Trani Cathedral
The Cathedral of San Nicola Pellegrino (Eng. Saint Nicholas, the Pilgrim ) in Trani is the episcopal church of the Archdiocese of Trani-Barletta-Bisceglie . The building is a double church with a crypt . Under the upper church, which is consecrated to the holy pilgrim Nicholas, there is the lower church of Santa Maria della Scala and the hall crypt, which is also consecrated to this saint. San Nicola Pellegrino is one of the Normann churches in Apulia and is located directly on the sea.
description
The construction of the cathedral, which took around one hundred years to build, began in 1097 and entered the decisive phase between 1159 and 1186.
The cathedral's campanile is directly connected to the cathedral via a passage. On the lower two floors, the inside of the campanile picks up roughly the arch structure of the church facade. It had become so dilapidated that it had to be completely dismantled in 1952 and rebuilt on a secure basis. The entrance to the church is not on the ground floor, but on a staircase, as the whole building is underpinned by a lower church. Like the Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi, San Nicola Pellegrino is a double church.
However, the nearby stone quarries are more significant for art history . The stone broken here, the trani ( pietra tranese ), is a hard, weather-resistant and strikingly light stone with a slightly reddish tint that is still mined today. The cathedral and many other buildings and sculptures in Trani are made of this natural stone . The proximity of the large quarry caused the constant presence of sculptors and architects and the development of a tradition in this regard. This can be seen in the rich sculptural design of the church, especially the exterior.
Exterior
Unlike the other sides, the front is not designed to create a height effect, instead an emphasis on the horizontal dominates. Only the gable of the central nave emerges. In this, under a small monoforium, there is a sixteen-part rose window around which six animal figures are arranged on consoles. Below is a large central monoforium, flanked by two columns and four console figures. To the right and left of it are smaller monoforias that are only adorned with an ornamental band. The entrance level of the facade, which can be reached via two stairs, is structured by a particularly finely profiled arched position. The ornamental bands of the portal continue across the entire facade as arch decoration. The arched portal is without architrave , the posts and the archivolt are lavishly decorated. The archivolt is covered by a second one that ends on two leaf capitals, which in turn rest on two very slender columns.
The bronze portal was created by Barisanus von Trani in 1175 and was later moved inside the church. Here, too, the action scene is surrounded by an ornamental ribbon. In the bronze portal in Monte Sant'Angelo from 1076, the depictions were still scratched into the metal using Niellotechnik. Here we have the later form in 1175, a slightly raised relief.
The obligatory lion scene at the entrance does not show lions standing alone, but two fighting scenes.
The parapet of the staircase is also adorned with an ornament band that also runs around the capital zone of the semi-columns in front. Strikingly, this is also about fight scenes.
On the back, the effort to create a height effect is particularly clear. The central apse extends to the roof of the transept, which is surrounded by a cornice in the form of a console frieze partially decorated with figures. The side apses are a little lower, but appear very slim due to their height. Some of the windows in the apses and the east wall of the transept have elaborate decorations. Five console figures are placed around the window of the main apse. The front of the transept facing the sea has a quattroforium, two biforias and console figures. The opposite front, facing the city, is particularly elaborately designed with a rose window, two biforias arranged below it and the blind arches below with pilasters that reach down to the floor.
The sides of the nave are structured with arcades that extend on the city side to the almost 60 m high campanile. The base area with the ogival gate opening and the two floors above was built in 1125/30. The other floors, with windows that widen upwards, were built in 1352–79.
inner space
The lowest level forms the tomb of St. Leukios (Ipogeo di San Leucio), a bishop of Brindisi in the 3rd century, whose bones were here from the 7th century to 845. The crypt is still below sea level, and above it is the choir of today's lower church, Santa Maria della Scala. The crypt of the cathedral adjoins this a little lower . The bones of the holy pilgrim Nicholas are kept here in a silver shrine .
Crypt of Saint Leukios
crypt
Crypt with the silver shrine in which the bones of St. Nicholas pilgrim are kept.
Lower church of Santa Maria della Scala
Side of the transept facing the city
facade
Inside the church shows a strong three-dimensional structure of the wall. The lower arcade floor is formed here by transversely placed double columns. Their capitals have not been completed. There are no broad strips of wall above the arcades, as is usual in Italy, but, similar to the Basilica of San Nicola in Bari , gallery floors that open towards the central nave with columned triforias . Above it is another series of monoforias.
At the time of construction the church was adorned with numerous frescoes and from around 1165 a mosaic covered the floor, of which remains in the choir area are still preserved. Among other things, Adam and Eve in paradise with the snake and the tree of knowledge and in front of that King Alexander with two meat skewers in his hands, with which he lures the eagles on which he flies, higher and higher. Presumably this was created by Master Pantaleone, who also worked in Otranto , or his workshop.
In the lower church, on the wall to the right of the staircase to the upper church, a plaque with an inscription commemorates the visit of the German Emperor Wilhelm II on the occasion of his trip to the Orient.
organ
The organ , built in 1962 by the Ruffatti brothers, was overhauled in 2013–2014 by the Francesco Zanin company using the pipes from the previous plant and the arrangement of the pipework changed. It has three manuals and a pedal again , but has only 46 stops instead of 48 stops . The electrical action has been replaced by a mechanical one.
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The campane (bells) of manuals I and II and the pedal are those of manual III.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Legler, Rolf: Apulia. Cologne [1987] 3rd edition 1989, p. 172 ff.
- ↑ a b c d e f g 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 .
- ↑ See the information on organnews.eu
- ↑ http://www.traniviva.it/notizie/nuovo-organo-della-cattedrale-di-trani-ecco-come-sara , accessed on September 27, 2016
literature
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 .
Web links
- La cattedrale di San Nicola Pellegrino a Trani , annotated picture gallery.
Coordinates: 41 ° 16 '56 " N , 16 ° 25' 6.6" E