Santa Reparata (Florence)
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Santa Reparata is the former cathedral of Florence , over which the current cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore was built from 1296 . Due to an excavation in 1971/72, the floor plan of the church could be reconstructed. Today the remains of Santa Reparata can be viewed from the right aisle of the cathedral.
history
Even in pagan times there was an area in the north of Florence that was used by the Christians and that remained the religious center of the city until the Middle Ages. From the 6th century onwards, a building complex was built between the Piazza dell'Olio and the apse of today's Duomo in an east-west direction, called the Holy Axis (asse sacro) , which is traditionally a place of worship, protected by the Roman city walls Late antiquity is considered. This building complex included the Bishop's Palace, the Baptistery of San Giovanni , a hospital, a pastorate, a cemetery and three churches: San Salvatore al Vescovo , San Michele Visdomini and Santa Reparata , the latter of which was the most important and probably oldest building in the complex. After the remains of St. Zenobius , Bishop of Florence 398-429 and patron saint of the city, were transferred here (the majority of scholars date this to the 9th century), Santa Reparata became the new seat of the bishop instead of the Basilica di San Lorenzo .
Traditions on the origin of the church
The oldest tradition relates to the invasion of the Ostrogoths under Radagaisus (405/406):
- Santa Reparata was built to celebrate the victory over the Ostrogoths on the day of Saint Reparata, however: the day of the saints is October 8th and the victory over the Ostrogoths took place as early as August 405 or 406. One variant of the story states that the church previously existed as San Salvatore and was only renamed after the victory.
- A second legend relates to the transfer of the bones of St. Zenobius from San Lorenzo to Santa Reparata, which here is dated to around 430; Even with this legend, the church must have existed before.
This second legend is essential for the dating of the building. The tradition of the transfer of the city's patron saint in the 5th century comes from Bishop Andreas, who lived at the end of the 9th century, and who in turn attributes it to St. Simplicianus, who was from 397 to around 400 the successor of the Doctor of the Church Ambrose as Bishop of Milan , and who - following Bishop Andreas - is said to have written a biography of St. Zenobius (which is not possible in chronology - what is available today as the biography of St. Zenobius is a forgery from around 1130).
Despite the lack of evidence, the transfer of the relic - based on Andreas' report, which contains at least the fact of the transfer - is dated by most historians to the 9th century. The Signoria of Florence then accepted the version in 1353 that the church had been built in honor of St. Reparata .
Excavations
Between 1965 and 1974 there were six excavation campaigns at Santa Reparata. The last excavation between the baptistery and the stairs of the Duomo was carried out in 1971/1972. The discovery of the remains of Santa Reparata provided the clearest evidence of the early Christian period in Florence, which was previously poorly documented, including the excavations at Santa Felicita (1948), Paulinus of Milan's account of the Basilica di San Lorenzo in his biography of St. Ambrose of Milan , as well as some tombstones and sarcophagi .
The following stratification resulted:
- The marble floor of Santa Maria del Fiore is 2.70 m above the Roman floor - and thus about one meter above street level .
- At a height of 1.90 m there is rough cobblestone ; this is the top floor that has been preserved from Santa Reparata; there is only simple filler material between the paving stone and the marble floor.
- At 1.05 m there are remains of a floor made of bricks; this floor suggests a new building before the Council of Florence in 1055.
- Marble and stone slabs interspersed with red clay lie on 50 cm ; these plates date from the reconstruction of Santa Reparata in the Carolingian - Ottonian period.
- 30 cm above the Roman floor there is a mosaic floor showing a peacock , among other things .
- The Roman soil itself is from Opus signinum . During excavations between 1912 and 1915, Roman mosaics from the 1st century were found below the baptistery on the same level.
The excavations were examined by Franklin Toker (Canada) and da Morozzi and the results were published. Toker bases his results on work carried out under the direction of the archaeologist E. Galli in the first two decades of the 19th century, and continues his comparative studies using tombs found in the vicinity of the Baptistery. These graves are no longer tangible, but Galli published a report on his research. Busignani found some contradictions in Toker's conclusions and put question marks on the dating of the levels based on the graves. It is safer to date it from coins found during the excavations at Santa Reparata.
All coins found in the Roman layer belong to the time of the Emperor Gordianus III. (238–244) and Honorius (395–423). There is also a glass object, an S-shaped beaker, which was found in a tomb that was in turn inserted into the basilica's mosaic floor and is therefore dated later than the mosaic itself. A comparison with analogous finds, the dating of which is more certain, shows that the cup was at the end of the 7th century at the latest. This leads to the conclusion that the Roman layer dates back to the 4th century at the latest, and that the tiled floor was already in need of repair by the end of the 7th or 8th century, as the glass object was found in a grave for which a site was chosen where the floor already had holes. According to Busignani, this is sufficient to put the construction of the basilica at the end of the 4th century or in the first decades of the 5th century - after the Roman victory over the Ostrogoths.
