Foggia Cathedral

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Basic data
Patronage : St. Mary
Consecration day :
Address: Via del Duomo
Foggia
West facade

Beata Maria Vergine Assunta in Cielo , also Icona Vetere is the cathedral in Foggia . Its present basic form dates from the 12th century and has been rebuilt several times. It was rebuilt after the Baroque renovation in the 17th century and a severe earthquake in the 18th century. Damage from the Second World War , in which Foggia was badly hit , was only recently repaired. The crypt and a portal on the north side , which was only rediscovered in the 20th century, are of art historical importance .

Location and naming

The church is located in the historic city center of Foggia on the Via Duomo, which is named after it, about 200 meters northwest of Palazzo Dogana .

It takes its name from an allegedly miraculous image of the Virgin, called “Madonna dei sette veli”, see below. Hence the name Ikone , Italian Icona , the second part of the name is derived from the Latin vetus = old.

Building history

View of the Campanile through Via Duomo

A first building at this point is mentioned in connection with Robert Guiskard . In a document from his son Roger Borsa from 1089, a church is named Santa Maria de Fovea , so the building must have already existed at that time. It was probably a central building . Today's church building was created by adding the nave from 1172 or 1179. The year of construction was in the lintel of the main portal, this no longer exists and the traditions of the inscription contradict one another. It is certain that this construction was commissioned under King Wilhelm II of Sicily. Art history believes it can be recognized from numerous details that the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta in Troia was the model for the construction of this building. The next major change was the redesign of the transept from 1223, which is certainly related to the relocation of the central administration from Palermo to Foggia by Emperor Frederick II in 1222. During this work the crypt was changed; therefore it was necessary to raise the floor level of the transept opposite the nave. The church was then completely redesigned in the second half of the 17th century in the taste of the time, the difference was remedied by raising the floor in the nave. The medieval high walls of the nave were removed to make room for the barrel vault; across from him the outer walls were raised. The basic basilica structure was also abandoned and a large, uniform interior was created. The building was badly damaged in a devastating earthquake in 1731. Almost the entire upper part of the church and the free-standing bell tower, the campanile from 1110, had collapsed. Only the baroque structure was renewed during the reconstruction. The campanile was rebuilt in 1740, albeit at a different location. Originally it was on the north side of the church.

In 1855 Foggia became a bishopric and the church became a cathedral. When the city was badly damaged in air raids in 1943, the cathedral was also hit. The repair of this damage was only completed a few years ago.

West facade and portal on the north side

The lower part of the west facade still comes from work from the 13th century, unless parts were replaced due to damage. It contains five vertical, arcade-shaped elements, each of which is covered by multi-tiered arches. The middle one, containing the main portal, is twice as wide as the others. The arches are separated by the addition of small pilasters . The outer blind arcades contain round windows. The surrounding console cornice is remarkable. It is extremely richly decorated with a program of animals, plants, mythical and human beings. It is attributed to Friedrich's master builder Bartolomeo da Foggia .

More remarkable than the facade, which is otherwise perceived as “not just a feast for the eyes”, is a portal on the north side that was only discovered in 1953 after centuries of walling. It has a slightly pointed arch and dates from around 1225. Its span is slightly larger than that of the others on the north side and, in contrast to the other pointed arch arcades, this arcade is designed in a saw-frieze-like shape, giving it a corona-shaped effect. The figures inserted in the tympanum of this arch are found in the rubble of the earthquake of 1731. First there is a blessing Christ . The figure is flanked by two flying angels. Below this group, at the level of the capitals of the surrounding pilasters, there are three further figures: on the left Samson with the lion , on the right a bishop figure and in the middle, three times as wide relief, a figure of an equestrian. Art historians have developed various interpretations for this rider. Called Constantine the Great , the St. George , as well as Emperor Frederick II. Himself. Willemsen points out that the chair of the Abbot of Monte San virgin , contains exactly corresponding a smaller this relief.

In the actual portal tympanum there is a group of four figures, once the mother of Jesus with the Christ child , each surrounded by an angel figure on the left and right. It is probably about the archangels Gabriel and Michael. The chiseled pillow rolls on the statue of Mary show that, in contrast to the angels, she is enthroned. What all the figures have in common is that they have Byzantine models.

crypt

The crypt is unique of its kind for an Apulian cathedral crypt. It runs through the entire underground of the transept and, in contrast to the other Apulian crypts, is irregular in the yoke design. In the central, square room, four strong pillars support the arches of the yoke. Around this square, obviously designed as a central space - a reference to the previous building - there is another square. The arches leading from the pillars to the six pillars used here are significantly shorter and pointed in terms of their span. Arches lead from each of them to the pilasters set into the walls of the crypt. Only the three aspids of the central area of ​​the crypt are original, the others go back to the changes in the 18th century.

