Messina Cathedral
The Cathedral Maria Santissima Assunta ( Maria SS. Assunta , German: Most Holy Mary taken into heaven ) in Messina is the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Messina-Lipari-Santa Lucia del Mela consecrated to the Virgin Mary .
history
The Cathedral of Messina was built on September 22nd, 1197 by Archbishop Berardo, in the presence of Emperor Henry VI. and his wife Konstanze , daughter of the Norman king Roger II of Sicily. In the course of history it was destroyed and rebuilt several times, so that hardly anything is left of the original structure.
The original beam ceiling was destroyed in a fire in 1254. The laid body of the recently deceased Hohenstaufen King Konrad IV was the victim of this fire.
In the earthquakes of 1783 and 1908, the entire interior was destroyed by the collapsing walls. After the earthquake of 1783, the bell tower was demolished and two neo-Gothic towers were attached to the two side apses next to the choir. After the earthquake of 1908 , the cathedral was reconstructed in its medieval state from 1919 to 1923. In 1933 a free bell tower was built next to the cathedral.
On the night of June 13, 1943, Messina was bombed and the cathedral burned down again completely. However, the free-standing bell tower was spared. The cathedral was opened in August 1947 under Pope Pius XII. consecrated again and received the title of a minor basilica . Until the new consecration, the Santissimo Salvatore co- cathedral served as a temporary cathedral.
Exterior
The cathedral is built in the shape of a basilica over the plan of a Latin cross . The longitudinal house has a length of 92 meters and a width of 30.5 meters, the width of the transept is 39.6 meters. The height of the longitudinal house reaches 25 meters, the height of the transept even 39.5 meters.
The exterior of the cathedral shows a mixture of Gothic and Norman style elements.
The Gothic main portal dates from the 14th-16th centuries. Century. Slender pillars on both sides frame a pediment that shows Christ crowning Mary in heaven. A statue of Our Lady with the child sits enthroned above the lintel. The columns themselves carry various figures of saints, such as B. Peter and Paul by Giovan Battista Mazzolo .
Interior
The interior of the cathedral is in three ships divided. The three naves are separated from each other by two rows of 13 columns each with Corinthian capitals . Round arches that support the masonry of the central nave rest on the capitals. A painted wooden ceiling that was newly erected during the restoration is modeled on the original beam ceiling.
Most of the interior is a reconstruction from the 20th century, only a few parts are original.
The sacrament chapel is located in the right side apse. Their mosaic decorations from the 14th century are still original. The mosaic of the right apse was reconstructed from traces, that of the main apse was recreated based on the original.
Figures of apostles stand in niches on the walls of the aisle. Of the statues originally created during the Renaissance, only the statue of John the Baptist by Antonello Gagini still exists in its original state; the others were destroyed in 1943.
In the transept there is a grave slab of Archbishop Richard Palmer .
Sanctuary
Aisle
painted wooden beam ceiling
apse
organ
The organ was built in 1948 by the organ builder Tamburini (Crema) as a replacement for an instrument made by the same organ builder in 1930, which was destroyed by a bomb in 1943. The organ is one of the largest in Italy. The instrument has 169 registers (approx. 16,000 pipes ) on five manuals and a pedal . The individual works are set up in different places in the cathedral. The echo work (V. Manual) is located in the west work, the other works are distributed over the choir and the transept. The gaming table is in the transept. The playing and stop actions are electric.
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Couple
- Normal coupling: I / II, III / II, IV / II, V / II, III / I, IV / I, IV / III, V / III, V / IV, I / P, II / P, III / P, IV / P, V / P
- Sub-octave coupling: III / I, III / II, III / III, IV / II, V / V
- Super octave coupling: I / I, I / II, II / II, III / I, III / II, III / III, IV / II, IV / IV, V / V, I / P, II / P, III / P, IV / P, IV / P
Bell tower
The bell tower , newly built in 1933 in medieval style, is 48 m high and houses a mechanical clock that was built by the Ungerer company from Strasbourg on behalf of Archbishop Angelo Paino around 1933.
On the southern side of the tower facing the cathedral facade, an astronomical clock shows the position of the planets in the zodiac , a calendar clock shows the date and a spherical moon clock shows the phases of the moon.
Historical and religious events related to Messina are shown on the western side of the tower facing the cathedral square. The scenes are set in motion every day at 12 noon. The hour bells are struck by two women, Dina and Clarenza, who at the Sicilian Vespers warned the city of the arrival of Charles of Anjou's troops by ringing bells. Below is a depiction of the scene in which an angel delivers a letter from Our Lady to Messina's ambassadors. Further representations show the religious holidays of Christmas, Three Kings, Easter and Pentecost, the sanctuary of Montalto, the four ages of man (childhood, youth, adulthood and old age) every quarter of an hour and the days of the week. The structure is crowned by a flag-waving golden lion.
The cathedral has the largest bell in Sicily and the second largest bell in Italy.
Treasury
The treasury of Messina Cathedral, laid out on the south side of the cathedral, houses a rich collection of works of art. The most valuable is the Manta d'oro from 1668, a work by the Florentine Innocenzo Mangani .
literature
- Brigit Carnabuci: Sicily. Greek temples, Roman villas, Norman cathedrals and baroque cities in the center of the Mediterranean (= DuMont art travel guide ). 6th, updated edition. DuMont Reiseverlag, Ostfildern 2011, ISBN 978-3-7701-4385-6 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Josef Riedmann: Konrad IV as King of the Regnum Siciliae. In: Karl-Heinz Rueß (Ed.): Konrad IV. (1228–1254). Germany's last Hohenstaufen king. Göppingen 2012, here p. 92.
- ↑ Information on the individual organ works ( Memento of the original from May 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of the cathedral (Italian)
- ↑ Information on disposition (PDF; 120 kB)
Web links
- La Cattedrale di Messina on messinastorica.it (Italian)
Coordinates: 38 ° 11 ′ 31.9 ″ N , 15 ° 33 ′ 19.4 ″ E