Ground plan of the first church
The excavations have shed some light on the floor plan of the first church, the one with the large mosaic. The later changes, which were made as part of renovations and restorations, were also based on this plan. In its origins, Santa Reparata was a basilica with three naves , separated by fourteen pairs of columns . It had a semicircular apse , which can be dated to the end of the 4th century thanks to the iconography typical of the time of Emperor Constantine. In Florence, there are works with an iconography from this period in Santa Felicita and probably also in San Lorenzo.
It is not certain whether the pillars supported vaults or an entablature; however, the 3.19 m distance between the columns makes a vault more likely. Not the entire basilica has been excavated, only the first part, corresponding to about four pairs of columns, was located below the cathedral square and the stairs of Santa Maria del Fiore, has so far been exposed.
Dimensions
The statement about the size of the church is based on the foundations and arcades of the front of Santa Reparata, which were found 13 meters in front of the current facade of the Duomo. Including this part, Santa Reparata seems to have had remarkable dimensions: inside 58.5 meters long, including the apse, 25 to 26 meters wide on the sloping north wall. For comparison: Santa Maria del Fiore is 153 meters long, around 38 meters wide, the transept measures 90 meters, the height of the lantern 86.7 meters.
The mosaic floor
The most important find is the large mosaic, with which the floor of the basilica was covered, and which was located in the left nave, in most of the central nave and also in the right nave. There are different patterns next to each other, including - apart from the usual four-leaf rosettes and the Solomon's knot in circles and octagons, accompanied by Christian symbolism such as the cross and the chalice - the unusually intertwined coats of arms with diamonds in between , which make up the largest part of the central nave, and in it again an epigraph with the names of 14 sponsors . The image of a peacock next to the emblem in the center of the field with the name of the founder Obsequentius is of remarkable quality .
The North African influence in the style of the mosaic can be explained by the fact that this culture was present not only in Sicily but throughout the eastern Mediterranean, especially Syria, which in turn had close economic ties with Florence. The motifs of the mosaic belong to the usual repertoire of the time in the Roman Empire (the Solomon's knot is also found in the mosaics of the buildings below the Baptistery in Florence), and the juxtaposition of the various elements can be found in many other examples around the Adriatic Sea .
Florence in the 4th century
From the assessments of the material found, one can derive the hypothesis that the mosaic dates from the 4th to 6th centuries, whereby it is necessary to base this hypothesis on historical facts. There is the view that Florence at the end of the 4th century fell into such a period of decline that the construction of a church like Santa Reparata or the Baptistery was no longer possible at all, a phase that lasted until the 6th or 7th centuries. Century lasted. The baptistery is assigned to the time of the Lombards because it was consecrated to John the Baptist . However, the existence of such a period of decadence is controversial, as Florence became the capital of a large province through the administrative reform of Diocletian (284-305), which consisted of today's Tuscany and Umbria , and was the seat of a bishop from around 315.
In any case, the city was of such great importance, also because of its strategic position at the crossing of the Via Cassia (or Via Clodia ) over the Arno , that the central administration certainly did not neglect it. The researcher Lopes Pegna states that in the half of the 4th century the wealthy left the city in order to avoid excessive tax burdens and to defend themselves against tax officials who were personally responsible for the tax revenue: the wealthy city dwellers withdrew to the country and left their city mansions to decay. Houses like the one found below the baptistery, according to Lopes Pegna, were probably occupied by plebeians , small artisans or traders. In addition, this special building stood near the Porta ad aquilonem at the time of the Ostrogoth attacks and was therefore exposed to particularly strong attacks and devastation by the intruders who attacked this northern city gate in August 405 or 406 in particular.
Busignani objects that it is incomprehensible why the Ostrogoths should have concentrated their attacks on the north gate. However, it is known that the Ostrogoths divided their army into three pillars, two of which were encamped on the hills of Fiesole , while the third was besieging Florence and attacking from all sides. Excavations in 1971 and 1972 have shown that the city walls between Porta da aquilonem and Santa Maria al Fiore had already fallen into ruin during the imperial era; this discovery means that the city fortifications had to be renewed, which happened in the second half of the 4th century when the migration of peoples became a threat to Florence. This must have been the situation when Ambrosius, the bishop of Milan, came to Florence in 393 and found the Basilica of San Lorenzo outside the Porta ad aquilonem .
The victory over Radagaisus will have given Florence new impetus; the Christianization of the city progressed, and in the years after the victory religious buildings were rebuilt with renewed zeal. According to Busignani, the new large basilica and the baptistery in front of it must have been built in a joint effort that required well-functioning structures within the city. The ceasefire lasted around a century and a half until the wars between the Greeks and the Goths, which did not cause much damage to the city either, since the armed clash took place near Scarperia in the Mugello .
