Pisa Cathedral
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The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta ( Italian Cattedrale Metropolitana Primaziale di Santa Maria Assunta ) is a church in Pisa that includes the world-famous Leaning Tower of Pisa . It is the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Pisa .
The cathedral stands on the spacious lawn of the Piazza del Duomo , on which the three associated buildings Baptistery , Camposanto Monumentale and the Campanile ("The Leaning Tower of Pisa") are located. This square was called Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles) by the poet D'Annunzio and is still called that today. Despite a construction time of over 200 years, the consistent building material Carrara marble and the uniform facade design created a coherent picture. The cathedral became the model for later cathedral buildings such as B. in Florence and Siena and for centuries was considered the most monumental building in Christian history.
Many incoherent signs can be found on the outside walls of the entire building. The reason for this is that old building materials were reused or materials were taken from conquered cities.
Pope Gelasius II inaugurated the then unfinished cathedral in 1118. He bears the patronage of the Assumption of Mary .
Building history
Buscheto di Giovanni Giudice began building the cathedral in 1063 on the alluvial floor in front of the old city wall . The building was financed with the treasures conquered by the Saracens off Palermo in the same year . Due to the soft subsoil, the cathedral also sank slightly in the east. The cross-shaped base of the cathedral was new in Italy at the time. An elliptical dome with an octagonal approach rises above the crossing of the five-aisled basilica with the three-aisled transept . It was not added in Gothic style until 1380 by Lupo di Gante and Puccio di Gadduccio .
The facade was created by Rainaldo at the end of the 12th century and, as the Pisan Romanesque, became a model throughout Tuscany . In the western facade, four additional loggias with 52 columns rise above the seven blind arcades on the ground floor with its three gates . They reveal the colored marble wall behind. On the gable of the 35.5 m wide and 34.2 m high facade stands a statue of the Madonna con Bambino (German: Madonna with Child) by Andrea Pisano . At her side are angels who were created together with the two evangelists on the first loggia by students of Giovanni Pisano . The middle gate is dedicated to the life of St. Mary. There is a memorial by Rainaldo above this gate. Under the left arch of the facade is the grave of Buscheto di Giovanni Giudice , who started the construction of the cathedral.
The three bronze gates from the 17th century replace the gates from 1180 created by Bonanno Pisano , which were destroyed in a heavy fire in 1595. These new gates with extensive relief scenes were cast by the students Francavilla, Mocchi and Tacca based on the old model. On the south aisle you will find the portal Porta di San Ranieri , which faces the campanile and allows visitors to enter the cathedral. The restored original of the master Bonanno Pisano from 1186 is still present from this gate. It is named after the patron saint of Pisas and represents u. a. Scenes from the life of Christ. However, this gate is currently being replaced by a simple wooden gate.
Dating problems
As for the dating of this cathedral and the historical derivation of its individual forms of construction, there have long been very different views in research. Apparently the most widespread version can come up with exact numbers and the exact names of various builders - so u. a. Die Propylaen Art History Vol. 5. Other researchers consider these stories to be legends invented as early as the Middle Ages, including the author of the volume on "Romanesque Art" from the renowned 'Ars Antiqua' series by Herder-Verlag.
According to the first theory, the naval victory at Palermo over the Saracens then ruling the Mediterranean in 1063 gave rise to the construction of the entire complex. In Venice these Saracen pirates also played a role. There, too, the reduction of this danger had prompted the rebuilding of St. Mark's Basilica , and that in the same year 1063 in which the Pisan construction was possibly started. The Pisans also made rich booty from this victory at the lake and put the money into the glorification of their city. At that time - in the 11th century - Pisa was the most powerful city in Tuscany.
According to the second view, nothing else is proven than that in 1118 the cathedral was under construction. That is the only really recorded date. And at that time the purely accidental presence of Pope Gelasius II was used to carry out an appropriate consecration. But there must have been a lot of the cathedral and then the two theories would not differ so much when they were created.
The cathedral, along with St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, is one of the first monumental buildings in medieval Italy, and therefore, of course, people often thought about who had the decisive building ideas. The city of Pisa launched its own local patriotic version very early on, which the builder attributed the entire complex to be an ingenious, completely independent idea. Foreign influences should not have played a role.
