleuchtung in Betrieb genommen, die durch die Fenster eindringendes Tageslicht simuliert. Zudem wurde eine ausfahrbare Beleuchtung für besondere Anlässe installiert. Sie soll etwa beim Konklave den Kardinälen das Lesen von Wahlzetteln und Dokumenten erleichtern. Ziel des Anbringens einer neuen Beleuchtung war neben der Ausleuchtung der Fresken die durch LED-Technik verminderte Wärmeentwicklung und Energieersparnis bis zu 90 %.^[7][8]

Taufen in der Kapelle

Einer jüngeren Übung folgend, spendet der Papst jedes Jahr am Fest der Taufe des Herrn Kindern (zumeist vatikanischer Angestellter) in der Sixtinischen Kapelle das Sakrament der Taufe. Papst Benedikt XVI. feierte die Messe in italienischer Sprache am historischen Hochaltar der gewesteten Sixtina direkt unter dem Jüngsten Gericht des Michelangelo und nicht wie in früheren Jahren an einem nach der Liturgiereform für Messfeiern jeweils vor dem Hochaltar aufgebauten Volksaltar.^[9]

Orgel

Seit einigen Jahren befindet sich in der Kapelle eine Orgel. Das Werk von Mathis Orgelbau aus Näfels im Kanton Glarus (Schweiz) wurde im Dezember 2002 installiert. Die mechanische Schleifladenorgel besitzt 14 Register auf zwei Manualen und Pedal. Das Instrument hat folgende Disposition:^[10]

I Hauptwerk C–g3 1. Principal 8′ 2. Rohrflöte 8′ 3. Octave 4′ 4. Quinte 2 2⁄3′ 5. Flageolet 2′ 6. Terz 1 3⁄5′ 7. Mixtur II-III 1 1⁄3′

II Positiv C–g3 8. Gedackt 8′ 9. Blockflöte 4′ 10. Principal 2′ 11. Larigot 1 1⁄3′

Pedal C–f1 12. Subbass 16′ 13. Bordun 8′ 14. Choralbass 4′

• Koppeln: II/I, I/P
• Spielhilfen:Tremulant (ganze Orgel)

Literatur

• Berengaudus, Expositio super septem visiones libri Apocalypsis, in: Jacques-Paul Migne, Patrologia. Latina 17, col. 845 C.
• Malcolm Bull, Iconography of the Sistine Ceiling, The Burlington Magazine, 1988
• André Chastel: Die Sixtinische Kapelle, Benziger, Zürich / Köln 1986, 1993, ISBN 3-545-34059-7.
• Ginaluigi Colalucci, Fabrizio Mancinelli et al.: Die Sixtinische Kapelle. Die Deckenfresken. Benziger, Zürich u. Düsseldorf 1997
• Ginaluigi Colalucci, Fabrizio Mancinelli und Loren Partridge: Die Sixtinische Kapelle. Das Jüngste Gericht. Benziger, Zürich u. Düsseldorf 1997
• Pierluigi DeVecchi und Gianluigi Colalucci: Die Sixtinische Kapelle. Das Meisterwerk Michelangelos erstrahlt in neuem Glanz.
  • Orbis 2001
  • 272 Seiten, München, Bassermann, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8094-2080-4
• Joachim von Fiore, Concordia novi et veteris Testamenti, Venedig 1519,
• Michael Petery: Michelangelo. Der Zorn des Schöpfers, edition mbr, München-Ismaning 2008
• Heinrich PfeifferSJDie Sixtinische Kapelle neu entdeckt. Belser, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-7630-2488-9
• Rolf Quednau: Rom bannt Luther. Michelangelos Jüngstes Gericht im Lichte der konfessionellen Spaltung. In: Andreas Tacke (Hrsg.), Kunst und Konfession. Katholische Auftragswerke im Zeitalter der Glaubensspaltung, 1517–1563. Regensburg 2008, S. 348–424.
• Robin Richmond: Michelangelo und die Sixtinische Kapelle. Herder Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau 1999, ISBN 3-451-26912-0
• King Ross: „Michelangelo“, 384 Seiten, B&T, London, 2002, ISBN 978-0-14-200369-5
• Ernst Steinmann: Die Sixtinische Kapelle. 2 Bände. Bruckmann, München 1901–1905
• Charles de Tolnay: Michelangelo, Band II: The Sistine Ceiling. Princeton 1945, 3. Aufl. 1969
• Charles de Tolnay: Michelangelo, Band V: The Final Period. Princeton 1960, 2. Aufl. 1971

Filme

Aufgeführt sind Spielfilme oder Fernsehserien, in denen die Sixtinische Kapelle (entweder als Studionachbau oder CGI) einen wichtigen Schauplatz der Handlung darstellt.

• Michelangelo – Inferno und Ekstase (1965)
• In den Schuhen des Fischers (1968)
• Michelangelo – Genie und Leidenschaft (1991)
• Illuminati (2009)
• Habemus Papam – Ein Papst büxt aus (2011)
• The Young Pope (2016)

Weblinks

Commons: Sixtinische Kapelle – Album mit Bildern, Videos und Audiodateien

• Virtueller Rundgang durch die Sixtinische Kapelle
• Infos zur Sixtinischen Kapelle bei Vatikanische Museen
• Weitere Seite über die Sixtinische Kapelle (englisch)

Einzelnachweise

1. Hochspringen↑ Johann Wolfgang Goethe: Zweiter römischer Aufenthalt. In: Werke. Hrsg. von Erich Trunz. Bd. 11. 9., überarbeitete Aufl. C.H. Beck, München 1978, S. 350–556, hier S. 386 (Rom, den 23. August 1787).
2. Hochspringen↑ Jörg Lauster: Die Verzauberung der Welt. Eine Kulturgeschichte des Christentums. C.H. Beck, München 2014, S. 284–287.
3. Hochspringen↑ Das Jüngste Gericht. Vatikanische Museen; abgerufen am 15. Oktober 2012.
4. Hochspringen↑ Karl Möseneder: Michelangelos „Jüngstes Gericht“. Über die Schwierigkeiten des Disegno und die Freiheit der Kunst, in dsb., Hg.: Streit um Bilder. Von Byzanz bis Duchamp. Reimer, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-496-01169-6, S. 95–118 (Lit.)
5. Hochspringen↑ Horst Schlitter im Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger vom 9./10. April 1994, S. 33.
6. Hochspringen↑ Ansprache von Johannes Paul II. bei der Einweihung der vollständig restaurierten Sixtinischen Kapelle
7. Hochspringen↑ http://www.focus.de/auto/neuheiten/coole-effizienz-gottes-erleuchtung_id_4196400.html
8. Hochspringen↑ http://www.osram.de/osram_de/news-und-wissen/innovation/innovation-news-neues-licht-fuer-die-sixtinische-kapelle/index.jsp
9. Hochspringen↑ Radio Vatikan: Taufe in der Sixtina 13. Januar 2008.
10. Hochspringen↑ Informationen zur Orgel

Cappella Sistina   Italian) Giacobbe Giusti, Sistine Chapel
Sistine Chapel, from the altar end
Location on a map of Vatican City
Basic information
Location	Vatican City
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
District	Diocese of Rome
Country	Vatican City
Year consecrated	15 August 1483
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	Papal oratory
Leadership	Francis
Website	mv.vatican.va
Architectural description
Architect(s)	Baccio Pontelli, Giovanni de Dolci[1]
Architectural type	Church
Groundbreaking	1473[1]
Completed	1481[1]
Specifications
Length	40.9 metres (134 ft)
Width (nave)	13.4 metres (44 ft)
Height (max)	20.7 metres (68 ft)
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name: Vatican City
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, ii, iv, vi
Designated	1984[2]
Reference no.	286
State Party	Holy See
Region	Europe and North America

The Sistine Chapel (/ˌsɪstiːn ˈtʃæpəl/; Latin: Sacellum Sixtinum; Italian: Cappella Sistina[kapˈpɛlla siˈstiːna]) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope, in Vatican City. Originally known as the Cappella Magna, the chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who restored it between 1477 and 1480. Since that time, the chapel has served as a place of both religious and functionary papal activity. Today it is the site of the Papal conclave, the process by which a new pope is selected. The fame of the Sistine Chapel lies mainly in the frescosthat decorate the interior, and most particularly the Sistine Chapel ceiling and The Last Judgment by Michelangelo.

During the reign of Sixtus IV, a team of Renaissance painters that included Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Cosimo Roselli, created a series of frescos depicting the Life of Moses and the Life of Christ, offset by papal portraits above and trompe l’oeil drapery below. These paintings were completed in 1482, and on 15 August 1483 Sixtus IV celebrated the first mass in the Sistine Chapel for the Feast of the Assumption, at which ceremony the chapel was consecrated and dedicated to the Virgin Mary.^[3][4]

Between 1508 and 1512, under the patronage of Pope Julius II, Michelangelopainted the chapel’s ceiling, a project which changed the course of Western art and is regarded as one of the major artistic accomplishments of human civilization.^[5][6] In a different climate after the Sack of Rome, he returned and between 1535 and 1541, painted The Last Judgment for Popes Clement VII and Paul III.^[7] The fame of Michelangelo’s paintings has drawn multitudes of visitors to the chapel ever since they were revealed five hundred years ago.

History

While known as the location of Papal conclaves, the primary function of the Sistine Chapel is as the chapel of the Papal Chapel (Cappella Pontificia), one of the two bodies of the Papal household, called until 1968 the Papal Court (Pontificalis Aula). At the time of Pope Sixtus IV in the late 15th century, the Papal Chapel comprised about 200 people, including clerics, officials of the Vatican and distinguished laity. There were 50 occasions during the year on which it was prescribed by the Papal Calendar that the whole Papal Chapel should meet.^[8] Of these 50 occasions, 35 were masses, of which 8 were held in Basilicas, in general St. Peter’s, and were attended by large congregations. These included the Christmas Day and Easter masses, at which the Pope himself was the celebrant. The other 27 masses could be held in a smaller, less public space, for which the Cappella Maggiore was used before it was rebuilt on the same site as the Sistine Chapel.