It is certain that from the middle of the century, that is, in the period between Stilicho and Radagaisus on the one hand and Justinian I and Totila on the other, the population of Florence - as in the rest of Italy - an increasing and serious one Experienced impoverishment. This impoverishment, which began after Radagaisus' fall, confirms the premature dating of the basilica and baptistery. According to Busignani, the architecture of the baptistery is so atypical that it cannot be explained without the close connection with classical Roman architecture. In addition, the logic dictates that the basilica must be older than the baptistery, so that a dating in connection with the victory of 405/406 becomes mandatory.
First new building after the Gothic Wars
The Gothic Wars ended in 554 and left Florence in a miserable state. Under the Lombards, the city lost its dominance in Tuscany in favor of Lucca , while the constant opponent Fiesole grew stronger. Tradition attributes the restoration of the city to Charlemagne , although it would be more correct to speak of a rebirth. The new building in Santa Reparata can be attributed to this period.
The excavations have brought to light a new basilica above the early Christian church, the characteristics of which are very different from the old church. The scope is the same, but new outer walls have been partially placed on top of the old walls. The changes compared to the old basilica are:
- Instead of the 14 pairs of pillars, 7 pairs of wall pillars were built
- two chapels were set in the sides of the apse, which look very much like a transept; here the distance between the wall pillars is increased, which also gives the impression of a transept
- the excavation of the apse revealed the construction of a crypt
After the structural changes of the 8th / 9th In the 19th century, Santa Reparata represented a section of a new type of architecture, which differs from early Christian architecture mainly through a structure similar to a transept (see text box). The construction of the crypt also corresponds to the style and the cult of martyrs and saints of the time: almost all scientists assume that the bones of the city's patron Zenobius were transferred here at that time.
With the relics, the bishopric was probably moved from San Lorenzo to Santa Reparata. However, it is unknown whether the transfer occurred in the time of Bishop Andrew (869-890), as is sometimes stated. It is documented that Andrew consecrated the altar to St. Reparata, which supports the Carolingian chronology of the second church.
9th or 10th century: two towers are built
Probably in the 9th or (less likely after Busignani) in the 10th century, two towers or campaniles were added to the side of the apse, the massive foundations of which were found during the excavations. It can be assumed that the towers had defensive functions, as the Hungarians frequently raided Tuscany in the 10th century . In northern Italy this construction was only chosen at the end of the 10th century, in France, Switzerland and Germany it is attested until the first quarter of the 11th century, and these are the examples that the designers imitated.
Conversions in the run-up to the Council of Florence
On June 4, 1055 Pope Viktor II opened the first council of Florence in Santa Reparata, attended by 120 bishops and Emperor Henry III. had come to town. Gérard of Burgundy († 1061) had been bishop of Florence for ten years and became Pope in 1058 as Nicholas II without giving up the diocese of Florence . It appears that some modifications were made in the run-up to this council:
- The crypt was expanded
- Two apses were added to the side of the central apse
- An arcade was built, for which the foundations of eight pilasters or columns were found about 13 meters west of the facade of Santa Maria del Fiore
Pope Nicholas II, who was in Florence from November 1059, consecrated the newly built churches of Santa Felicita and San Lorenzo, but there is no evidence that he also consecrated Santa Reparata. Regarding the baptistery there is an inscription from the 17th or 18th century, which reports that the baptistery was consecrated on November 6, 1055 to John the Baptist. If the alterations were made in relation to the Council, it is likely that Nicholas II consecrated Santa Reparata as Bishop of Florence.
The apses are Romanesque as their construction principle, compared with that of the two towers, especially the southern one, makes it likely that they were built during this period. The crypt was also enlarged in the Romanesque style; the ceiling was supported by columns and enlarged to the two chapels on the side, where two flights of stairs led up to the chancel. Little is known about the arcades, only that their construction reduced the distance between Santa Reparata and the Baptistery from 17 to 18 to 13 meters. It is likely that the facade of Santa Reparata was clad in multi-colored marble , like the baptistery.
The replacement by Santa Maria del Fiore
At some point in the 13th century, says Villani, Santa Reparata no longer corresponded to the growing ambitions of the city of Florence, so that a new building was decided in 1293. On September 8, 1296, the foundation stone for the new cathedral was laid. At that time the level of 1.05 m above the Roman soil had already been raised by 85 cm and the final paving had been paved, so that the current height was already 1.90 m above the Roman soil. The marble floor of Santa Maria del Fiore should be another 80 cm higher.
The relationship between the population and Santa Reparata remained unbroken for the time being. In the middle of the 14th century the small apse on the right side was decorated with a fresco showing a Pietà . By 1375 the new building had progressed so far that the old church had to be torn down.
literature
- Alberto Busignani, Raffaello Bencini: Le chiese di Firenze (Firenze: Sansoni, around 1979)
- Robert Davidsohn: Storia Di Firenze (Firenze: Sansoni, 1965),
Footnotes
Web links
Coordinates: 43 ° 46 ′ 24 ″ N , 11 ° 15 ′ 23 ″ E