pisa nel campo dei miracoli5

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The Piazza del Duomo ("Cathedral Square") is a wide, walled area at the heart of the city of Pisa, Tuscany, Italy, recognized as one of the main centers for medieval art in the world.

The heart of the Piazza del Duomo is, obviously, the Duomo, the medieval cathedral, entitled to Santa Maria Assunta, a five-naved cathedral with a three-naved transept.

The massive bronze main doors were made in the workshops of Giambologna, replacing the original doors destroyed in a fire in 1595.

Foto internet

The church also contains the bones of St Ranieri, Pisa's patron saint, and the tomb of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII, carved by Tino da Camaino in 1315. That tomb, originally in the apse just behind the main altar, was disassembled and changed position many times during the years for political reasons

In the Cathedral also can be found some relics brought during the Crusades: the remains of three Saints (Abibo, Gamaliel and Nicodemus) and a vase that it is said to be one of the jars of Cana.

Galileo is believed to have formulated his theory about the movement of a pendulum by watching the swinging of the incense lamp (not the present one) hanging from the ceiling of the nave. That lamp, smaller and simpler than the present one, it is now kept in the Camposanto

The interior is faced with black and white marble and has a gilded ceiling and a frescoed dome. It was largely redecorated after a fire in 1595, which destroyed most of the medieval art works.

Fortunately, the impressive mosaic, in the apse, of Christ in Majesty, flanked by the Blessed Virgin and St. John the Evangelist, survived the fire.It evokes the mosaics in the church of Monreale, Sicily. Although it is said that the mosaic was done by Cimabue, only the head of St. John was done by the artist in 1302 and was his last work, since he died in Pisa in the same year.

Pope Gregory VIII was also buried in the cathedral. The fire in 1595 destroyed his tomb

The impressive granite Corinthian columns between the nave and the aisle came originally from the mosque of Palermo, captured by the Pisans in 1063.

The building, as have several in Pisa, has tilted slightly since its construction.

Sound: Stradella A. Niedermeyer L. - Pietà Signore - Ramon Vargas

Pictures: Daniela IacobArangement: Sanda Foişoreanu