The Cappella Maggiore derived its name, the Greater Chapel, from the fact that there was another chapel also in use by the Pope and his retinue for daily worship. At the time of Pope Sixtus IV, this was the Chapel of Pope Nicholas V, which had been decorated by Fra Angelico. The Cappella Maggiore is recorded as existing in 1368. According to a communication from Andreas of Trebizond to Pope Sixtus IV, by the time of its demolition to make way for the present chapel, the Cappella Maggiore was in a ruinous state with its walls leaning.^[9]

The Sistine Chapel as it may have appeared in the 15th century (19th-century drawing)

The present chapel, on the site of the Cappella Maggiore, was designed by Baccio Pontelli for Pope Sixtus IV, for whom it is named, and built under the supervision of Giovannino de Dolci between 1473 and 1481.^[1] The proportions of the present chapel appear to closely follow those of the original. After its completion, the chapel was decorated with frescoes by a number of the most famous artists of the High Renaissance, including Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Pietro Perugino, and Michelangelo.^[9]

The first mass in the Sistine Chapel was celebrated on 15 August 1483, the Feast of the Assumption, at which ceremony the chapel was consecrated and dedicated to the Virgin Mary.^[10]

The Sistine Chapel has maintained its function to the present day, and continues to host the important services of the Papal Calendar, unless the Pope is travelling. There is a permanent choir, the Sistine Chapel Choir, for whom much original music has been written, the most famous piece being Gregorio Allegri‘s Miserere.^[11]

Papal conclave

Main article: Papal conclave

One of the functions of the Sistine Chapel is as a venue for the election of each successive pope in a conclave of the College of Cardinals. On the occasion of a conclave, a chimney is installed in the roof of the chapel, from which smoke arises as a signal. If white smoke appears, created by burning the ballots of the election, a new Pope has been elected. If a candidate receives less than a two-thirds vote, the cardinals send up black smoke — created by burning the ballots along with wet straw and chemical additives — it means that no successful election has yet occurred.^[12]

The conclave also provided for the cardinals a space in which they can hear mass, and in which they can eat, sleep, and pass time attended by servants. From 1455, conclaves have been held in the Vatican; until the Great Schism, they were held in the Dominican convent of Santa Maria sopra Minerva.^[13] Since 1996, John Paul II‘s Apostolic ConstitutionUniversi Dominici gregis requires the cardinals to be lodged in the Domus Sanctae Marthae during a papal conclave, but to continue to vote in the Sistine Chapel.^[14]

Canopies for each cardinal-elector were once used during conclaves—a sign of equal dignity. After the new Pope accepts his election, he would give his new name; at this time, the other Cardinals would tug on a rope attached to their seats to lower their canopies. Until reforms instituted by Saint Pius X, the canopies were of different colours to designate which Cardinals had been appointed by which Pope. Paul VIabolished the canopies altogether, since, under his papacy, the population of the College of Cardinals had increased so much to the point that they would need to be seated in rows of two against the walls, making the canopies obstruct the view of the cardinals in the back row.

Architecture

Structure

 

Exterior of the Sistine Chapel

The chapel is a high rectangular building, for which absolute measurements are hard to ascertain, as available measurements are for the interior: 40.9 metres (134 ft) long by 13.4 metres (44 ft) wide, the dimensions of the Temple of Solomon, as given in the Old Testament.^[15]

Its exterior is unadorned by architectural or decorative details, as is common in many Italian churches of the Medieval and Renaissance eras. It has no exterior façade or exterior processional doorways, as the ingress has always been from internal rooms within the Apostolic Palace (Papal Palace), and the exterior can be seen only from nearby windows and light-wells in the palace. Subsidence and cracking of masonry such as must also have affected the Cappella Maggiore has necessitated the building of very large buttresses to brace the exterior walls. The accretion of other buildings has further altered the exterior appearance of the Chapel.

The building is divided into three stories of which the lowest is a very tall basement level with several utilitarian windows and a doorway giving onto the exterior court. Internally, the basement is robustly vaulted to support the chapel. Above is the main space, the Sistine Chapel, the vaulted ceiling rising to 20.7 metres (68 ft). The building had six tall arched windows down each side and two at either end, several of which have been blocked. Above the vault is a third story with wardrooms for guards. At this level, an open projecting gangway was constructed, which encircled the building supported on an arcade springing from the walls. The gangway has been roofed as it was a continual source of water leaking in to the vault of the Chapel.

A reconstruction of the appearance of the chapel in the 1480s, prior to the painting of the ceiling.

Interior of the Sistine Chapel

The general proportions of the chapel use the length as the unit of measurement. This has been divided by three to get the width and by two to get the height. Maintaining the ratio, there were six windows down each side and two at either end. Defined proportions were a feature of Renaissance architecture and reflected the growing interest in the Classical heritage of Rome.

The ceiling of the chapel is a flattened barrel vault springing from a course that encircles the walls at the level of the springing of the window arches. This barrel vault is cut transversely by smaller vaults over each window, which divide the barrel vault at its lowest level into a series of large pendentives rising from shallow pilasters between each window. The barrel vault was originally painted brilliant-blue and dotted with gold stars, to the design of Piermatteo Lauro de’ Manfredi da Amelia.^[9]The pavement is in opus alexandrinum, a decorative style using marble and coloured stone in a pattern that reflects the earlier proportion in the division of the interior and also marks the processional way from the main door, used by the Pope on important occasions such as Palm Sunday.

A screen or transenna in marble by Mino da Fiesole, Andrea Bregno, and Giovanni Dalmata divides the chapel into two parts.^[16] Originally these made equal space for the members of the Papal Chapel within the sanctuary near the altar and the pilgrims and townsfolk without. However, with growth in the number of those attending the Pope, the screen was moved giving a reduced area for the faithful laity. The transenna is surmounted by a row of ornate candlesticks, once gilt, and has a wooden door, where once there was an ornate door of gilded wrought iron. The sculptors of the transenna also provided the cantoria or projecting choir gallery.

Decoration

Diagram of part of the vertical fresco decoration of the Sistine Chapel

History

The first stage in the decoration of the Sistine Chapel was the painting of the ceiling in blue, studded with gilt stars, and with decorative borders around the architectural details of the pendentives. This was entirely replaced when Michelangelo came to work on the ceiling in 1508.

Of the present scheme of frescos, the earliest part is that of the side walls. They are divided into three main tiers. The central tier of the walls has two cycles of paintings, which complement each other, The Life of Moses and The Life of Christ. They were commissioned in 1480 by Pope Sixtus IV and executed by Domenico Ghirlandaio, Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Cosimo Roselli and their workshops. They originally ran all round the walls, but have since been replaced on both end walls.

The project was perhaps supervised by Perugino, who arrived at the chapel prior to the Florentines. It is probable that the commission of Ghirlandaio, Botticelli and Roselli was part of a reconciliation project between Lorenzo de’ Medici, the de factoruler of Florence, and Pope Sixtus IV. The Florentines started to work in the Sistine Chapel in the Spring of 1481.

Beneath the cycles of The Life of Moses and The Life of Christ, the lower level of the walls is decorated with frescoed hangings in silver and gold. Above the narrative frescos, the upper tier is divided into two zones. At the lower level of the windows is a Gallery of Popes painted at the same time as the Lives. Around the arched tops of the windows are areas known as the lunettes which contain the Ancestors of Christ, painted by Michelangelo as part of the scheme for the ceiling.

The ceiling was commissioned by Pope Julius II and painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512. The commission was originally to paint the twelve apostles on the triangular pendentives which support the vault; however, Michelangelo demanded a free hand in the pictorial content of the scheme. He painted a series of nine pictures showing God’s Creation of the World, God’s Relationship with Mankind, and Mankind’s Fall from God’s Grace. On the large pendentives he painted twelve Biblical and Classical men and women who prophesied that God would send Jesus Christ for the salvation of mankind, and around the upper parts of the windows, the Ancestors of Christ.

In 1515, Raphael was commissioned by Pope Leo X to design a series of ten tapestries to hang around the lower tier of the walls.^[17] The tapestries depict events from the Life of St. Peter and the Life of St. Paul, the founders of the Christian Church in Rome, as described in the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. Work began in mid-1515. Due to their large size, manufacture of the hangings was carried out in Brussels, and took four years under the hands of the weavers in the shop of Pieter van Aelst.^[18] Raphael’s tapestries were looted during the Sack of Rome in 1527 and were either burnt for their precious metal content or were scattered around Europe. In the late 20th century, a set was reassembled from several further sets that had been made after the first set, and displayed again in the Sistine Chapel in 1983. The tapestries continue in use at occasional ceremonies of particular importance. The full-size preparatory cartoons for seven of the ten tapestries are known as the Raphael Cartoons and are in London.^[19]

At this point, the decorative scheme displayed a consistent iconographical pattern. The tier of Popes, which, in the scheme intended by Pope Julius, would have appeared immediately below the Twelve Apostles, would have emphasised the apostolic succession. It has been argued that the present scheme shows the two Biblical Testaments merged in order to reveal the Old predicting and framing the New, synthesizing, the logic of the Christian Bible.^[20]

This was disrupted by a further commission to Michelangelo to decorate the wall above the altar with The Last Judgment, 1537–1541. The painting of this scene necessitated the obliteration of two episodes from the Lives, the Nativity of Jesus and the Finding of Moses; several of the Popes and two sets of Ancestors.

Frescoes

Trials of Moses by Botticelli

Southern wall

The southern wall is decorated with the Stories of Moses, painted in 1481–1482. Starting from the altar, they include:

• Moses Leaving to Egypt by Pietro Perugino and assistants
• The Trials of Moses by Sandro Botticelli and his workshop
• The Crossing of the Red Sea by Cosimo Rosselli, Domenico Ghirlandaio or Biagio di Antonio Tucci
• Descent from Mount Sinai by Cosimo Rosselli or Piero di Cosimo
• Punishment of the Rebels by Sandro Botticelli
• Testament and Death of Moses by Luca Signorelli or Bartolomeo della Gatta

Northern wall

The Delivery of the Keys by Perugino

The northern wall houses the Stories of Jesus, dating to 1481–1482. They include:

• Baptism of Christ by Pietro Perugino and assistants
• Temptation of Christ by Sandro Botticelli
• Vocation of the Apostles by Domenico Ghirlandaio
• The Sermon on the Mount, attributed to Cosimo Rosselli
• The Delivery of the Keys by Pietro Perugino
• The Last Supper by Cosimo Rosselli

Eastern wall

• Resurrection of Christ
  

  Resurrection of Christ

  by Hendrick van den Broeck(1572) over Domenico Ghirlandaio’s original

• Disputation over Moses’ Body by Matteo da Lecce(1574) over Luca Signorelli’s original

Michelangelo’s frescoes

The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo

Michelangelo was commissioned by Pope Julius II in 1508 to repaint the vault, or ceiling, of the Chapel. It was originally painted as golden stars on a blue sky. The work was completed between 1508 and 2 November 1512.^[21]He painted the Last Judgment over the altar, between 1535 and 1541, on commission from Pope Paul IIIFarnese.^[22]

Michelangelo was intimidated by the scale of the commission, and made it known from the outset of Julius II’s approach that he would prefer to decline. He felt he was more of a sculptor than a painter, and was suspicious that such a large-scale project was being offered to him by enemies as a set-up for an inevitable fall. For Michelangelo, the project was a distraction from the major marble sculpture that had preoccupied him for the previous few years.^[23]

The sources of Michelangelo’s inspiration are not easily determined; both Joachite and Augustinian theologians were within the sphere of Julius influence.^[24]

Ceiling

Main article: Sistine Chapel ceiling

See also: Gallery of Sistine Chapel ceiling

A section of the Sistine Chapel ceiling

To be able to reach the ceiling, Michelangelo needed a support; the first idea was by Julius’ favoured architect Donato Bramante, who wanted to build for him a scaffold to be suspended in the air with ropes. However, Bramante did not successfully complete the task, and the structure he built was flawed. He had perforated the vault in order to lower strings to secure the scaffold. Michelangelo laughed when he saw the structure, and believed it would leave holes in the ceiling once the work was ended. He asked Bramante what was to happen when the painter reached the perforations, but the architect had no answer.

The matter was taken before the Pope, who ordered Michelangelo to build a scaffold of his own. Michelangelo created a flat wooden platform on brackets built out from holes in the wall, high up near the top of the windows. Contrary to popular belief, he did not lie on this scaffolding while he painted, but painted from a standing position.^[25]

Michelangelo used bright colours, easily visible from the floor. On the lowest part of the ceiling he painted the ancestors of Christ. Above this he alternated male and female prophets, with Jonah over the altar. On the highest section, Michelangelo painted nine stories from the Book of Genesis. He was originally commissioned to paint only 12 figures, the Apostles. He turned down the commission because he saw himself as a sculptor, not a painter. The Pope offered to allow Michelangelo to paint biblical scenes of his own choice as a compromise. After the work was finished, there were more than 300. His figures showed the creation, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and the Great Flood.

