Basilica of San Giulio
The Basilica of San Giulio is a Roman Catholic church that rises on the island of San Giulio in Lake Orta . It has the rank of a minor basilica .
Although the island is part of the municipality of Orta San Giulio (created in 1928 from the merger of the municipalities of Orta Novarese and Isola di San Giulio), the basilica belongs to its own parish (Parish of San Giacomo) that covers the island and part of the west coast in the area the municipality of San Maurizio d'Opaglio includes.
history
Tradition has it that this is the hundredth and last church that was founded around the year 400 by Saint Julius , who came from the island of Aegina in Greece and, with his brother, the deacon Julian , spent the last years of his life evangelizing the Orta area dedicated. According to legend, in 390 the saint reached the island on his mantle and freed it from dragons (a symbolic image of the suppression of paganism ), then built a small church and dedicated it to the twelve apostles . In the early Middle Ages , the island's strategic position made it an important defense center, which was initially the seat of a Lombard duke and was later given a fort that belonged to King of Italy Berengar II . The castle came into the possession of the Bishop of Novara (or returned if its construction was historically documented in the 5th century by the Bishop of Novara, Honoratus) . The events of the war and military requirements influenced the development of the church both because of the likely damage during the sieges and because of the conversion of some of its outbuildings. The description of the old octagonal castle tower, which was demolished in 1841 to make way for the new episcopal seminary, recently led some historians to believe that it could originally have been the baptistery of the island parish.
Archaeological excavations within the building have revealed traces of an early basilica (5th - 6th centuries) in the form of a simple, small chapel with a single apse , which may face north due to the terrain. About a century later, a new, large and east-facing church was built, also with a single apse. It is believed that the war events of 962, when the fortress - in which Queen Willa, the wife of King Berengar was staying - was besieged by Emperor Otto I , caused severe damage to this early medieval church. The current three-aisled church with Romanesque character, but with numerous renovations in the following centuries, was built in the 12th century based on the model of the old Novara Cathedral . Inside there is a valuable ambo (made of green serpentine marble from Oira), which is supported by four older columns and is a masterpiece of Romanesque sculpture of the 12th century. The ambo is decorated with Christian symbols (the four symbols of the evangelists and scenes of the struggle between good and evil) and a male figure that, according to some research, could represent the reform-minded Abbot William of Dijon , who was born on the island in 962. But there are other and more recent theories.
description
Exterior
The facade of the church can be seen from the boat or from the closed space in front of it, which today belongs to the Benedictine monastery ; it retains its Romanesque appearance despite the changes made in the 17th century that led to the creation of a porch with a Venetian window above it. Two protruding wall pillars reaching to the roof frame the entrance; they divide the facade into three fields, whereby the three-aisled structure of the church becomes clear. The middle field shows a cross-shaped window and a row of arched brick friezes along the gable roof. The two sides of the facade are bounded by slender, staggered towers (12th century) with ajimezen and arched brick backs.
The entrance for visitors to the basilica is on the south side and is almost completely hidden by the old bishop's palace (now a nunnery). It can be reached from the landing stage via a Renaissance portal and a staircase covered with a sail vault. The basilica is delimited to the east by three semicircular apses (one of which is completely hidden from the outside by the sacristy ); the middle apse, made of ashlar, is characterized by an elegant gallery made of brick arches with a double arched back.
The octagonal Tiburio at the interface between the central nave and the transept was already present in the Romanesque period: It was rebuilt at the end of the 18th century and received a window on each side with the exception of one side, which has retained the original appearance with a blind three-arched window, its thin pillars close in foliage capitals .
The Romanesque bell tower rises separately from the church behind the apses. It is divided into six floors and is loosened up on the upper floors by a double two-arched window or a three-arched window. While the basilica follows the stylistic canon of the Romanesque in Lombardy, the bell tower belongs to the Piedmontese version, especially that of the Fruttuaria Abbey , which suggests an intervention by William of Dijon, an important abbot and architect who lived on the island of San Giulio is born.
