Bari - Cattedrale di San Sabino

Spinario


A "spinario" is a person withdrawing a thorn from the sole of his foot. The icon can be found already in Hellenistic times. In medieval times the thorn was interpreted as the original sin, so a spinario was the symbol of a sinner, trying to get rid of this sin. This was of course not possible.

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01 Oct 2019

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54 visits

Bari - Cattedrale di San Sabino

Bari was an early settlement and passed under Roman rule in the 3rd century BC. It developed strategic significance as the point of junction between the coast road and the Via Traiana and as a port for eastward trade. The first bishop of Bari was Gervasius who is known from the Council of Sardica in 347. After the decline of the Roman Empire, the town was devasted and taken by Alaric´s Visigothic troops, then was under Lombardian rule, before the Byzantines took over. In 755 it was conquered by Pepin the Short (Charlemagne´s father) and from 847 on it was an Islamic Emirate. The Byzantine fleet returned in 871 and since 885 Bari ws the residence of the local Byzantine governor. Following a three-year siege, Bari was captured by Robert Guiscard in 1071. After the relics of Saint Nicholas, which were surreptitiously brought from Myra in Lycia (Byzantine territory), arrived in Bari, the Basilica di San Nicola was founded in 1087. This attracted pilgrims, whose encouragement and care became central to the economy of Bari. Pope Urban II consecrated the Basilica in 1089. In 1096 a crusader army embarked in the port of Bari for the First Crusade. After the murder of archbishop Griso in 1117 a civil war broke our and the control was seized by Grimoald Alferanites, a native Lombard, in opposition to the Normans. He later did homage to Roger II of Sicily, but rebelled and was defeated in 1132. The Castello Normanno-Svevo (aka "Castello di Bari") was probably built around 1132 by Norman King Roger II. When in 1155 the Baresi rebelled against the Normans, the castle got destroyed, so as a retaliatory action, William I of Sicily (aka William the Wicked") had the city destroyed except for the cathedral and the Basilica of St. Nicola. Bari recovered and had its heydays under Frederick II. When he returned from his crusade after 1229, the city gates were locked so he had to use force to gain entry. Therefore, he probably had the fort built in 1233 to keep the city in check. On the other hand, he granted the city generous trade privileges and left it the leading role in the region. - The construction of the "Cattedrale di San Sabino" (aka "Bari Cathedral" started around 1170 on. The cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Bari-Bitonto. It is dedicated to Saint Sabinus, a bishop of Canosa, whose relics were brought here in the 9th century. It was erected on the site of the ruins of the Imperial Byzantine cathedral, destroyed in 1156 by William I of Sicily with the rest of the city. For the reconstruction of the cathedral materials from the preceding church and other destroyed buildings got reused. During the 18th century the façade, the nave and aisles and the crypt were refurbished in Baroque style. The building later underwent a series of refurbishments, demolitions and extensions. The original Romanesque appearance of the interior was restored in the 1950s. A little spinario holds up the arches of the façade. Spinarios seem to be a common species in Apulia, as this is the third I found here.

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01 Oct 2019

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50 visits

Troia - Concattedrale di Troia

Troia was probably founded by Greek settlers under the name of Aecae. The current Troia was founded as a fortified town in 1018 the by the Byzantine general Basil Boiannes. For long it was a stronghold against the Normans and got besieged by the emperors Henry II and Frederick II, who destroyed the town in 1229. He did not touch the "Concattedrale della Beata Vergine Maria Assunta in Cielo", erected in the first quarter of the 12th century where a Byzantine church formerly stood, that was apparently constructed largely from the remains of Roman buildings. The Concattedrale di Troia is reckoned a masterpiece of Apulian Romanesque architecture and is particularly noted for the rose window and the bronze doors of the west front. Once it was the seat of the Bishops of Troia, it is now a co-cathedral in the diocese of Lucera-Troia. The central rose window of the facade is very complex. The upper half is framed by a semicircle populated by strange and mythical animals. Some sculptures, integrated into the Concattedrale´s facade seem to be older, somehow "glued" in here. Here may be three spoliae. On the left is a stone with an inscription (Roman?), the head of the (nude!) spinario (?) does not really fit the body.

