Santa Maria di Castello (Giornico)
The church of Santa Maria di Castello (also del Castello ) stands on a striking rocky hill in the west above the municipality of Giornico in Leventina in the Swiss canton of Ticino .
History and construction
The Romanesque church of Santa Maria stands in the middle of the ruins of the medieval castle complex of Castello di Santa Maria .
It was built in two main stages. In the north-west the foundations of a square building reach into the interior of the church, presumably a residential building from the early days of the castle.
The oldest church, a single-nave, two-storey building with a semicircular apse , was integrated into the castle complex and probably serves as the castle owners' private chapel. A tower was probably added on the south side in the 12th century. At the same time or shortly thereafter, the church was extended to the south and west with a second nave, with the new apse space being somewhat shorter than in the old building. The two naves are separated from each other by a double arcade.
Around 1400, the choir of the northern nave was rebuilt in the form of a barrel-vaulted rectangle. In 1575 a painted coffered ceiling was installed over both naves. Shortly afterwards, a sacristy was built in the north .
The frescoes in the northern choir are by the Lombard painters Christoforo and Nicolao da Seregno from 1448. Uncle and nephew Seregno painted numerous churches in the southern Alpine valleys between 1448 and 1480 in an almost monopoly position. In the choir canopy, Christ is depicted in the mandorla , left and right to the side of him the symbols of the apostles. The front of the choir arch shows St. George killing the dragon. Several saints and martyrs are also depicted. The paintings in the south choir date from 1904. The bars in front of the two choirs date from the 16th or 17th century.
Frescoes
Christ in the mandorla
on the left St. Sebastian with kneeling donor
to the left of the other hand Bernhard and Blasius, Nabor, Felix and Luzius
Evangelist symbols
Saint George
literature
- Werner Meyer : Castles of Switzerland . Volume 2. Silva Verlag. Zurich, 1983
- Fritz Hauswirth: Castles and palaces in Switzerland . Volume 9; Neptun Verlag, Kreuzlingen, 1972
- Art guide through Switzerland , published by the Society for Swiss Art History, Volume 2, Bern 2005, p. 467
- Gianna Ostinelli-Lumia: Giornico, Bernardo there. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Web links
- Santa Maria di Castello (Giornico) on the ETHorama platform
Individual evidence
- ^ Kulturführer Schweiz, Ex Libris-Verlag, Zurich 1982; P. 161
- ^ Matthias Oberli: Seregno, Nicolao da. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Coordinates: 46 ° 24 '4.3 " N , 8 ° 52' 16.1" E ; CH1903: 710161 / 139877