The capitals of the four pillars of the inner square are of interest. Although they were created uniformly from the style of the Corinthian order , the details are nevertheless very different. The foliage of the acanthus leaves is nowhere near as crowded as it was in antiquity; each leaf appears individually. It seems as if the sculptor started with a simple variant and ultimately created a series of capitals, the complexity of which builds on that of each previous capital. In his dissertation, Jacobs proves that the capitals probably come from a single source and - like others - also assumes that Bartolomeo da Foggia was the master. The capitals are an example of the then new "Staufer style of decoration".

Interior and sanctuary

Today's interior of the church is a hall church designed in baroque forms. The four-year nave is covered by a barrel vault, there are no side chapels in the nave. Pilasters support the arches of the vault. The east side with the deep apse over the entire width of the nave was built in the 18th century. The lateral arms of the transept are covered by barrel vaults with stitch caps. The crossing is covered by a flat dome.

Until the earthquake of 1731, the inside of the main portal contained a sarcophagus carried by lions under a canopy . Enclosed in a silver capsule, it contained the heart of Frederick II. Today, the painting The Multiplication of Bread by a Neapolitan artist from the 18th century is hung here.

To the right of the presbytery is the chapel of the Madonna dei sette veli . It got its name because the supposedly miraculous picture, it is a Byzantine work, is wrapped in seven covers or veils (Italian: velo ). It is enclosed in an ornate silver ark. Twice a year there is a procession through Foggia in honor of the sanctuary. The picture, which is said to have been found in a pond under strange circumstances after 1073, played a certain role in the revitalization of the old and crumbling ancient city after its discovery. The presumed first construction of Santa Maria Icona Vetere under Duke Robert may be related to this. The chapel itself was built when the church was baroque in 1672.

literature

  • Fritz Jacobs: The Cathedral of S. Maria Icona Vetere in Foggia ; Studies on architecture a. Plastic from the 11th to 13th centuries Century in southern Italy; University of Hamburg, Phil. Fac .; Dissertation; Hamburg 1966
  • Rolf Legler: Apulia: 7000 years of history and art in the land of cathedrals, forts and trulli ; DuMont Verlag; Cologne 1987 ISBN 3-7701-1986-X
  • Valentino Pace: Art monuments in southern Italy - Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria ; Knowledge Buchges .; Darmstadt 1994 ISBN 3-534-08443-8
  • Ekkehart Rotter: Apulia . Trips to Byzantine grotto churches, Norman cathedrals, Hohenstaufen forts and baroque buildings in Lecce. (=  DuMont art travel guide ). 6th edition. Dumont Reise Verlag, Ostfildern 2012, ISBN 3-7701-4314-0 .
  • Ludwig Tavernier: Apulia ; Artemis Publishing House; Munich 1987 ISBN 3-7608-0792-5
  • Carl Arnold Willemsen : Apulia - cathedrals and forts ; 2nd ed.; DuMont Schauberg; Cologne 1973 ISBN 3-7701-0581-8

Web links

Commons : Cathedral (Foggia)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Willemsen: Apulia, p. 37. Innocenz III. 1204 described the history of the Church in detail in a littera .
  2. ↑ Jacobs: The Cathedral of S. Maria Icona Vetere, p. 1. Property of Sancta Maria de Fogia is mentioned in a donation from the Duke to Bishop Girardus of Troia in 1092: Jean-Marie Martin: Les chartes de Troia I , Bari 1976. p . 135 f, no. 28
  3. ↑ a b Willemsen: Apulien, p. 37
  4. ↑ so z. B. Rotter: Apulia, p. 98
  5. ↑ Legler: Apulien, p. 275
  6. ↑ a b Jacobs: The Cathedral of S. Maria Icona Vetere, p. 2
  7. ↑ a b c d Willemsen: Apulien, p. 38
  8. ↑ Rotter: Apulia, p. 84
  9. ↑ a b c d Rotter: Apulien, p. 85
  10. ^ Jacobs: The Cathedral of S. Maria Icona Vetere, p. 184
  11. ↑ a b Jacobs: The Cathedral of S. Maria Icona Vetere, p. 182
  12. ↑ Willemsen: Apulia, p. 39
  13. ↑ a b Jacobs: The Cathedral of S. Maria Icona Vetere, p. 9
  14. ^ Jacobs: The Cathedral of S. Maria Icona Vetere, p. 12
  15. ^ Jacobs: The Cathedral of S. Maria Icona Vetere, p. 12
  16. ^ Jacobs: The Cathedral of S. Maria Icona Vetere, p. 13 ff.
  17. ↑ a b c Rotter: Apulien, p. 86

Coordinates: 41 ° 27 ′ 48.5 ″  N , 15 ° 32 ′ 38.1 ″  E