The facade
The bell tower and the Tiburio
The apse
Interior
The basilica has three naves and a cross vault . Two galleries remain of the original Romanesque structure , which run up to the transept in the side aisles. Two spiral staircases within the two small bell towers that border the facade lead up to them.
Most of the structural elements can be ascribed to the renovations of the 17th century. This mainly involves the construction of a kind of exonarthex , which leans against the opposite facade (which functions as a connecting gallery between the two galleries on the upper floor), and the construction of the three-aisled crypt (1697) with a sail vault and small marble columns in which the bar is located with the remains of St. Julius is kept. The crypt is reached by two flights of stairs on the sides of the presbytery , which, like the entire transept, is higher than the naves.
The appearance, more in keeping with the Baroque, consists mainly of the decorative apparatus of the apse half-dome and the ceilings in the nave with frescoes by Carlo Borsetti , who came from the Valsesia Valley, with the support of the "quadraturist" Pietro Camaschella , depicting the Trinity and the Ascension and Glory of St. Julius and St. Representing Elias, Demetrios, Philibertus and Audentius , the latter being buried together with the patron saint in the basilica. The paintings in the chapels of the apse and the arms of the transept are predominantly baroque. The following should be mentioned: In the side chapel on the left (so-called Chapel of the Assumption) a painting by Francesco del Cairo with the Assumption of the Virgin ; at the end of the left transept arm, the large painting with the meeting between St. Julius and St. Audentius by Giuseppe Zanatta ; in the side chapel on the left of St. Julius subjugates the wolf by Giorgio Bonola .
Even older artistic testimonies in the current decorative apparatus are the Romanesque ambo , which leans against the fourth pillar on the left, and the frescoes on the walls of the aisles and on the pillars, which are an expression of popular devotion and cover a period that dates back to the Middle of the 14th to the first decades of the 16th century.
In the chapel at the end of the left aisle, above the altar, one notices the group of the Calvary , wooden statues of the cross with the Madonna and the Evangelist John ; What is remarkable is the carver's technical ability to reproduce the faces and the folds in the Madonna's robe. The group is attributed to the "Master of Santa Maria Maggiore" (a sculptor from the Ossola Valley who is now identified as Domenico Merzagora ) and is dated around 1490.
The inner
The apse
St. Julius reliquary
The Romanesque ambo
The ambo, built at the beginning of the 12th century, is made of green-gray serpentine marble (which, when polished, takes on a bronze appearance), which comes from the nearby quarry of Oira. It has a square floor plan with four pillars that support the parapet, which in turn rests on a base decorated with acanthus leaves . The four pillars are different from each other, two have a smooth shaft, the other two are decorated with plaited motifs in relief. The capitals with foliage motifs (or with foliage and animal heads) are remarkable. The parapet, with its mixed lines, shows two rectilinear parts and a curve on each of its three sides, which provides a delightful iconographic reading of the chiseled panels that make up it. Moving counter-clockwise, the following figures can be seen: a centaur aiming an arrow at a deer attacked by two wild animals, then the evangelist symbols (the bull of Luke , the winged man of Matthew , the lion of Mark , the eagle des Johannes ), and finally the depiction of a griffin grabbing the tail of a crocodile. The two battle scenes - which correspond to the taste of the medieval bestiaries - represent the battle between good and evil.
Strangely enough, between the lion of Mark and the eagle of John there is a male figure in a priestly posture, leaning on a stick with a rope-shaped handle: one has long puzzled over the identity (or symbolic meaning) of the figure. An apparently well-founded interpretation claims that it is the figure of William of Dijon , who was born on the island and is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church .
The whole work points to a refined execution technique that is able to give shape to the fantastic inspirations of medieval iconography. The analysis of the stylistic elements suggests that the author of the work was an artist from the Lombard area who was familiar with the language of Rhenish sculpture.
