Santa Maria di Sibiola
The box-like country church of Santa Maria di Sibiola is the best preserved double apse church in Sardinia . This tree motif , created in the Eastern Church, was occasionally adopted by Western monastic orders. The Benedictines of St. Victor in Marseille built the church at the beginning of the 12th century. Santa Maria di Sibiola is three kilometers from Serdiana, north of Cagliari and is one of the masterpieces in the Romanesque- Provencal style in Sardinia.
The masonry consists of small stones, only the front is made in the classic, massive-looking rectangular construction. The asymmetrical division of the interior into two longitudinal aisles of different widths, each with an apse, is consistently continued in the entrances and windows of the facade with its inner tension. Above all, the barrel vaults, whose belt arches continue over small consoles in pilaster strips , indicate the lightness of Provence . The shift towards lighter, livelier forms is also evident in the human, animal and plant motifs on the consoles. The casualness with which the access problem to the bell gable was solved by an external staircase is also characteristic.
The Benedictines of Monte Cassino built the oldest of the Sardinian double churches Sant 'Elia di Tattinu near Nuxis in 1065. It is consecrated to two oriental saints, which would explain the otherwise unclear division into two parts.
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Coordinates: 39 ° 22 ′ 3.4 ″ N , 9 ° 7 ′ 19.8 ″ E