The painted area is about 40 m (131 ft) long by 13 m (43 ft) wide. This means that Michelangelo painted well over 5,000 square feet (460 m²) of frescoes.^[26]

Last Judgement

Michelangelo’s The Last Judgement.

Main article: The Last Judgment (Michelangelo)

The Last Judgement was painted by Michelangelo from 1535 to 1541, between two important historic events, the Sack of Rome by mercenary forces of the Holy Roman Empire in 1527 and the Council of Trent which commenced in 1545. The work was designed on a grand scale, and spans the entire wall behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel. The painting depicts the second coming of Christ on the Day of Judgment as described in the Revelation of John, Chapter 20. High on the wall is the heroic figure of Christ, with the saints clustered in groups around him. At the bottom left of the painting the dead are raised from their graves and ascend to be judged. To the right are those who are assigned to Hell and are dragged down by demons.

The Last Judgement was an object of a bitter dispute between Cardinal Carafa and Michelangelo. Because he depicted naked figures, the artist was accused of immorality and obscenity. A censorship campaign (known as the « Fig-Leaf Campaign ») was organized by Carafa and Monsignor Sernini (Mantua‘s ambassador) to remove the frescoes.

The Pope’s Master of Ceremonies Biagio da Cesena said « it was most disgraceful that in so sacred a place there should have been depicted all those nude figures, exposing themselves so shamefully, and that it was no work for a papal chapel but rather for the public baths and taverns, »^[27] In response Michelangelo worked da Cesena’s semblance into the scene as Minos, judge of the underworld. It is said that when he complained to the Pope, the pontiff responded that his jurisdiction did not extend to hell, so the portrait would have to remain. Michelangelo also painted his own portrait, on the flayed skin held by St Bartholomew.

The genitalia in the fresco were later covered by the artist Daniele da Volterra, whom history remembers by the derogatory nickname « Il Braghettone » (« the breeches-painter »).

Restoration and controversy

Main article: Restoration of the Sistine Chapel frescoes

The Sistine Chapel’s ceiling restoration began on 7 November 1984. The restoration complete, the chapel was re-opened to the public on 8 April 1994. The part of the restoration in the Sistine Chapel that has caused the most concern is the ceiling, painted by Michelangelo. The emergence of the brightly coloured Ancestors of Christfrom the gloom sparked a reaction of fear that the processes being employed in the cleaning were too severe and removed the original intent of the artist.

Daniel, before and after restoration.

The problem lies in the analysis and understanding of the techniques utilised by Michelangelo, and the technical response of the restorers to that understanding. A close examination of the frescoes of the lunettesconvinced the restorers that Michelangelo worked exclusively in « buon fresco« ; that is, the artist worked only on freshly laid plaster and each section of work was completed while the plaster was still in its fresh state. In other words, Michelangelo did not work « a secco« ; he did not come back later and add details onto the dry plaster.

The restorers, by assuming that the artist took a universal approach to the painting, have taken a universal approach to the restoration. A decision was made that all of the shadowy layer of animal glue and « lamp black », all of the wax, and all of the overpainted areas were contamination of one sort or another: smoke deposits, earlier restoration attempts, and painted definition by later restorers in an attempt to enliven the appearance of the work. Based on this decision, according to Arguimbau’s critical reading of the restoration data that have been provided, the chemists of the restoration team decided upon a solvent that would effectively strip the ceiling down to its paint-impregnated plaster. After treatment, only that which was painted « buon fresco » would remain.^{[citation needed]}

Replicas

The only reproduction of the Sistine Chapel ceiling was painted by Gary Bevans at a church in Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex, England.^[28] A full-size architectural and photographic replica of the entire building was commissioned by the Mexican Government and funded by private donors.^[29] It was on view at Mexico City from June 1 to July 15, 2016; it may then be exhibited at other Mexican cities and possibly elsewhere in the world. It took 2.6 million high definition photographs to reproduce the totality of the frescoes and tapestries.^[30] A video of the history of the Chapel is shown to the visitors before entering the building; inside, a light-and-sound demonstration explains the content of each of the frescoes.

Quotes on Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel

« Without having seen the Sistine Chapel one can form no appreciable idea of what one man is capable of achieving. »

— Johann Wolfgang Goethe, 23 August 1787, ^[31]

« This work has been and truly is a beacon of our art, and it has brought such benefit and enlightenment to the art of painting that it was sufficient to illuminate a world which for so many hundreds of years had remained in the state of darkness. And, to tell the truth, anyone who is a painter no longer needs to concern himself about seeing innovations and inventions, new ways of painting poses, clothing on figures, and various awe-inspiring details, for Michelangelo gave to this work all the perfection that can be given to such details. »

— Giorgio Vasari on Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel

Giacobbe Giusti, システィーナ礼拝堂

システィーナ礼拝堂 Cappella Sistina （イタリア語） Sacellum Sixtinum （ラテン語） Giacobbe Giusti, システィーナ礼拝堂
システィーナ礼拝堂内部
バチカン市国における位置
基本情報
所在地	ヴァチカン
宗教	ローマ・カトリック
奉献年	1483年8月15日
教会的現況	ローマ教皇礼拝堂
管理者	フランシスコ
ウェブサイト	mv.vatican.va
建設
建築家	バッチオ・ポンテッリ、ジョヴァンニ・デ・ドルッチ[1]
形式	教会
着工	1473年[1]
完成	1481年[1]
建築物
横幅	40.9メートル (134 ft)
奥行(身廊)	13.4メートル (44 ft)
最長部(最高)	20.7メートル (68 ft)
世界遺産
正式名称: ヴァチカン市国
基準	i, ii, iv, vi
登録日	1984年[2]
登録番号	286
登録区分	文化遺産

システィーナ礼拝堂（システィーナれいはいどう、伊: Cappella Sistina）は、ローマ教皇の公邸であるバチカン宮殿にある礼拝堂。サン・ピエトロ大聖堂北隣に位置するその建物とともに、ミケランジェロ、ボッティチェッリ、ペルジーノ、ピントゥリッキオら、盛期ルネサンスを代表する芸術家たちが内装に描いた数々の装飾絵画作品で世界的に有名な礼拝堂である。とくにローマ教皇ユリウス2世の注文でミケランジェロが1508年から1512年にかけて描いた天井画と、ローマ教皇クレメンス7世が注文し、ローマ教皇パウルス3世が完成を命じた、1535年から1541年にかけて描いた『最後の審判』はミケランジェロの絵画作品の頂点とされている。

もともとバチカン宮殿に存在していた古い礼拝堂を1477年から1480年にかけてローマ教皇シクストゥス4世が建て直させた建物で、その教皇名（伊: Sisto IV）にちなんでシスティーナ礼拝堂と名付けられた。この建て直し時には、ペルジーノ、ボッティチェッリ、ギルランダイオらの芸術家たちが、一連の内装フレスコ壁画を手がけている。壁画に描かれているのは『旧約聖書』からの「モーセの生涯の物語」ならびに『新約聖書』からの「キリストの生涯の物語」と、歴代のローマ教皇の肖像画で、これらは1482年から1483年8月にかけて描かれた作品となっている^[3]。落成したシスティーナ礼拝堂で最初のミサを執り行ったのはシクストゥス4世だった。このミサは聖母被昇天に捧げられたもので、システィーナ礼拝堂を聖母マリアに奉献することを表明する式典でもあった^[4]。

シクストゥス4世以降、システィーナ礼拝堂は宗教的施設とローマ教皇執務室という二つの役割を果たしてきた。現在ではローマ教皇を選出する会議であるコンクラーヴェの会場としても使用されている。

歴史

システィーナ礼拝堂はローマ教皇を選出するコンクラーヴェが開催される場所として広く知られている。しかしながら、教皇礼拝堂 (Cappella Pontificia) の一角を構成するシスティーナ礼拝堂は、1968年まで教皇宮殿 (Pontificalis Aula) と呼ばれていた教皇公邸 (Domus Pontificalis) としての性格も持っている。シクストゥス4世が在位していた15世紀後半の教皇礼拝堂には、聖職者、聖座職員、高位の平信徒らおよそ200人の人々が関わっており、年間50件におよぶ式典、行事を執り行うことが定められていた^[5]。これらの行事で35件を占めるのがミサで、そのうち8件が通常サン・ピエトロ大聖堂で実施されており、多数の信徒が集まる一大式典だった。クリスマスやイースターのミサには教皇自ら典礼として参加していた。残り27件のミサは比較的小規模で大きな施設を必要としなかったこともあって、システィーナ礼拝堂が完成する以前にはマッジョーレ礼拝堂が使用されていた。

ローマ教皇シクストゥス4世

ヴァチカン宮殿にはマッジョーレ礼拝堂のほかにも、ローマ教皇と教皇庁職員が日々の祈りを捧げる場所として使用される礼拝堂があり、シクストゥス4世在位時にはニコラウス5世が建てた、フラ・アンジェリコが内部装飾を手がけた礼拝堂が使用されていた。マッジョーレ礼拝堂は少なくとも1368年までは存在していたことが記録として残っている。しかしながら、後年のトラブゾンのアンドレアスとシクストゥス4世とのやりとりには、当時のマッジョーレ礼拝堂は荒廃して壁は傾いており、新しい礼拝堂を建設するために取り壊す必要があることが記されている^[6]。

システィーナ礼拝堂はマッジョーレ礼拝堂の跡地に建てられている。シクストゥス4世の命でバッチオ・ポンテッリ (en:Baccio Pontelli) が設計し、ジョヴァンニ・デ・ドリッチの総指揮のもとで1473年から1481年にかけて建設された^[1]。現在でもシスティーナ礼拝堂の外観はほぼ建設当時のままである。建物の完成後、盛期ルネサンスを代表する芸術家であるボッティチェッリ、ギルランダイオ、ペルジーノ、ミケランジェロらによるフレスコ画で内部装飾がなされた^[6]。

完成後のシスティーナ礼拝堂で最初のミサが執り行われたのは1483年8月9日である。このミサは聖母被昇天に捧げられたもので、システィーナ礼拝堂が聖母マリアに奉献されることを公表する式典でもあった^[4]。現在でもシスティーナ礼拝堂はさまざまな式典や行事などに使用されており、ローマ教皇が外遊などで不在の場合を除いて、ローマ教皇庁の公式行事の重要な開催場所である。世界最古の聖歌隊の一つであるシスティーナ礼拝堂聖歌隊 (en:Sistine Chapel Choir) は、ルネサンス期に作曲された合唱曲を現在にそのまま伝えており、なかでもローマ楽派の作曲家グレゴリオ・アレグリの『ミゼレーレ』がとくに有名な楽曲となっている^[7]。

コンクラーヴェ

詳細は「コンクラーヴェ」を参照

システィーナ礼拝堂が持つ最重要機能として、枢機卿団 (en:College of Cardinals) が次代のローマ教皇を選出する会議であるコンクラーヴェの開催場所となっていることがあげられる。コンクラーヴェ開催中にはシスティーナ礼拝堂の屋根に煙突が設置され、そこから排気される煙の色でコンクラーヴェの状況が告知される。投票によって新たなローマ教皇が選出された場合には、投票に使用された用紙が燃やされて白い煙があがる。投票の結果、候補者の最大得票数が全体の三分の二に満たない場合には、投票用紙とともに湿った藁と化学添加剤が燃やされて煙突から黒い煙があがり、次代のローマ教皇は未決定であるということを知らせる^[8]。

