San Leonardo di Siponto

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View of the abbey on a 17th century manuscript

San Leonardo di Siponto ( Italian: Abbazia di San Leonardo in Lama Volara ) is a small, former abbey church in Apulia . The stone carvings preserved on the outside, especially in the north portal, belong, according to art-historical opinion, to the "most beautiful" things that the Apulian Romanesque has produced. Another special feature is the inclusion of an opening in the vault, which at the time of the summer solstice on June 21st each year allows a ray of light to fall exactly between two pillars .

Location and naming

The church is located on Strada statale 89 about seven kilometers as the crow flies west-southwest of today's center of Siponto , now part of Manfredonia , on the left in the direction of Foggia . The church is dedicated to St. Leonhard of Limoges , his cult was brought to Italy by the Normans , it is also conceivable that Pope Leo IX. promoted the notoriety of the saint. He visited Siponto for a synod in 1050, a year after the 2nd council at Reims .

history

The monastery was initially founded as a pilgrim hospice for believers on pilgrimages in the Gargano and was run by Benedictines . Later, like many institutions in Puglia, it was also used by travelers as a resting place on their way to the Holy Land during the Crusades . The abbey was first mentioned in 1113. In 1127 Augustinian canons took over the complex, a decade later Pope Innocent II granted them their own jurisdiction. The inclusion in the protection of the king by King Wilhelm II of Sicily in 1182, combined with a generally formulated confirmation of ownership, is only available in a falsified version. About 100 years later, in 1261, the Teutonic Order took over the now run-down monastery and hospice on the instructions of Pope Alexander IV . The remaining canons had turned to the Pope and complained about attacks by the Saracens from Lucera . The fact that the transfer to the order of knights was determined by Frederick II as early as 1216 is an invention of the 14th century. A Belgian pilgrim to Jerusalem in 1470, Anselm Adorno, even said that Friedrich Barbarossa had given the church to the knights of the order. The Teutonic Order maintained one of the most important bases in Apulia here. The ball lasted until the second half of the 15th century. After that, the complex was run by individual cardinals appointed as abbots until around the middle of the 17th century, Franciscan Minorites came into possession of the monastery. In 1809 the monastery and hospice were abolished by the King of Naples Joachim Murat . It was not until the late 1940s that a new parish was established. In 1952 it was recognized by the Archbishop of Manfredonia and in 1956 by the Italian President.

facade

North facade, seen from the west

The north portal of the church, which was built around 1180 to 1200, is of particular importance. It was designed in a particularly splendid way as a "show side" for the visitor coming from the street and follows models from Abruzzo art. The actual portal is three-tiered and richly decorated. The inner and inner side of the outer pilasters are filled with tendrils, there are depictions of animals and humans, and depictions of centaurs can also be seen. Small columns are set between the pilasters. The capitals of this and the inner pilasters are connected and worked with "masterful" representation. The left-hand capital shows a riding Balaam on his donkey and angels , the right-hand one contains a representation of the three kings offering gifts . The upper part of the portal contains a relief of Christ in the mandorla in the tympanum , which is held by figures of angels. The inner arch surrounding the representation as well as the architrave follow the design of the lower half of the portal. The outer arch also takes on the design with the foliage of the lower garment placed against one another and rolled up . This actual entrance is covered by a further blind gable, it stands on two exposed columns that rest on lion figures. Griffin figures sit above the finely crafted capitals of the columns. Of the original three gable figures, only two have survived, the right one depicts the patron saint of the complex himself, i.e. St. Leonhard, the other can no longer be assigned due to its state of preservation. The freely chiseled rosette depictions are also an indication of Abruzzo origins, as is the larger one between these two figures.

The other parts of the north facade are designed with pilaster strips and additional blind arches. The Transenna to the left of the portal deserves attention .

The other facades are kept much simpler, only the east side with the three apses is particularly decorated. It contains depictions of demons in the corbels . One of the pilaster strips of the main apse contains an inscription GUILIELMUS SACERDOS from top to bottom , possibly a reference to the founder or builder of the apse.

The two domes are octagonal in shape, the western one is also provided with a program of blind arches and pilaster strips.

Interior

The church was built as a three-domed structure with originally three naves . Both the central dome and the south aisle have been lost over the centuries. In the place of the central dome, an unknown master builder added the opening through which a beam of light falls exactly between the pillars in front of the side portal on the summer solstice at the time of the highest level of the sun on that day. The opening is provided with a screen, eleven columns placed in the wheel divide the light into a pattern, pointing out the similarity with the design of the large rosette at Santa Maria Assunta in Troia . The Cathedral of Chartres containing such a play of light. The purpose is ultimately not clear, it was probably a matter of calculating the remaining anniversaries as precisely as possible.

The Romanesque girders sit on strong pillar bundles with fine, differently crafted capitals. Because of the lack of a south aisle, they end there in pilasters.

There are remains of frescoes in various places inside, most of them depict coats of arms of the Teutonic Order.

A very old, wooden crucifix with Byzantine but also Norman influences that was found in the church was restored in Rome in the 1950s but was not brought back to the church. It is now located in a side chapel of Manfredonia Cathedral.

Monastery complex

South facade of the hospice building

The convent building to the south of the church , like the buildings for the monks' cells and the small inner courtyard, is largely in ruins, whereas the hospice building from the 14th century to the west has been renovated and restored in recent years.

There is a cistern to the left of the street on the way to the north portal, it is a contemporary copy. The original cistern was from the 17th century and was stolen in 1989.

literature

  • Hubert Houben (editor): San Leonardo di Siponto. Cella monastica, canonica, domus Theutonicorum. Atti del Convegno Internazionale (Manfredonia, 18-19 March 2005). Galatina: Mario Congedo editore 2006, ISBN 8880866745
  • Pina Belli D'Elia u. a .: La Puglia from Bisanzio e l'Occidente ; Electa Editrice; Gruppo Editoriale Electa, Milan 1980.
  • 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-Verlag, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-7608-0792-5
  • Carl Arnold Willemsen : Apulia - Cathedrals and castles . 2nd edition, DuMont Schauberg, Cologne 1973, ISBN 3-7701-0581-8

Web links

Commons : San Leonardo di Siponto  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rotter: Apulia , p. 115
  2. ^ Willemsen: Apulia , p. 52.
  3. ↑ Rotter: Apulia , p. 113.
  4. ↑ D W.II. +122 , online edition by Horst Enzensberger ; With erroneous date 1167 and imprecise synopsis Rotter: Apulien , p. 113.
  5. ↑ Rotter: Apulia , p. 115.
  6. ^ Willemsen: Apulia , p. 52.
  7. ↑ Rotter: Apulia , p. 115.
  8. ^ Willemsen: Apulia , p. 52.

Coordinates: 41 ° 35 ′ 47.2 "  N , 15 ° 48 ′ 49.9"  E