The first master builder of the cathedral is said to have been a certain Buscheto (or Busketos), but very little is known about him. Vasari reports that he was of Greek origin - so not a pure Pisan after all. The official Pisan art guide from 1980 claimed, however, that modern research most likely considers him - Buscheto - to be a real Pisan, which is why he is not only called Buscheto but Buscheto Pisano in this book. This claim is likely to be purely Pisan research.
Be that as it may: in any case, this Buscheto knew, if he was at all, the Byzantine cultural area, he has certainly seen a lot in his life. Because his architecture borrows from Islamic mosques in Persia and early Christian churches in Armenia and Georgia, it combines elements of the Italian Romanesque with motifs from the city wall of Kairouan - a very broad field. Inscriptions in the cathedral attest to the collaboration of pagans, Turks, Africans, Persians and Chaldeans. There is no consensus in research about who came up with the idea for the cathedral, where it came from and where its stylistic models came from. Like Venice, Pisa had intensive trade relations as a sea power in the eastern Mediterranean. It is therefore no wonder that Eastern architecture was able to exert an influence here.
The construction of the Pisan Cathedral dragged on for a long time, but the overall impression is uniform. If you stick to the first theory, then the further development looked as follows: The cathedral was not yet finished, so the new builder Rainaldus around 1100 was stubborn enough to change the original floor plan, to lengthen the nave, to raise the Lichtgaden - the original height can still be seen on the transept - and the lower storey of the facade is to be built (on the middle gate of the west facade is the inscription at the top right: “This famous and magnificent facade was designed by Rainaldo, a skilled craftsman and site manager, with art and ingenuity and zeal completed. ”), which later the Innsbruck master Wilhelm, called Guglielmus, completed by 1160.
The role of dating in the importance of the facade
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This facade represents a decisive innovation for occidental architectural history, namely the transition from the smooth wall to the three-dimensionally designed display area . Hence the question of their exact dating is also important.
The more critical second theory only accepts that at an unknown point in time in the second half of the 12th century three yokes were added to the west of the main nave and the current facade was started. Names are not mentioned in this theory. Accordingly, the entire facade could not have been finished until 1200 and may have been planned in its current form from the start. Other estimates even assume the middle of the 13th century - a hundred years after the first theory.
Nevertheless, there is much to suggest that one can distinguish two different phases in the development of the decoration system . The original concept - i.e. the first phase - looked like this, to subdivide the outer walls on the ground floor by the following elements: firstly by so-called blind arches, i.e. arcades that are faded in, then by horizontal strips of colored marble - this has a certain similarity to the Protenaissance in Florence - and finally by inlaid ornaments and medallions. This scheme goes around the whole cathedral, on the side walls also on the upper floors. So that would be the first stage in the development of Pisan architecture .
The motif of these surrounding blind niches comes again from the Byzantine area, namely from the Komnenischen art of the 11th / 12th. Century. The motif of the decorative squares turned upside down appears in Apulia on a church from the first half of the 11th century, the first version of Santa Maria di Siponto in Manfredonia .
Later builders followed this first concept in the lower part of the facade. But on the floors above this wealth of forms was exceeded many times over. Here, in four galleries, one on top of the other, a three- dimensional decorative layer made up of columns and lavishly decorated arches was clearly visible in front of the actual church wall - so there was no longer any two-dimensional display. This building motif plays an important role in the history of architecture and also the question of where it appears first and which church has taken it over from which other - hence the importance of an exact dating. In general, this idea comes from German architecture when you see it in connection with the dwarf gallery , which appears for the first time at Trier Cathedral at the beginning of the 11th century.
The Pisan master builder may have taken up a Tuscan model here, which could be seen in Lucca, for example. The relationships of dependency between Pisa and Lucca or other Tuscan cities - and in turn their relationship to the eastern Mediterranean, where many new ideas came from - are viewed differently in the literature. You can't just rely on medieval sources, because even then people were lying . Pisa, for example, would have had good reason to bring its cathedral forward to 1063, as St. Mark's Basilica in Venice was started in the same year. And of course they didn't want to stand back behind Venice. In research, such claims, even if they are very old, must definitely be checked for their truthfulness. And that doesn't always work out without leaving a residual doubt.