コンクラーヴェの期間中は枢機卿団は外出が許されず、ミサの出席、食事、就寝など日々の生活はすべて、特に選別された世話係の手を借りてコンクラーヴェ会場内で行わなければならなかった。1455年以降コンクラーヴェはヴァチカン宮殿内で実施されており、教皇が複数鼎立した教会大分裂まではドミニコ会教会堂のサンタ・マリア・ソプラ・ミネルヴァ教会がコンクラーヴェの開催場所となっていた^[9]。

ヨハネ・パウロ2世が1996年に発布した『使徒憲章』「使徒座空位とローマ教皇選出について」(en:Universi Dominici Gregis) で、コンクラーヴェ期間中の枢機卿の宿舎はコンクラーヴェ会場のシスティーナ礼拝堂ではなくドムス・サンクテ・マルテ（聖マルタの家 (en:Domus Sanctae Marthae)）とするように変更されたが、ローマ教皇選出の投票自体は従前どおりシスティーナ礼拝堂で実施するよう定められている^[10]。

建物

外観

Giacobbe Giusti, システィーナ礼拝堂

システィーナ礼拝堂の外観

システィーナ礼拝堂はレンガ造りの長方形の建物である。簡素な外観で、建築様式上の特徴も装飾もなく、イタリアでよく見られる中世からルネサンス期に建てられた教会堂と変わりはない。ファサードも行列用の入場口もなく、礼拝堂への入り口はヴァチカン宮殿内から通じる一箇所のみとなっており、システィーナ礼拝堂はヴァチカン宮殿の窓あるいは光井戸からわずかに垣間見える程度である。礼拝堂は三階建てで、一階部分がもっとも大きく、実用的な窓がはめ込まれた壁面と円天井、そしてヴァチカン宮殿へと通じる出入り口で構成されている。システィーナ礼拝堂のもっとも重要な階層といえる二階は奥行き40.9m、幅13.4mで、これは『旧約聖書』の『列王記』6章にあるソロモン王の神殿の比率と同じである^[11]。円天井の高さは20.7mで、壁両側面にはそれぞれ6枚の細長いアーチ状の窓があり、片端面には2枚の窓がある。三階部分は衛士の控え室となっている。三階部分には建築途中で放棄されている、外壁のアーチ状構造物に支えられた、礼拝堂を巡る渡り通路がある。この渡り廊下の屋根からは頻繁に雨漏りが生じている。

地盤沈下とレンガのひび割れに悩まされたマッジョーレ礼拝堂を教訓として、システィーナ礼拝堂には外壁を補強する大規模な控え壁が採用された。システィーナ礼拝堂より後に建てられたヴァチカン宮殿付属の建物は、システィーナ礼拝堂とはまったく異なった外観で設計されている。

内装

システィーナ礼拝堂内部の東壁面と北壁面。

システィーナ礼拝堂二階の天井は、窓上部の壁から始まる丸みの少ないアーチ状の円天井である。この円天井の最下層部分は、それぞれの窓の間にある細い装飾用の付柱から伸びる大きな三角形のペンデンティヴに接している。当初の円天井は、ピエルマッテオ・ダメリア (en:Piermatteo Lauro de’ Manfredi da Amelia) がデザインした、金色の星がちりばめられた鮮やかな青一色で塗装されていた^[6]。床面は建設当初の内部レイアウトに従って、大理石と色石が使用されたコスマテスク様式 (en:Cosmatesque) の飾り石張りとなっている。また、聖枝祭のような重要な式典時にローマ教皇の行列が足を進める箇所には特別な飾りが施されている。

ミーノ・ダ・フィエゾーレ (en:Mino da Fiesole)、アンドレア・ブレーニョ (en:Andrea Bregno)、ジョヴァンニ・ダルマータ (en:Giovanni Dalmata) の手による大理石のトランセンナ（彫刻が施された柵）が室内を大きく二分している^[12]。このトランセンナは祭壇近くの礼拝堂関係者の場所と、巡礼者や礼拝堂を訪れる近隣住民ら一般信徒の場所を隔てるために使用されており、当初は礼拝堂の中心に置かれて礼拝堂関係者と関係者以外に同じ面積が割り当てられていた。しかしながら、ローマ教皇の随行員の増加に伴ってトランセンナが動かされ、一般信徒に与えられる場所は徐々に少なくなっていった。トランセンナの上部には一列に並んだ華美な燭台が置かれており、木製の扉がついている。かつてこの燭台は金箔で覆われており、扉も金箔が貼られた精緻な鉄製の扉だった。このトランセンナを制作した前述の芸術家たちの作品は、『カントリア』や聖歌隊席などの彫刻にも残っている。

ラファエロのタペストリ

『アナニヤの死』、ラファエロが描いた下絵。

ラファエロが描いた下絵をもとに制作されたタペストリ。

システィーナ礼拝堂で開催されるとくに重要な式典では、両側の壁がラファエロが礼拝堂のためにデザインした「聖ペテロの生涯」と「聖パウロの生涯」を描き出したタペストリで覆われる。『福音書』と『使徒行伝』からのエピソードをモチーフとしたもので、ラファエロが描いたデザイン用の下絵『ラファエロのカルトン』10点のうち現存する7点をイギリス王家のロイヤル・コレクションが所蔵しており、1865年からロンドンのヴィクトリア&アルバート博物館で展示されている^[13]。このラファエロのタペストリは1527年のローマ略奪で収奪されており、貴金属が剥ぎ取られヨーロッパ中に散逸してしまっていた。20世紀後半にシスティーナ礼拝堂に戻され（新しく作り直されたタペストリもある）、1983年から元通りシスティーナ礼拝堂で使用されるようになった。

内部装飾

三層に別れたシスティーナ礼拝堂の内部壁面。下から、金銀の布を描いたフレスコ画、キリストの生涯を描いたフレスコ画、歴代ローマ教皇の肖像とキリストの祖先たち。

システィーナ礼拝堂の内部壁面は三層に大別できる。下層は金銀の布が描かれたフレスコ画である。中層には互いを補完しあう「モーセの生涯の物語」と「キリストの生涯の物語」のフレスコ画がある。これらのフレスコ画は1480年にローマ教皇シクストゥス4世が依頼したもので、ギルランダイオ、ボッティチェッリ、ペルジーノ、ロッセッリ (en:Cosimo Roselli) らが、それぞれが率いていた工房の弟子たちとともに制作に当たった。おそらく当時すでにローマにあって、システィーナ礼拝堂内部装飾の責任者になっていたと考えられているペルジーノのもとに集められた当時のフィレンツェを代表する画家たちは、1480年10月27日にフィレンツェを発ってローマへと向かい、1481年の初春から壁画制作を開始している。フィレンツェの画家たちがシスティーナ礼拝堂の内部装飾に任命された背景には、当時シクストゥス4世と仲違いしていた、フィレンツェの支配者ロレンツォ・デ・メディチとの関係修復という意味合いもあった。上層はさらに上下に二分割できる。下部には歴代ローマ教皇の肖像が等身大で描かれている。上部のルネットにはミケランジェロの天井画の一部として、キリストの祖先とされる歴史上の人物たちが描かれている。

ミケランジェロがローマ教皇ユリウス2世の命でシスティーナ礼拝堂天井画を描いたのは1508年から1512年にかけてである。この天井画には『創世記』のエピソードから「天地創造」、「アダムとイヴ」、「失楽園」など9点のフレスコ画が描かれている。円天井を支える三角形のペンデンティヴには、神が救世主キリストを遣わすことを預言した『旧約聖書』の7人の預言者と古代の巫女（シビュラ）が描かれている。

1515年に、ローマ教皇レオ10世の命で、ラファエロが礼拝堂壁面最下層を飾る10点のタペストリをデザインした^[14]。当時のラファエロは25歳にしてフィレンツェではすでに多くの富裕なパトロンを持つ有力な芸術家だった。そしてラファエロは野心ある若者であり、ローマ教皇をパトロンに持つという栄誉を希求していた^[15]。ローマ教皇に気に入られ、活気溢れるローマに魅せられたラファエロは、その後の生涯をローマで送ることになる。

ラファエロはこのシスティーナ礼拝堂のタペストリ制作依頼を、自身の作品とミケランジェロの作品とを比較する絶好の機会だと見なしていた。またラファエロにタペストリ制作を命じたレオ10世にも、前任のローマ教皇ユリウス2世がミケランジェロに描かせた天井画への対抗心があったと考えられている^[16]。ミケランジェロがタペストリのモチーフとしたのは『使徒行伝』で、1515年半ばからデザインの制作が開始された。織り上げるためにブリュッセルに送られたタペストリのデザインは非常に大規模なもので、ピーテル・ファン・アールストの工房で4年間をかけて完成している^[17]。

フレスコ画

ボッティチェッリとその工房が描いた『モーセの試練』。

南壁面

システィーナ礼拝堂の南壁面は、1481年から1482年にかけて描かれた「モーセの生涯の物語」で装飾されている。主祭壇から順に以下の作品となっている。

• 『モーセのエジプト脱出』 – ペルジーノとその弟子作
• 『モーセの試練』 – ボッティチェッリとその工房作
• 『紅海横断』 – ロッセッリとギルランダイオまたはビアッジョ・ダントーニオ (en:Biagio d’Antonio) 作
• 『シナイ山から下山したモーゼ』 – ロッセッリまたはピエロ・ディ・コジモ作
• 『反逆者たちの懲罰』 – ボッティチェッリ作
• 『モーゼの死と遺言』 – シニョレッリとバルトロメオ・デッラ・ガッタ (en:Bartolomeo della Gatta)

北壁面

システィーナ礼拝堂の南壁面は、1481年から1482年にかけて描かれた「キリストの生涯の物語」で装飾されている。

• 『キリストの洗礼』 – ペルジーノとその弟子作
• 『キリストの誘惑』 – ボッティチェッリ作
• 『使徒の改宗』 – ギルランダイオ作
• 『聖ペテロへの天国の鍵の授与』 – ペルジーノ作
• 『最後の晩餐』 – ロッセッリ作

西壁面

• 『キリストの復活』 – ヘンドリク・ファン・デン・ブルック作（1572年）、ギルランダイオのフレスコ画に上描き
• 『モーセの遺体をめぐる争い』 – マッテオ・ダ・レッチェ作（1574年）、シニョレッリのフレスコ画に上描き

壁面フレスコ画

• 

  『反逆者たちの懲罰』
  （ボッティチェッリ）

• 

  『キリストの洗礼』
  （ペルジーノとその弟子）

• 

  『使徒の改宗』
  （ギルランダイオ）

• 

  『聖ペテロへの天国の鍵の授与』
  （ペルジーノ）

• 

  『最後の晩餐』
  （ロッセッリ）

ミケランジェロのフレスコ画

天井画

ミケランジェロが描いたシスティーナ礼拝堂天井画『アダムの創造』。神が人間を創造し、命を与えるエピソードの象徴となっている、システィーナ礼拝堂のフレスコ画の中でも世界的にもっとも有名な作品である。

詳細は「システィーナ礼拝堂天井画」を参照

ミケランジェロがローマ教皇ユリウス2世にシスティーナ礼拝堂天井画の描き直しを命じられたのは1508年だった。それまで、天井とヴォールトには金の星々がきらめく青い空が描かれていた^[6]。この縦40m、横13mで、総面積は460平方メートルという大規模な天井画^[18]の制作は1508年に開始され、1512年11月2日に完成した^[19]。