The Romanesque ambo
The railing of the anvil
Deer attacked by two wild animals
Icon of the Evangelist Luke
William of Dijon
Griffin grabbing a crocodile's tail
The frescoes of the aisles
Numerous frescoes, which were probably intended by the client as invocation or thanksgiving, cover a large part of the walls in the side aisles (where capitals can also be seen that refer to the 12th century reconstruction) and pillars that support the yokes of the Wear blanket. They belong to a period from the second half of the 14th century to the first decades of the 16th century. Taken together, they offer an interesting overview of the saints most venerated in this area.
The oldest picture is probably that of the martyrdom of St. Laurentius on one side of the second pillar on the left. The pillars also show the images of the saints: Antonius the Great , Martin von Tours , Donninus, Christophorus , Elias, Julius, Audentius, Dorothea , Firmus, Apollonia , Nikolaus von Myra , Leonhard . The frescoes on the pillars, which speak a language that refers to the 16th century and clearly to Gaudenzio, are The hll. Firmus and Apollonia and the embrace between the hll. Julius and Audentius .
In the second and third yoke of the right nave there are frescoes attributed to the workshops of painters from Novara that were active in the second half of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century; including Sperindio Cagnola, who was a colleague and student of Gaudenzio Ferrari .
In the second right yoke you can see: in the caps of the ceiling the Doctors of the Church with the symbols of the Evangelists ; under the arch figures of prophets ; on the wall under the lunette a scene from the martyrdom of St. Stephen and below Madonna enthroned with child between the hll. Sebastian , Jakob , Julius and Rochus and the figure of a pious man .
The cycle of frescoes in the third bay can be dated to the end of the 15th century; it includes: in the caps of the ceiling the Doctors of the Church ; under the arch figures of saints ; on the wall in the lunette the birth of Christ and below the hll. Cosmas and Damian on the half-columns of the wall and in the middle the figures of St. Sebastian, Rochus, Jakob, Katharina von Alexandrien and Blasius , a fresco from 1486.
On the wall of the left nave we find a large fresco depicting the Trinity (in the shape of a mercy seat ) in the upper part and stories of St. Julius in the form of entertaining folk pictures in the lower part.
Sperindio Cagnola, Madonna Enthroned with Child between the hll. Sebastian, Jakob, Julius and Rochus and the figure of a pious man
Martyrdom of St. Laurentius
Trinity e Stories of St. Julius
Tommaso Cagnola (?), Doctor of the Church
Tommaso Cagnola (?), Nativity
Prophets David and Moses
Hll. Firmus and Apollonia
Cagnola's workshop (?), St. Leonard of Noblac
organ
The organ , which was built in 2011 by Mascioni as opus 1188 using the case of an older instrument, is located on the left wall of the central nave by the singer's pulpit .
The instrument has two console tables , a window play table facing the choir and an independent movable one in the transept, both with two manuals and a pedal . The organ's prospectus consists of the three pipe gables .
Disposition since 2011
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.gcatholic.org/churches/data/basITX.htm
- ↑ AA.VV, L'arte romanica in Piemonte, Val d'Aosta e Liguria, Edizioni Angolo Manzoni, Torino, 2000, ISBN 88-86142-59-5 , pp 273-276
- ↑ Anna Maria Canopi OSB, Basilica di San Giulio. Abbazia Mater Ecclesiae, Editrice Velar, Gorle (Bergamo), 2009, ISBN 978-88-7135-433-0
- ↑ Anna Maria Canopi OSB, Basilica di San Giulio. Abbazia Mater Ecclesiae, Editrice Velar, Gorle (Bergamo), 2009, ISBN 978-88-7135-433-0 , p. 42
- ↑ AA.VV, L'arte romanica in Piemonte, Val d'Aosta e Liguria, Edizioni Angolo Manzoni, Torino, 2000, ISBN 88-86142-59-5 , p 276
- ↑ http://www.mascioni-organs.com/nuovidemo/orta.htm
Coordinates: 45 ° 47 '43.9 " N , 8 ° 23' 58" E