In a historical comparison of the facade designs and their mutual dependency, for example, what matters is not when the entire construction began, but rather when the facade was designed . If you want to decide which building with which idea appeared for the first time , the individual components have to be assessed differently , since such churches were sometimes built for centuries. And a church may well have appeared for the first time with a new idea, but the start of construction - as a whole - is much later than that of another. And if a Pope has consecrated a building and there is a certificate about it, that doesn't mean that the building was completed that year. When in doubt, there was an altar and a roof over it - nothing more. That makes it just as difficult for art history to precisely reconstruct the relationships of dependency.
No other city in Italy had ever been as sensual as Pisa in its cathedral facade, and this new facade motif has often been taken up in Tuscany. The facade was completed by the Innsbruck master Wilhelm (Guglielmus). His pupil Bonanno Pisano was later to build the campanile . The principle of a column layer placed in front of the actual wall finds its most striking expression in the neighboring campanile, where a total of 180 columns are stacked on six floors. The columns of the cathedral facade were partly taken from ancient buildings and transported to Pisa by sea.
The basic principle of the Pisan building school is: covering all wall surfaces with decorative arcade patterns, either - as the first stage - only laid flat or - in the second phase - placed in front of it plastically. In contrast to the European north, which emphasizes the vertical, whereby the components are tightened and rhythmized, here in Italy a continuous horizontal sequence is the decisive feature. This description is reminiscent of the later architecture of Brunelleschi , the father of the Renaissance in architecture and the inventor of the central perspective. This thought was not that new.
Here we have a certain tradition in Tuscan architecture from Roman antiquity to Romanesque to the Renaissance . This can be seen as an indication that the Italian Renaissance did not arise suddenly and that there were definitely intermediate stages in the Middle Ages like here in Pisa.
The principle of endless rows is characteristic of the entire Italian architecture not only of the Middle Ages, but since ancient times. And that also makes it understandable why the dwarf gallery from Northern Europe was picked up. Incidentally, this 'Romanesque' decoration system does not appear for the first time in Pisa at the cathedral, but in even older buildings in the city and the immediate vicinity.
The cathedral of Pisa was started around 1063 and largely completed by the end of the 13th century.
- Detail view
Bronze gate of the main portal
Mosaic over the main portal
Exterior wall detail
Gargoyle in the shape of a chimera
- More views of the cathedral
View of the cathedral
The cathedral as seen from the baptistery
View of the dome
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Furnishing
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Much of the interior of the cathedral was destroyed in the great fire of 1595. The gilded coffered ceiling dates from the 17th century, when the cathedral was extensively restored after the fire.
The dominant feature is the row of double columns in the middle of the building, which consists of massive granite columns with capitals . Above it are alternating black and white Byzantine arcades that are strongly reminiscent of a mosque.
The pulpit is the work of Giovanni Pisano , created between 1302 and 1311. The pulpit is hexagonal and rests on 11 supports. On the base of the central pillars are allegories of the seven Artes Liberales and the three Christian virtues . Two of the outer supports are pillars resting on lions, two other supports are square, one carrying the Archangel Michael , the other the ancient hero Hercules . The others bear allegories of the Ecclesia , the four cardinal virtues and the four evangelists . The nine relief panels, rich in images, are each subdivided by figures of prophets and saints and summarized by a richly decorated cornice. On the cornice is a lectern in the shape of an eagle with outspread wings.
The mosaic in the apse calotte was started by Francesco di Simone and completed by Cimabue in 1302 . Depicted is Christ Enthroned in the company of Mary and John. The apse is completely painted with frescoes by Beccafumi , Sogliano and Sodoma . A bronze crucifix by Giambologna hangs above the high altar and is decorated with six angels carrying candelabra.