当初ミケランジェロはユリウス2世からのこの壮大な天井画制作依頼を嫌がり、ユリウス2世が考えていた計画の下では作業をしたくないと断っている。ミケランジェロは自身を画家ではなく彫刻家であると自負しており、このような大規模で実現困難な絵画制作がまわってきたのは、失敗させて自分を陥れるための罠なのではないかと疑ってさえいた。ミケランジェロにとってみれば、システィーナ礼拝堂の絵画制作依頼は、数年前から専念していた大理石彫刻の制作の邪魔にしか思えなかったのである^[20]。

ミケランジェロが天井画のデザインとして採用したのは、依頼主のユリウス2世が持っていたシスティーナ礼拝堂の天井に空を背景とした十二使徒を描きだすという構想^[21]からかけ離れた、はるかに複雑なものだった。ミケランジェロが天井画に『創世記』を中心とした構成に変更した理由は定かではない。この天井画に対して影響を与えたような過去の作品は存在せず、ミケランジェロが描きあげたこの絵画はそれまでの絵画作品とは隔絶したものといえる^[22]。

ユリウス2世は、天井に絵を描くための足場制作をミケランジェロ自身に任せた。ミケランジェロはシスティーナ礼拝堂の壁面、窓最上部とほぼ同じ高さの箇所に穴を開けて腕木を渡し、その上に平らな板を載せて足場とした。そしてこの板に仰向けとなって天井画を描いたといわれている^[23]。 システィーナ礼拝堂の天井中央部分に描かれているのは『旧約聖書』に記された『創世記』の9つのエピソードで、これら9つのエピソードはさらに大きく3つの物語に分けることができる^[24]。神による天地創造の物語、神による最初の人間であるアダムとイヴの人類創造と神にそむいたアダムとイヴがエデンの園から追放される失楽園の物語、そして大洪水とノア一族」の物語である。作品の構成としては、必ずしも『創世記』に記述されている時系列順とはなっていない。9つのエピソードからなる3つの場面は互いの内容を補完しあう構成となっており、これは中世の絵画作品やステンドグラスでよく用いられた技法である^[25]。

天井中央部に描かれている『創世記』のエピソードは、主祭壇から後陣に向かって以下の順番になっている。

• 『光と闇の分離』
• 『太陽、月、植物の創造』
• 『大地と水の分離』
• 『アダムの創造』
• 『エヴァの創造』
• 『原罪と楽園追放』
• 『ノアの燔祭』
• 『大洪水』
• 『ノアの泥酔』

システィーナ礼拝堂の左右それぞれ5箇所と後陣側と主祭壇側それぞれ1箇所にあるペンデンティヴ部分には、この天井画の中で最も大きな人物像が描かれている。描かれているのはメシアの到来、あるいは到来するメシアの容貌を預言したとされる12名の人物たちである。これら12名のうち7名は『旧約聖書』に記された男性預言者で、残る5名がシビュラと呼ばれる古代の女性巫女となっている。主祭壇側には預言者ヨナが、後陣側には預言者ゼカリヤがそれぞれ描かれている。残りの10名は左右に分かれて男女交互に描かれており、プットー（幼い天使）が支える彩色大理石板に刻まれた銘文によって誰が描かれているのかを識別することができる。主祭壇上部のヨナから時計回りに以下の人物像が描かれている。

• 『ヨナ』 – 主祭壇上部
• 『エレミヤ』
• 『ペルシアの巫女』 (en:Persian Sibyl)
• 『エゼキエル』
• 『エリュトレイアの巫女』 (en:Erythraean Sibyl)
• 『ヨエル』
• 『ゼカリヤ』 – 後陣上部
• 『デルフォイの巫女』 (en:Delphic Sibyl)
• 『イザヤ』
• 『クエマの巫女』 (en:Cumaean Sibyl)
• 『ダニエル』
• 『リビアの巫女』 (en:Libyan Sibyl)

建物四隅にもペンデンティヴがあり、ミケランジェロはこの部分に『旧約聖書』に登場するユダヤの偉人とされるモーセ、エステル、ダヴィデ、ユディトによるイスラエルの民救済のエピソードを描いている。

• 青銅の蛇
• ハマンの処刑
• ダヴィデとゴリアテ
• ユディトとホロフェルネス

これらのほかに、14箇所のアーチ状のルネット部分と、8箇所の三角状のスパンドレル (en:Spandrel) 部分には、アブラハムらキリストの祖先とされている人物とその家族が描かれている。

天井中央部分の『創世記』

• 

  『太陽、月、植物の創造』

• 

  『イヴの創造』

• 

  『原罪と楽園追放』

• 

  『ノアの燔祭』

• 

  『大洪水』

ペンデンティヴ部分の預言者と巫女

• 

  『ヨナ』

• 

  『エリュトレイアの巫女』

• 

  『ゼカリヤ』

• 

  『デルフォイの巫女』

• 

  『イザヤ』

最後の審判

システィーナ礼拝堂主祭壇の『最後の審判』。

詳細は「最後の審判 (ミケランジェロ)」を参照

ミケランジェロは、ローマ教皇クレメンス7世と、後継のローマ教皇パウルス3世の命で、1533年から1541年にかけて主祭壇背後の壁に『最後の審判』を描いた^[26]。これはローマのルネサンス芸術崩壊の引き金となった、神聖ローマ皇帝カール5世の軍勢がローマに侵攻したいわゆるローマ略奪（1527年5月）よりも後年で、トリエント公会議（1545年）の直前となる時期にあたる。『最後の審判』はシスティーナ礼拝堂主祭壇の後壁面全体に描かれた、1370cm × 1200cmという非常に大規模な作品で、キリストの再臨と現世の終末を、天使に囲まれたキリストが生前の行いによって人々の魂を裁いている情景となっている。

この作品は、枢機卿オリヴィエーロ・カラファ (en:Cardinal Carafa) とミケランジェロとの間にちょっとした騒動を巻き起こした。ミケランジェロが裸体の人物像を多く描いたことが、不道徳で猥雑であると非難されたのである。そして『最後の審判』の裸体を隠そうという「イチジクの葉運動」と呼ばれる一種の検閲運動が、カラファとマントヴァ公使セルニーニによって開始された。ローマ教皇の儀典長ビアジョ・ダ・チェゼーナも「このうえなく下品であり、聖なる場所にこのような裸体画があってはならない。恥ずべき作品で、ローマ教皇の礼拝堂には相応しくなく、公衆浴場か酒場に飾るべきだ」と酷評している^[27]。ミケランジェロは不仲だったチェザーナを地獄の裁判官ミノスとして『最後の審判』に描いた。チェザーナがこのことについてパウルス3世に不平をもらすと、ローマ教皇の権威は地獄にまでは及ばないと返されたといわれている^[28]。オリジナルの『最後の審判』に描かれていた人物の局部は、後年になって「ズボンの画家 (Il Braghettone )」と嘲笑めいたあだ名をつけられたダニエレ・ダ・ヴォルテッラによって布で覆われた状態で上描きされた^[29]、

フレスコ画修復

詳細は「システィーナ礼拝堂壁画修復」を参照

修復前後のダニエル。

システィーナ礼拝堂のフレスコ画、とくにミケランジェロが描いた天井画は過去に何度も修復されており、もっとも近年で大規模な修復作業が、1979年に開始された試験的な修復を経て1980年6月から1999年12月にかけて実施された。修復作業を手がけたのはジャンルイージ・コラルッチ、マウリツィオ・ロッシ、ピエルジョルジョ・ボネッティ、ブルーノ・バラッティらからなるチームだった^[30]。修復作業の様子は克明に記録されており、記録写真を担当したのは日本テレビから嘱託された美術写真家の岡村崔である^[30]。

最初に修復対象となったのはミケランジェロの天井画のルネット部分で、1984年に完了している。天井画全体の修復が完了したのは1989年12月のことで、引き続きミケランジェロの『最後の審判』の修復が開始された。フレスコ画全体の修復作業の様子がローマ教皇ヨハネ・パウロ2世に公開されたのは、全体の完成間近の1994年4月8日だった^[31]。最後に修復された箇所はボッティチェッリ、ギルランダイオ、ペルジーノらが描いた壁面のフレスコ画で、1999年12月11日になって公開された^[32] 。

修復後、それまでロウソクの煙による煤などの影響でほとんどモノクロームに見えるまでに色褪せていた色彩は鮮やかにきらめき、春を思わせる薄いピンク色、青リンゴ色、色鮮やかな黄色、空色などの彩色がパールグレイの壁面と好対照を成している。この修復により、今まで煤に覆われていたフレスコ画はもとの彩りを取り戻したのである^[32]。しかしながら、この修復作業と結果にも賛否両論が存在する。否定派はオリジナルのミケランジェロのフレスコ画に表現されていた、明暗や陰影、微細な表現などが汚れの除去とともに失われてしまったと主張している^[33]。

複製

日本・徳島県鳴門市の大塚国際美術館には、システィーナ礼拝堂天井画を陶板にて原寸大で再現した展示がある。 陶板による複製画は、オリジナル作品とは違い、2000年以上にわたってそのままの色と姿で残るので、これからの文化財の記録保存のあり方に大いに貢献するといわれている。現にオリジナルの礼拝堂天井画は近年劣化に悩まされており、現在では入場制限も検討されている^[34]。

脚注

1. ^ ^a b c d Ekelund, Hébert & Tollison 2006, p. 313
2. ^ “Vatican City”. Whc.unesco.org. 2011年8月9日閲覧。
3. ^ Monfasani, John (1983), “A Description of the Sistine Chapel under Pope Sixtus IV”, Artibus et Historiae (IRSA s.c.) 4 (7): 9–18, doi:10.2307/1483178, ISSN 0391-9064, JSTOR 1483178.
4. ^ ^a b Pietrangeli 1986, p. 28
5. ^ Pietrangeli 1986, p. 24
6. ^ ^a b c d John Shearman, « The Chapel of Sixtus IV ». In Pietrangeli 1986
7. ^ Stevens, Abel & Floy, James. « Allegri’s Miserere ». The National Magazine, Carlton & Phillip, 1854. 531.
8. ^ Saunders, Fr. William P. « The Path to the Papacy« . Arlington Catholic Herald, 17 March 2005. Retrieved on 2 June 2008.
9. ^ Chambers, D. S. (1978), “Papal Conclaves and Prophetic Mystery in the Sistine Chapel”, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes (The Warburg Institute) 41: 322–326, doi:10.2307/750878, JSTOR 750878.
10. ^ Domus Sanctae Marthae & The New Urns Used in the Election of the Pope from EWTN
11. ^ Campbell, Ian (1981), “The New St Peter’s: Basilica or Temple?”, Oxford Art Journal 4 (1): 3–8, doi:10.1093/oxartj/4.1.3, ISSN 0142-6540検索された 2014-06-06
12. ^ Hersey 1993, p. 180
13. ^ Cheney, Iris. Review of « Raphael’s Cartoons in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen and the Tapestries for the Sistine Chapel » by John Shearman ». The Art Bulletin, Volume 56, No. 4, December 1974. 607–609.
14. ^ Talvacchia 2007, p. 150
15. ^ Talvacchia 2007, p. 80
16. ^ Hall, Marcia B. Rome: Artistic Centers of the Italian Renaissance. London: Cambridge University Press 18 April 2005. 138.
17. ^ Talvacchia 2007, p. 152
18. ^ Michelangelo – The Sistine Chapel Ceiling, « Seven Common Questions About the Frescoes »
19. ^ Graham-Dixon 2008, p. 2
20. ^ Graham-Dixon 2008, p. 1
21. ^ Giacometti, Massimo (1986). The Sistine Chapel.
22. ^ Graham-Dixon 2008, p. xii
23. ^ Michelangelo 1999, pp. 64–66
24. ^ Paoletti and Radke pp. 402 – 403
25. ^ See en:Poor Man’s Bible
26. ^ Stollhans, Cynthia (1988), “Michelangelo’s Nude Saint Catherine of Alexandria”, Woman’s Art Journal (Woman’s Art, Inc.) 19 (1): 26–30, doi:10.2307/1358651, ISSN 02707993, JSTOR 1358651.
27. ^ Vasari 1987, p. 379
28. ^ Reported by Lodovico Domenichi in Historia di detti et fatti notabili di diversi Principi & huommi privati moderni (1556), p. 668
29. ^ Simons, Marlise (19 June 1991), “Vatican Restorers Are Ready for ‘Last Judgment”, New York Times 2009年3月7日閲覧。
30. ^ ^a b Carlo Pietrangeli, Foreword to The Sistine Chapel, ed. Massimo Giacometti. (1986) Harmony Books, ISBN 0-517-56274-X
31. ^ “Homily preached by the Holy Father John Paul II at the mass of to celebrate the unveiling of the restorations of Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel”. Vatican Publishing House (1994年4月8日). 2007年9月28日閲覧。
32. ^ ^a b Pietrangeli 1994
33. ^ Beck (1995)
34. ^ バチカン、システィーナ礼拝堂の入場制限を検討