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01 Oct 2019

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54 visits

Trani - Cattedrale di San Nicola Pellegrino

Trani may have been founded by Greek settlers, but the known history starts late. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it was dominated by Lombards, Byzantines, Saracens and again Byzantines. With the conquest of southern Italy by the Normans and after 50 days of siege by Robert Guiscard´s troops, Trani became part of the Norman Empire in 1073. Already under the Byzantines, Trani had become an important port for trade with the Orient. The heyday was in the time of the crusades in the 12th and 13th centuries, when crusaders and merchants mainly went to the Holy Land from Bari and Trani. It became an episcopal see in place of Canosa, destroyed by the Saracens. Frederick II promoted the Teutonic Knights and the Jewish community and built a massive castle. Under his rule, the city reached its highest point of wealth and prosperity. The construction of the "Cattedrale di Trani" began in 1099, over the earlier church of "Santa Maria della Scala", which went back to the 4th century. It is dedicated to "San Nicola Pellegrino". Bari had the relics of "Saint Nicholas of Myra". The Bishop of Trani could convince Pope Urban II to canonized a young pilgrim, who had died on his way to Jerusalem in Trani in 1094 from exhaustion. The new church was intended to house the relics of "Saint Nicholas the Pilgrim". Pina Belli d'Elia ("Puglia romanica") is sure, that this cathedral is the most important of all romanic buildings in Apulia. The building process started at the crypt. The "translatio corporis S. Nicolai ad novam Ecclediam" took place in 1142. As parts of the old church, dedicated to Virgin Mary, were maintained, the construction is pretty complex. The "Cattedrale di Trani" was completed around 1200, the construction of the campanile started by Nicolaus Sacerdos (see "Bitonto") and completed in the mid 14th century. In the 20th century, the bell tower was in such a bad state, that it was completely dismantled and rebuilt in the 1950s to avoid it collapsing. The cathedral was built from white, local stones, that change the colour from white to yellowish and reddish, during the sunset. This sculpture is on the south side of the nave. I have the impression, that is was once a part of a larger group. There are two men, the left one is a "spinario", a person pulling a thorn out of his foot. From the second man, only the head is seen. Inbetween them the head of a bovine - and the men´s feet are placed on a pig. Does the left person pull a thorn out of the right men´s foot? Do both feet on top of that piggy belong to the left person? No, can´t be, then the toes would... the right foot on that pig cannot belong to the left person.. Find out!

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01 Jul 2011

62 visits

Grandson - Saint John the Baptist

Since 1554, when the Reformation spread from Bern to Grandson, this church is the Evangelical Reformed parish church of the small, quaint town at the banks of the Lake Neuchâtel. Most of the structure seen today was erected after 1178, when the lords of Grandson had founded a Benedictian priory,dependent on La Chaise-Dieu in the Auvergne, about 400kms southwest. Inside the nave facing east to the gothic choir. It seems, that the iconoclasms of the Swiss Reformation did not harm the church, all capitels are "in situ" and intact. Most of the column shafts are - Roman! They were probably hauled to Grandson for recycling from the vast ruins of Aventicum the Roman capital of the Swiss area during Vespasian´s time. Today "Avenches" is a small town about 40kms east on the other side of the lake. The church is extremly well preserved and very tastefully furnished. This is by far the strangest (and so most interesting) capital in Grandson. While most other capitals are carved very masterly, this one seems rough. Only three sides are visible. It is populated by a group of strange, grimacing people, who show their teeth or tongue. This makes clear, that the person is not performing a strange bavarian dance. He is a "spinario", trying to pull a thorn out of his naked foot. Ray ("adfinem") recently uploaded a very elegant "spinario" and published some excellent information, so follow the link below - and compare them.