Among the altarpieces on the side altars are a “Madonna and Child” by Antonia Sogliani (1492–1544) and Sant 'Agnes by Andrea del Sarto . The tomb of Emperor Henry VII is a work by Tino di Camaino from 1315.
Dome fresco Mary in Glory by Girolamo Riminaldi
Mosaic of Christ Pantocrator in the apse
pulpit
Beccafumi: Moses and the Golden Calf
Crossing of the cathedral
Marble columns
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organ
The organs in the cathedral of Pisa were built in 1980 by the organ builder Mascioni (Azzio, Va.). The main organ has a total of 74 registers and two glockenspiels , divided into four manual works and a pedal . The pedal is divided into two different pedal units: the positive pedal and the main pedal, which contains a number of transmissions , extensions and extended transmissions. The actions are electric.
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Couple
- Normal coupling: I / II, III / II, IV / II, III / I, IV / I, IV / III, I / P, II / P, III / P, IV / P
- Sub-octave coupling: I / I, III / I, III / II, III / III, IV / I, IV / II, IV / III, IV / IV
- Super octave coupling: I / I, I / II, II / II, III / I, III / II, III / III, IV / III, IV / IV, I / P, III / P, IV / P
There is also a small mechanical choir organ in the cathedral, which was also built by Mascioni.
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- Pairing : Manual / P
Legends
A bronze chandelier by Vincenzo Possenti from 1587 hangs in the main nave, but the design is by Giovanni Battista Lorenzi . There is a story that Galileo Galilei is said to have found the laws of pendulum oscillation on the candlestick . If it was a candlestick in this church that brought him to the law, it cannot have been this candlestick, since Galileo Galilei published the law around 1584.
Between the north aisle and the western facade, on the outer wall of the cathedral, on a pillar, there is a stone with many black dots. This stone is said to be of the devil . If you count the points twice in a row, you get a different result each time.
literature
- Günther Binding : What is Gothic? An analysis of the Gothic churches in France, England and Germany 1140–1350. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2000, ISBN 3-534-14076-1 .
- Urano Castelli, Gagetti Ranieri: Pisa and its artists. Becocci Editore, Florence 1977.
- Marcel Durliat : Romanesque Art (= Ars antiqua. Series 3, 2). Herder, Freiburg (Breisgau) et al. 1983, ISBN 3-451-19402-3 .
- Hermann Fillitz : The Middle Ages. Volume 1 (= Propylaea art history. ). Propylaen-Verlag, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-549-5105-0 .
- Rolf Legler : Apulia. 7000 years of history and art in the land of cathedrals, castles and trulli. DuMont, Cologne 1987, ISBN 3-7701-1986-X .
- Martin Czechne : Pisa's pride is not just crooked. In: ART. 4/90.
- Klaus Zimmermanns: Toscana. The hill country and the historic city centers. DuMont, Cologne 1980, ISBN 3-7701-1050-1 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Fillitz: The Middle Ages. Volume 1. 1990, p. 218.
- ^ Durliat: Romanesque Art. 1983, p. 576.
- ^ Castelli, Ranieri: Pisa and its artists. 1977, p. 9; Czechne: Pisa's pride is not just crooked. In: ART. 4/90, p. 60.
- ^ Durliat: Romanesque Art. 1983, p. 577.
- ^ Zimmermanns: Toscana. 1980, p. 75.
- ^ Castelli, Ranieri: Pisa and its artists. 1977, p. 10.
- ↑ Chechne: Pisa's pride is not just crooked. In: ART. 4/90, p. 60.
- ^ Zimmermanns: Toscana. 1980, p. 72.
- ^ Durliat: Romanesque Art. 1983, p. 577.
- ^ Durliat: Romanesque Art. 1983, p. 577 - Christine Smith.
- ↑ Legler: Apulia. 1987, p. 91.
- ↑ Binding: What is Gothic? 2000, p. 6.
- ↑ Chechne: Pisa's pride isn't just crooked. In: ART. 4/90, p. 62.
- ↑ More information on the organs in Pisa Cathedral (PDF; 17 kB).
Coordinates: 43 ° 43 ′ 23.8 " N , 10 ° 23 ′ 44.2" E