参考文献

• Deimling, Barbara (2000), Sandro Botticelli 1444/45-1510, Köln: Taschen, ISBN 3-8228-5992-3
• Earls, Irene (1987), Renaissance Art: A Topical Dictionary, Westport: Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-24658-0
• Ekelund, Robert B.; Hébert, Robert F.; Tollison, Robert D. (2006), The Marketplace of Christianity, Cambridge: MIT Press, ISBN 0-262-05082-X
• Graham-Dixon, Andrew (2008), Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, ISBN 0-297-85365-1
• Hersey, George (1993), High Renaissance Art in St. Peter’s and the Vatican, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-32782-5
• Michelangelo (1999), Bull, George, ed., Michelangelo, Life, Letters, and Poetry, Oxford Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-283770-2
• Pietrangeli, Carlo, ed. (1986), The Sistine Chapel, New York: Harmony Books, ISBN 0-517-56274-X
• Seymour, Charles (1972), Michelangelo, the Sistine Chapel Ceiling: illustrations, introductory essays, backgrounds and sources, critical essay, New York: W. W. Norton, ISBN 0-393-04319-3
• Stinger, Charles (1998), The Renaissance in Rome, Bloomington: Indianapolis, ISBN 0-253-21208-1
• Talvacchia, Bette (2007), Raphael, Oxford Oxfordshire: Phaidon Press, ISBN 978-0-7148-4786-3
• Vasari, Giorgio (1987), The Lives of the Artists, George Bull, New York: Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-044500-5
• Wright, Lawrence (1983), Perspective in Perspective, London: Routledge & K. Paul, ISBN 0-7100-0791-4
• Pietrangeli, Hirst and Colalucci, eds. (1994). The Sistine Chapel: A Glorious Restoration. Italy, Harry N Abrams
• James Beck and Michael Daley, Art Restoration, the Culture, the Business and the Scandal, W.W. Norton, 1995. ISBN 0-393-31297-6

関連文献

• Ettlinger, Leopold (1965), The Sistine Chapel before Michelangelo: Religious Imagery and Papal Primacy, Oxford: Clarendon Press, OCLC 230168041
• King, Ross (2003), Michelangelo & the Pope’s Ceiling, New York: Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-200369-7
• Lewine, Carol (1993), The Sistine Chapel Walls and the Roman Liturgy, University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, ISBN 0-271-00792-3
• Hirst, Michael; Colalucci, Gianluigi; Mancinelli, Fabrizio; Shearman, John; Winner, Matthias; Maeder, Edward; De Vecchi, Pierluigi; Nazzareno, Gabrielli et al. (1994), Pietrangeli, Carlo, ed., The Sistine Chapel: A Glorious Restoration, Takashi Okamura (photographer), New York: H.N. Abrams, ISBN 0-8109-3840-5
• Pfeiffer, Heinrich (2007) (German), Die Sixtinische Kapelle neu entdeckt, Stuttgart: Belser, ISBN 978-0-8109-3840-3
• Stone, Irving (2004), The Agony and the Ecstasy, London: Nal Trade, ISBN 0-451-21323-8. Previously publish by Doubleday in 1961.
• Blech, Benjamin; Doliner, Roy (2008), The Sistine Secrets: Michelangelo’s Forbidden Messages in the Heart of the Vatican, New York: HarperOne, ISBN 978-0-06-146904-6
• Efetov, Konstantin (2006), A shocking secret of the Sistine Chapel, Simferopol: CSMU Press, ISBN 966-2969-17-9
• Paoletti, John T.; Radke, Gary M. (2005). Art in Renaissance Italy, Laurence King. ISBN 1-85669-439-9

関連項目

ウィキメディア・コモンズには、システィーナ礼拝堂に関連するメディアがあります。

• ルネサンス期のイタリア絵画
• ルネサンス美術
• バチカン宮殿
• ローマ教皇
• 大塚国際美術館 – システィーナ礼拝堂内部が複製陶板画で再現されている

外部リンク

• Vatican Museums Online: Sistine Chapel A virtual detailed tour of the frescoes and panels
• High-resolution interactive virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel
• Web Gallery of Art: Visit to the Sistine Chapel in Vatican
• BBC News: Sistine Chapel Restored (1999)
• The Restoration of the Sistine Chapel: Right or Wrong?
• www.christusrex.org Capella Sistina Master Plan & Pictures

[表示] 表 話 編 歴 ローマ遺跡(一覧)

典拠管理 WorldCat VIAF: 268642532 LCCN: n96096549 GND: 4104970-6 BNF: cb139022841 (データ) NLA: 36437812

カテゴリ:

• システィーナ礼拝堂
• バチカンの世界遺産
• キリスト教建築物の世界遺産

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixtinische_Kapelle

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Constantine

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Constantine

Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Constantine

 Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Constantine

Basilica of Constantine
German: Konstantinbasilika Giacobbe Giusti, Basilica of Constantine
Konstantinbasilika – view from the northwest
Location	Trier
Country	Germany
Denomination	Evangelical Church in Germany
Architecture
Style	Early Christianity
Years built	310
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Criteria	Cultural: (i), (iii), (iv), (vi)
Reference	367-007
Inscription	1986 (10th Session)
[edit on Wikidata]

The Basilica of Constantine (German: Konstantinbasilika), or Aula Palatina, at Trier, Germany is a Roman palace basilica that was commissioned by the emperor Constantine I (AD 306–337) at the beginning of the 4th century.

Today it is used as the Church of the Redeemer and owned by a congregation within the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland. The basilica contains the largest extant hallfrom antiquity (see List of ancient Greek and Roman roofs) and is ranked a World Heritage Site. The hall has a length of 67 m, a width of 26.05 m^[1] and a height of 33 m. It is designated as part of the Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St. Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Basilika (Engraving of 1648, presumably showing an older view of 1548/50)

The Aula Palatina was built around AD 310 as a part of the palacecomplex. Originally it was not a free standing building, but had other smaller buildings (such as a forehall, a vestibule and some service buildings) attached to it. The Aula Palatina was equipped with a floor and wall heating system (hypocaust).

Inner view facing north

During the Middle Ages, it was used as the residence for the bishop of Trier. For that, the apse was redesigned into living quarters and pinnacles were added to the top of its walls. In the 17th century, the archbishop Lothar von Metternich constructed his palace just next to the Aula Palatina and incorporated it into his palace doing some major redesign. Later, in the 19th century, Frederick William IV of Prussia ordered the building to be restored to its original Roman state, which was done under the supervision of the military architect Carl Schnitzler. In 1856, the Aula Palatina became a Protestant church. In 1944, the building burned due to an air raid of the allied forces during World War II. When it was repaired after the war, the historical inner decorations from the 19th century were not reconstructed, so that the brick walls are visible from the inside as well.

See also

Reconstruction of the Palastaula

• State church of the Roman Empire
• Constantine the Great and Christianity

Notes

1. Jump up^ Ulrich 2007, p. 149

References

• Ulrich, Roger B. (2007), Roman Woodworking, Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-10341-7
• William E. Gwatkin, Jr.: Roman Trier, in The Classical Journal Vol. 29, No. 1 (October 1933), 3–12 (online reproduction of the original article amended by photographs)
• Helen Gardner, Fred S. Kleiner, Christin J. Mamiya: Gardner’s Art Through the Ages. Cengage Learning, 13th edition 2008, ISBN 978-0-495-57355-5, p. 205 (online copy, p. 205, at Google Books)
• Gerardo Brown-Manrique: Konstantinplatz in Trier. Between Memory and Place. In: Places. Forum of design for the public realm. Vol. 3 (1986), No. 1, pages 31–42 (Digitalisat)
• Eberhard Zahn: Die Basilika in Trier. Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Trier 1991, ISBN 3-923319-18-5(German)

Further reading

• Weitzmann, Kurt, ed., Age of spirituality: late antique and early Christian art, third to seventh century, no. 102, 1979, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, ISBN 9780870991790; full text available online from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aula_Palatina

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

Giacobbe Giusti, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

Mosaico bizantino raffigurante l’imperatore romano Costantino

 

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

Giacobbe Giusti, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

The Scala Sancta

Giacobbe Giusti, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

Bonifacio VIII indice il giubileo del 1300, in un affresco di Giotto in Laterano

Giacobbe Giusti, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

Mosaico del Triclinium di papa Leone III

Giacobbe Giusti, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

The Lateran Obelisk in its third location, in front of the Lateran Palace.

Giacobbe Giusti, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

Il portale principale della basilica, contenente le porte bronzee provenienti dalla Curia Iulia

Giacobbe Giusti, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

La coupole de l’abside

Giacobbe Giusti, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

Giacobbe Giusti, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

Giacobbe Giusti, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

Giacobbe Giusti, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

Giacobbe Giusti, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

Giacobbe Giusti, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

Giacobbe Giusti, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

Archbasilica of St. John Lateran
Major Papal, Patriarchal and Roman Archbasilica Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist in Lateran, Mother and Head of All Churches in Rome and in the World
Arcibasilica Papale Romana Maggiore di San Giovanni in Laterano  (Italian) Archibasilica Sanctissimi Salvatoris ac Sancti Ioannis Baptistae et Ioannis Evangelistae ad Lateranum  (Latin)
Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran
Archbasilica of St. John Lateran Location of the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome
Location	Rome
Country	Italy[1]
Denomination	Catholic
Tradition	Latin Rite
Website	Archbasilica of St. John Lateran
History
Dedication	St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist
Consecrated	AD 324
Architecture
Status	Papal major basilica, Cathedral
Architect(s)	Alessandro Galilei
Architectural type	Cathedral
Style	Baroque, Neoclassical
Groundbreaking	AD 4th century
Completed	1735
Specifications
Length	140 metres (460 ft)
Width	140 metres (460 ft)
Nave width	65 metres (213 ft)
Materials	Marble, granite, and cement
Administration
Diocese	Diocese of Rome
Clergy
Bishop(s)	Pope Francis
Archpriest	Angelo De Donatis
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Historic Centre of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See in that City Enjoying Extraterritorial Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, ii, iii, iv, vi
Designated	1980 (4th session)
Reference no.	91
State Party	Italy and Holy See
Region	Europe and North America

The Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and of Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist in the Lateran, (Italian: Santissimo Salvatore e Santi Giovanni Battista ed Evangelista in Laterano) – also known as the Papal Archbasilica of St. John [in] Lateran, St. John Lateran, or the Lateran Basilica – is the cathedral church of Rome, Italy and therefore houses the cathedra, or ecclesiastical seat, of the Bishop of Rome (Pope).