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01 Oct 2019

74 visits

Trani - Cattedrale di San Nicola Pellegrino

Trani may have been founded by Greek settlers, but the known history starts late. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it was dominated by Lombards, Byzantines, Saracens and again Byzantines. With the conquest of southern Italy by the Normans and after 50 days of siege by Robert Guiscard´s troops, Trani became part of the Norman Empire in 1073. Already under the Byzantines, Trani had become an important port for trade with the Orient. The heyday was in the time of the crusades in the 12th and 13th centuries, when crusaders and merchants mainly went to the Holy Land from Bari and Trani. It became an episcopal see in place of Canosa, destroyed by the Saracens. Frederick II promoted the Teutonic Knights and the Jewish community and built a massive castle. Under his rule, the city reached its highest point of wealth and prosperity. The construction of the "Cattedrale di Trani" began in 1099, over the earlier church of "Santa Maria della Scala", which went back to the 4th century. It is dedicated to "San Nicola Pellegrino". Bari had the relics of "Saint Nicholas of Myra". The Bishop of Trani could convince Pope Urban II to canonized a young pilgrim, who had died on his way to Jerusalem in Trani in 1094 from exhaustion. The new church was intended to house the relics of "Saint Nicholas the Pilgrim". Pina Belli d'Elia ("Puglia romanica") is sure, that this cathedral is the most important of all romanic buildings in Apulia. The building process started at the crypt. The "translatio corporis S. Nicolai ad novam Ecclediam" took place in 1142. As parts of the old church, dedicated to Virgin Mary, were maintained, the construction is pretty complex. The "Cattedrale di Trani" was completed around 1200, the construction of the campanile started by Nicolaus Sacerdos (see "Bitonto") and completed in the mid 14th century. In the 20th century the bell tower was in such a bad state, that it was completely dismantled and rebuilt in the 1950s to avoid it collapsing. The cathedral was built from white, local stones, that change the colour from white to yellowish and reddish, during the sunset. There are dozens of sculpted corbels under the transept´s roof. Here is a "spinario", a person pulling a thorn out of his foot, an icon known since Greek and Roman times. PiP

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01 Oct 2018

99 visits

Aregno - Trinita e San Giovanni Battista

The island of Corsica is one of the 18 regions of France. It was colonized the Carthaginians, the Greeks, the Etruscans and the Romans. After the Roman empire collapsed, Corsica got invaded by the Vandals and the Ostrogoths. For a short while the island belonged to the Byzantine Empire, then the Franks granted the island to the Pope, in the early 11th century Pisa and Genoa together freed the island from the threat of Arab invasion. The island came under the influence of the Republic of Pisa, later it belonged to Genua for centuries. In 1755 after a long fight for independence from Genoa the independent Corsican Republic was proclaimed, but in 1769, when the island was conquered by France. As the areas near the coast over centuries have been threatened by attacks and raids of pirates many old hamlets and dwellings are wide inland, high in the mountains. So most of the old churches are in the mountains and some of them are hard to find. Archeologists proved, that Aregno was occupied already in Roman times and was a regional center of the surrounding hamlets in medieval times. It is known for this church. "Trinita e San Giovanni Battista", located in the center of the graveyard, is a former "pieve" (parish church) erected in the first half of the 12th century. This is a "Pisan style" single nave church 16.60 mx 6.30 m, with a semicircular apse circular and a spectacular facade with extraordenary carvings. Under the gable stands a "spinario", a person pulling a thorn out of his foot, an icon known since Greek and Roman times.