It is the oldest and highest ranking of the four papal major basilicas, giving it the unique title of « archbasilica ». Because it is the oldest public church in the city of Rome, and houses the cathedra of the Roman bishop,^[2][3], it has the title of ecumenical mother church of the Catholicfaithful.

The current archpriest is Angelo De Donatis, Cardinal Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome.^[4] The President of the French Republic, currently Emmanuel Macron, is ex officio the « first and only honorary canon » of the archbasilica, a title that the heads of state of France have possessed since King Henry IV.

The large Latin inscription on the façade reads: Clemens XII Pont Max Anno V Christo Salvatori In Hon SS Ioan Bapt et Evang; which is a highly abbreviated inscription which translates to: « Pope Clement XII, in the fifth year [of his Pontificate, dedicated this building] to Christ the Savior, in honor of Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist ».^[5] The inscription indicates, along with its full title (see below), that the archbasilica was originally dedicated to Christ the Savior and, centuries later, co-dedicated to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist. As the Cathedral of the Pope qua Bishop of Rome, it ranks superior to all other churches of the Roman Catholic Church, including St. Peter’s Basilica, and therefore it alone is titled « Archbasilica » among all other basilicas.

The archbasilica is sited in the City of Rome, outside and distanced from Vatican City proper, which is approximately 4 km (2.5 mi) to its northwest, although the archbasilica and its adjoining edifices have extraterritorial status from Italy as one of the properties of the Holy See, subject to the sovereignty of the latter, pursuant to the Lateran Treatyof 1929 with Italy under Benito Mussolini.^[1]

Name

Next to the formal entrance is the archbasilica’s claim to be the head, or Mother Church, of the entire world. Note the laurel wreath and the Papal tiara.

The archbasilica’s Latin name is Archibasilica Sanctissimi Salvatoris ac Sancti Ioannis Baptistae et Ioannis Evangelistae ad Lateranum,^[6] which in English is the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior and Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist at the Lateran, and in Italian Arcibasilica [Papale] del Santissimo Salvatore e Santi Giovanni Battista ed Evangelista in Laterano.^[4]

Lateran Palace

 Lateran Palace

The archbasilica stands over the remains of the Castra Nova equitum singularium, the « New Fort of the Roman imperial cavalry bodyguards ». The fort was established by Septimius Severus in AD 193. Following the victory of Emperor Constantine I over Maxentius (for whom the Equites singulares augusti, the emperor’s mounted bodyguards had fought) at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, the guard was abolished and the fort demolished. Substantial remains of the fort lie directly beneath the nave.

The remainder of the site was occupied during the early Roman Empire by the palace of the gensLaterani. Sextius Lateranus was the first plebeian to attain the rank of consul, and the Laterani served as administrators for several emperors. One of the Laterani, Consul-designate Plautius Lateranus, became famous for being accused by Nero of conspiracy against the Emperor. The accusation resulted in the confiscation and redistribution of his properties.

The Lateran Palace fell into the hands of the Emperor when Constantine I married his second wife Fausta, sister of Maxentius. Known by that time as the « Domus Faustae » or « House of Fausta, » the Lateran Palace was eventually given to the Bishop of Rome by Constantine I. The actual date of the donation is unknown, but scholars speculate that it was during the pontificate of Pope Miltiades, in time to host a synod of bishops in 313 that was convened to challenge the Donatist schism, declaring Donatism to be heresy. The palace basilica was converted and extended, becoming the residence of Pope St. Silvester I, eventually becoming the Cathedral of Rome, the seat of the Popes qua the Bishops of Rome.^[7]

The Middle Ages

The papal cathedra, the presence of which renders the archbasilica the cathedral of Rome, is located in its apse. The decorations are in cosmatesque style.

The high altar and the 14th-century Gothic ciborium. The relic of the original wooden altar used by St. Peter comprises the high altar. Above the ciborium are the appearances of Sts. Peter and Paul.^[8]

Pope Sylvester I presided over the official dedication of the archbasilica and the adjacent Lateran Palace in 324, declaring both to be a « Domus Dei » (« House of God »). The papal cathedrawas placed in its interior, rendering it the cathedral of the Pope qua Bishop of Rome. On the archbasilica’s front wall between the main portals is a plaque inscribed with the words « Sacrosancta Lateranensis ecclesia omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput », which translate to « Most Holy Lateran Church, of all the churches in the City and the world, the mother and head »; a visible indication of the archbasilica’s claim to be the « mother church » of all the world.

The archbasilica and Lateran Palace were re-dedicated twice. Pope Sergius III dedicated them to St. John the Baptist in the 10th century in honor of the newly consecrated baptistry of the archbasilica. Pope Lucius II dedicated them to St. John the Evangelist in the 12th century. Thus, St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist are co-patrons of the archbasilica, while the primary Patron is Christ the Savior, as the inscription in the entrance indicates and as is traditional for patriarchal cathedrals. Consequently, the archbasilica remains dedicated to the Savior, and its titular feast is the Feast of the Transfiguration. The archbasilica became the most important shrine of the two St. Johns, albeit infrequently jointly venerated. In later years, a Benedictine monastery was established in the Lateran Palace, and was devoted to serving the archbasilica and the two saints.

Every pope, beginning with Pope Miltiades, occupied the Lateran Palace until the reign of the French Pope Clement V, who in 1309 transferred the seat of the Papacy to Avignon, a Papal fiefdom that was an enclave in France. The Lateran Palace has also been the site of five ecumenical councils (see Lateran Councils).

Lateran fires

During the time the papacy was seated in Avignon, France, the Lateran Palace and the archbasilica deteriorated. Two fires ravaged them in 1307 and 1361. After both fires the pope sent money from Avignon to pay for their reconstruction and maintenance. Nonetheless, the archbasilica and Lateran Palace lost their former splendor.

When the papacy returned from Avignon and the pope again resided in Rome, the archbasilica and the Lateran Palace were deemed inadequate considering their accumulated damage. The popes resided at the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere and later at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. Eventually, the Palace of the Vatican was built adjacent to the Basilica of St. Peter, which existed since the time of Emperor Constantine I, and the popes began to reside there. It has remained the official residence of the pope (though Pope Francis unofficially resides elsewhere in the Vatican City).

Reconstruction

There were several attempts at reconstruction of the archbasilica before a definitive program of Pope Sixtus V. Sixtus V hired his favorite architect, Domenico Fontana, to supervise much of the project. The original Lateran Palace was demolished and replaced with a new edifice. On the square in front of the Lateran Palace is the largest standing obelisk in the world, known as the Lateran Obelisk. It weighs an estimated 455 tons. It was commissioned by the Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III and erected by Thutmose IV before the great Karnak temple of Thebes, Egypt. Intended by Emperor Constantine I to be shipped to Constantinople, the very preoccupied Constantius II had it shipped instead to Rome, where it was erected in the Circus Maximus in AD 357. At some time it broke and was buried under the Circus. In the 16th century it was discovered and excavated, and Sixtus V had it re-erected on a new pedestal on 3 August 1588 at its present site.^[9][10][11]

Further renovation of the interior of the archbasilica, ensued under the direction of Francesco Borromini, commissioned by Pope Innocent X. The twelve niches created by his architectural scheme were eventually filled in 1718 with statues of the Apostles, sculpted by the most prominent Roman Rococosculptors.

Main body of the basilica, after the radical transformation by Francesco Borromini.

The vision of Pope Clement XII for reconstruction was an ambitious one in which he launched a competition to design a new façade. More than 23 architects competed, mostly working in the then-current Baroque idiom. The putatively impartial jury was chaired by Sebastiano Conca, president of the Roman Academy of Saint Luke. The winner of the competition was Alessandro Galilei.

The façade as it appears today was completed in 1735. It reads in Latin: Clemens XII Pont Max Anno V Christo Salvatori In Hon SS Ioan Bapt et Evang; this highly abbreviated inscription is expanded thus: Clemens XII, Pont[ifex] Max[imus], [in] Anno V, [dedicavit hoc aedificium] Christo Salvatori, in hon[orem] [sanctorum] Ioan[is] Bapt[tistae] et Evang[elistae]. This translates as « Pope Clement XII, in the fifth year of his reign, dedicated this building to Christ the Savior, in honor of Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist ».^[5] Galilei’s façade removed all vestiges of traditional, ancient, basilical architecture and imparted a neo-classical facade.

• 

  Nave

• 

  Ceiling

• 

  The Lateran Obelisk in its third location, in front of the Lateran Palace.

• 

  The Loggia delle Benedizioni, on the rear left side. Annexed, on the left, is the Lateran Palace.

World War II

During the Second World War, the Lateran and its related buildings were used under Pope Pius XII as a safe haven from the Nazis and Italian Fascists for numbers of Jews and other refugees. Among those who found shelter there were Meuccio Ruini, Alcide De Gasperi, Pietro Nenni and others. The Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul and the sixty orphan refugees they cared for were ordered to leave their convent on the Via Carlo Emanuele. The Sisters of Maria Bambina, who staffed the kitchen at the Pontifical Major Roman Seminary at the Lateran offered a wing of their convent. The grounds also housed Italian soldiers.^[12]

Vincenzo Fagiolo and Pietro Palazzini, vice-rector of the seminary, were recognized by Yad Vashem for their efforts to assist Jews.^[13][14]

Architectural history

An apse lined with mosaics and open to the air still preserves the memory of one of the most famous halls of the ancient palace, the « Triclinium » of Pope Leo III, which was the state banqueting hall. The existing structure is not ancient, but some portions of the original mosaics may have been preserved in the tripartite mosaic of its niche. In the center Christ gives to the Apostles their mission; on the left He gives the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to Pope St. Sylvester and the Labarum to Emperor Constantine I; and on the right Pope St. Peter gives the Papal stole to Pope Leo III and the standard to Charlemagne.

Holy Door at the Lateran Papal Basilica

Some few remains of the original buildings may still be traced in the city walls outside the Gate of St. John, and a large wall decorated with paintings was uncovered in the 18th century within the archbasilica behind the Lancellotti Chapel. A few traces of older buildings were also revealed during the excavations of 1880, when the work of extending the apse was in progress, but nothing of importance was published.

A great many donations from the Popes and other benefactors to the archbasilica are recorded in the Liber Pontificalis, and its splendor at an early period was such that it became known as the « Basilica Aurea », or « Golden Basilica ». This splendor drew upon it the attack of the Vandals, who stripped it of all its treasures. Pope Leo I restored it around AD 460, and it was again restored by Pope Hadrian.

In 897, it was almost totally destroyed by an earthquake: ab altari usque ad portas cecidit (« it collapsed from the altar to the doors »). The damage was so extensive that it was difficult to trace the lines of the old building, but these were mostly respected and the new building was of the same dimensions as the old. This second basilica stood for 400 years before it burned in 1308. It was rebuilt by Pope Clement V and Pope John XXII. It burned once more in 1360, and was rebuilt by Pope Urban V.