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01 Jan 2017

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189 visits

Milan - Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio

Milan is the city capital of the Lombardy and the second most populous city in Italy after Rome. Known during Roman times as "Mediolanum" it was the place, where in 313 Constantine I and Licinius met and "signed" the "Edict of Milan", giving Christianity a legal status within the Roman empire. At the end of the Roman empire Milan was besieged by the Visigoths in 402, looted by the Huns in 452, and taken by the Ostrogoths in 539. Only 30 years later is belonged to the Kingdom of the Lombards, until in 774 Charlemagne defeated the Langobards and added Milan to the Carolingian empire. During Barbarossa´s (Frederik I) "Italian Campaigns" Milan was taken and destroyed to a great extent. The "Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio" is much older and was not destroyed by Barbarossa´s troops. It is one of the most ancient churches in Milan, built by St. Ambrose in 379–386, outside the city of Milan on the site of a cemetery, where the martyrs of the Roman persecutions had been buried. The first name of the church was "Basilica Martyrum". Ambrose, born into a noble family about 340 in (present-day) Trier (Germany), was governor of Liguria and Emilia for two years before he became the Bishop of Milan in 374 by popular acclamation. He was a staunch opponent of Arianism. Only very few traces of the first church can still be found, as in the centuries after its construction, the basilica underwent numerous restorations and reconstructions. The current Romanesque church, mostly built in brickwork, was begun around 1080. In 789, a Benedictine monastery was established here. The canons of the basilica, however, retained their own community. So two separate communities shared the basilica. In the 11th century, the canons adopted orders and became Canons Regular. From then on two separate monastic orders following different rules lived in the basilica. The canons were in the northern building, the cloister of the canons, while the monks were in the two southern buildings. The two towers symbolize the division in the basilica. The 9th century Torre dei Monaci ("Tower of the Monks") tower was used by the monks. However, the canons did not have a bell tower and were not allowed to ring bells until they finished the Canons' bell tower in the 12th Century. This tower got two additional levels in 1889. In 1943 the basilica got severely damaged by bombings. It took a decade to rebuilt and reconstruct the church. The ambo stands on the left side of the nave. From here the monks and canons read the Gospel. The ambo, supported by nine slender ancient columns, was built over a 4th century sarcophagus, known as "Stilicho's Sepulchre", between 1130 and 1143. When the roof of the basilica collapsed in 1196, the ambo got severely damaged, but it got rebuilt already in 1201. Between the ambo and the sarcophagus are some semicircular lunettes. They again differ style and in icons. Some scholars see here the "Labors of the Months". Here the person to the left (with a scythe) would stand for June or July, while the man holding the would symbolize April. The person to the right is a "spinario". He is trying to pull a thorn out of his naked foot - and does not stand for a month of the year.

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01 Oct 2014

127 visits

Pisa - Baptistry

The construction of the "Battistero di San Giovanni" started in 1152 to replace an older baptistry. Since its completion in 1363 the transition from (Pisan) Romanesque to (Pisan) Gothic style was visible. The baptistry was designed by Diotisalvi, who signed and dated the building ("1153"), similar to the "Chiesa del Santo Sepolcro" (previous uploads), he had designed some decades before. The baptistry is about 54 m high, with a circumference of 107 m. On the left side of the doors of the main portal are the "Labours of the Months". There is even a spinario.

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01 Aug 2012

189 visits

Melle - Saint-Pierre

Melle was known already during Roman times, when silver and lead were mined here. The silver mines were exploited over hundreds of years, got forgotten and "rediscovered" in the 19th century. Today they are a tourist attraction. Melle was wealthy and the pilgrims, walking the Via Turonensis, passed through Melle on their way to Santiago, what brought even more money into town. Churches were erected during the heydays of the pilgrimage. Three (!) Romanesque churches can still be found here. Melle must have been a large building site within the 12th century, with hundreds of construction worker and dozends of carvers. An oratory, dedicated to St. Peter, was existing here around 950 in the center of a Carolingian cementary. This humble chapel was dependent from the mighty Benedictine abbey of Saint-Maixent (25kms north). This small structure got extended and enlarged in two stages during the early 12th century. The choir with the nicely decorated chapels and transept form the oldest existing part. The church was set on fire and defaced during the Wars of Religions. After the French Revolution this was the meeting place for the assemblies of the inhabitants. Prosper Mérimée initiated the restaurations undertaken from 1855 on. The stair to the gallery was not locked, so I could take the photo from this vantage point. There are some interesting capitals, that can be easily seen from the galery. One of them depicts this nice "spinario", a person pulling a thorn out of his foot.
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