Through vicissitudes the archbasilica retained its ancient form, being divided by rows of columns into aisles, and having in front a peristyle surrounded by colonnades with a fountain in the middle, the conventional Late Antique format that was also followed by the old St. Peter’s Basilica. The façade had three windows and was embellished with a mosaic representing Christ as the Savior of the world.

The porticoes were frescoed, probably not earlier than the 12th century, commemorating the Roman fleet under Vespasian, the taking of Jerusalem, the Baptism of Emperor Constantine I and his « Donation » of the Papal States to the Catholic Church. Inside the archbasilica the columns no doubt ran, as in all other basilicas of the same date, the whole length of the church, from east to west.

In one of the rebuildings, probably that which was carried out by Pope Clement V, a transverse nave was introduced, imitated no doubt from the one which had been added, long before this, to the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls. Probably at this time the archbasilica was enlarged.

Some portions of the older buildings survive. Among them the pavement of medieval Cosmatesquework, and the statues of St. Peter and St. Paul, now in the cloister. The graceful ciborium over the high altar, which looks out of place in its present surroundings, dates from 1369. The stercoraria, or throne of red marble on which the Popes sat, is now in the Vatican Museums. It owes its unsavory name to the anthem sung at previous Papal coronations, « De stercore erigens pauperem » (« lifting up the poor out of the dunghill », from Psalm 112).

From the 5th century, there were seven oratories surrounding the archbasilica. These before long were incorporated into the church. The devotion of visiting these oratories, which was maintained through the Mediaeval Ages, gave rise to the similar devotion of the seven altars, still common in many churches of Rome and elsewhere.

Of the façade by Alessandro Galilei (1735), the cliché assessment has ever been that it is the façade of a palace, not of a church. Galilei’s front, which is a screen across the older front creating a narthex or vestibule, does express the nave and double aisles of the archbasilica, which required a central bay wider than the rest of the sequence. Galilei provided it, without abandoning the range of identical arch-headed openings, by extending the central window by flanking columns that support the arch, in the familiar Serlian motif.

By bringing the central bay forward very slightly, and capping it with a pediment that breaks into the roof balustrade, Galilei provided an entrance doorway on a more than colossal scale, framed in the paired colossal Corinthian pilasters that tie together the façade in the manner introduced at Michelangelo‘s palace on the Campidoglio.

Statues of the Apostles

The twelve niches created in Francesco Borromini‘s architecture were left vacant for decades. When in 1702 Pope Clement XI and Benedetto Cardinal Pamphili, archpriests of the archbasilica, announced their grand scheme for twelve larger-than-life sculptures of the Apostles to fill the niches, the commission was opened to all the premier sculptors of late Baroque Rome.^[15] Each statue was to be sponsored by an illustrious prince with the Pope himself sponsoring that of St. Peter and Cardinal Pamphili that of St. John the Evangelist. Most of the sculptors were given a sketch drawn by Pope Clement’s favorite painter, Carlo Maratta, to which they were to adhere, but with the notable exception being Pierre Le Gros the Younger, who successfully refused to sculpt to Maratta’s design and consequently was not given a sketch.^[16]

The sculptors and their sculptures follow and are dated according to Conforti:

• Pierre-Étienne Monnot

St. Paul (1704–08)

Pope St. Peter (1704–11)

• Francesco Moratti

St. Simon (1704–09)

• Lorenzo Ottoni

St. Jude Thaddeus(1704–09)

• Giuseppe Mazzuoli

St. Philip (1705–11)

• Pierre Le Gros

St. Thomas (1705–11)

St. Bartholomew (c. 1705–12)

• Angelo de’ Rossi

St. James the Lesser(1705–11)

• Camillo Rusconi

St. Andrew (1705–09)

St. John (1705–11)

St. Matthew (1711–15)

St. James the Greater(1715–18)

• 

  Pope St. Peter
  by Monnot

• 

  St. Paul
  by Monnot

• 

  St. Bartholomew
  by Le Gros

• 

  St. James the Greater by Rusconi

• 

  St. Simon
  by Moratti

• 

  St. Jude Thaddeaus
  by Ottoni

• 

  St. Philip
  by Mazzuoli

• 

  St. Thomas
  by Le Gros

• 

  St. James the Lesser
  by de’ Rossi

• 

  St. Andrew
  by Rusconi

• 

  St. John
  by Rusconi

• 

  St. Matthew
  by Rusconi

Papal tombs

The Helena Sarcophagus, reused by Pope Anastasius IV, the only tomb to survive the Lateran fires. It is currently in the Vatican Museums.

There are six extant papal tombs inside the archbasilica: Alexander III (right aisles), Pope Sergius IV (right aisles), Pope Clement XIICorsini (left aisle), Pope Martin V (in front of the confessio); Pope Innocent III (right transept); and Pope Leo XIII (left transept), by G. Tadolini (1907). The last of these, Pope Leo XIII, was the last pope not to be entombed in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Twelve additional papal tombs were constructed in the archbasilica starting in the 10th century, but were destroyed during the two fires that ravaged it in 1308 and 1361. The remains of these charred tombs were gathered and reburied in a polyandrum. The popes whose tombs were destroyed are: Pope John X (914–28), Pope Agapetus II (946–55), Pope John XII (955–64), Pope Paschal II(1099–1118), Pope Callixtus II (1119–24), Pope Honorius II (1124–30), Pope Celestine II (1143–4), Pope Lucius II (1144–5), Pope Anastasius IV (1153–4), Pope Clement III (1187–91), Pope Celestine III (1191–8), and Pope Innocent V (1276). Popes who reigned during this period, whose tombs are unknown, and who may have been buried in the archbasilica include Pope John XVII(1003), Pope John XVIII (1003–9), and Pope Alexander II (1061–73). Pope John X was the first pope buried within the walls of Rome, and was granted a prominent burial due to rumors that he was murdered by Theodora during a historical period known as the saeculum obscurum. Cardinals Vincenzo Santucci and Carlo Colonna are also buried in the archbasilica.

Lateran cloister

Between the archbasilica and the city wall there was in former times a great monastery, in which dwelt the community of monks whose duty it was to provide the services in the archbasilica. The only part of it which still survives is the 13th century cloister, surrounded by graceful, twisted columns of inlaid marble. They are of a style intermediate between the Romanesque proper and the Gothic, and are the work of Vassellectus and the Cosmati.

Lateran baptistery

Main article: Lateran Baptistery

The octagonal Lateran baptistery stands somewhat apart from the archbasilica. It was founded by Pope Sixtus III, perhaps on an earlier structure, for a legend arose that Emperor Constantine I was baptized there and enriched the edifice. The baptistery was for many generations the only baptistery in Rome, and its octagonal structure, centered upon the large basin for full immersions, provided a model for others throughout Italy, and even an iconic motif of illuminated manuscripts known as « the fountain of life« .

Holy Stairs

Scala Sancta

Giacobbe Giusti, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran

The Scala Sancta

The Scala Sancta, or Holy Stairs, are white marble steps encased in wooden ones. According to Catholic Tradition, they form the staircase which once led to the praetorium of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem and which, therefore, were sanctified by the footsteps of Jesus Christ during His Passion. The marble stairs are visible through openings in the wooden risers. Their translation from Jerusalem to the Lateran Palace in the 4th century is credited to St. Empress Helena, the mother of the then-Emperor Constantine I. In 1589, Pope Sixtus V relocated the steps to their present location in front of the ancient palatine chapel named the Sancta Sanctorum. Ferraù Fenzoni completed some of the frescoes on the walls.

Feast of the Dedication of the Archbasilica

In the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church, 9 November is the feast of the Dedication of the (Arch)Basilica of the Lateran (Dedicatio Basilicae Lateranensis), and is referred to in older texts as the « Dedication of the Basilica of the Holy Savior ». In view of its role as the mother church of the world, this liturgical day is celebrated worldwide as a « feast » and not a « memorial » as might be expected.

Archpriests

Pope Boniface VIII instituted the office of Archpriest of the Archbasilica circa 1299.^[17]

List of Archpriests of the Archbasilica:^[18]

Gerardo Bianchi (c.1299–1302) Pietro Valeriano Duraguerra (1302) Matteo Rosso Orsini (1302–5) Pietro Colonna (1306–26) Bertrand de Montfavez (1326–42) Giovanni Colonna (1342–8) Pierre Roger de Beaufort (1348–70) Ange de Grimoard (1371–88) Pietro Tomacelli (1388?–9) Francesco Carbone (1389–1405) Antonio Caetani (1405–12) Oddone Colonna (1412–7) Alamanno Adimari (1418–22) Guillaume Fillastre (1422–8) Alfonso Carillo de Albornoz (1428–34) Lucido Conti (1434–7) Angelotto Fosco (1437–44) António Martinez de Chaves (1444–7) Domenico Capranica (1447–58) Prospero Colonna (1458–63) Latino Orsini (1463–77) Giuliano della Rovere (1477–1503) Giovanni Colonna (1503–8) Alessandro Farnese (1508–34) Giovanni Domenico de Cupis(1534–53) Ranuccio Farnese (1553–65) Mark Sitticus von Hohenems(1565–88) Ascanio Colonna (1588–1608) Scipione Caffarelli-Borghese(1608–20)

Giambattista Leni (1620–7) Francesco Barberini (1627–9) Girolamo Colonna (1629–66) Flavio Chigi (1666–93) Paluzzo Paluzzi Altieri degli Albertoni (1693–8) Benedetto Pamphili (1699–1730) Pietro Ottoboni (1730–40) Neri Maria Corsini (1740–70) Mario Marefoschi Compagnoni (1771–80) Carlo Rezzonico (1781–99) Francesco Saverio de Zelada (1800–1) Leonardo Antonelli (1801–11) Bartolomeo Pacca (1830–44) Benedetto Barberini (28 April 1844 – 10 April 1863) Lodovico Altieri (1863–7) Costantino Patrizi Naro (1867–76) Flavio Chigi (24 December 1876 – 1885) Raffaele Monaco La Valletta (1885–96) Francesco Satolli (16 December 1896 – 8 January 1910) Pietro Respighi (10 January 1910 – 22 March 1913) Domenico Ferrata (7 April 1913 – 10 October 1914) Basilio Pompilj (28 October 1914 – 5 May 1931) Francesco Marchetti-Selvaggiani (26 May 1931 – 13 January 1951) Benedetto Aloisi Masella (27 October 1954 – 30 August 1970) Angelo Dell’Acqua (7 November 1970 – 27 August 1972) Ugo Poletti (26 March 1973 – 17 January 1991) Camillo Ruini (1 July 1991 – 27 June 2008) Agostino Vallini (27 June 2008 – 26 May 2017) Angelo De Donatis (26 May 2017 – )

Gallery

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  Alessandro Galilei completed the late Baroque façade of the archbasilica in 1735 after winning a competition for the design.

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  Next to the main entrance is the inscription of the archbasilica’s claim to being the mother church of the world.

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  Statue of St. John the Baptist.

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  The decorated ceiling.

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  Apse depicting mosaics from the Triclinium of Pope Leo III in the ancient Lateran Palace.

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  The cloister of the attached monastery, with a cosmatesquedecoration.

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  The cloister of the attached monastery.

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  Our Lady of Częstochowadepicted in the archbasilica.

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archbasilica_of_St._John_Lateran

  http://www.giacobbegiusti.com