Tag: cathedral

Postcard from Modena, Italy: Watch out for the devil in the architectural details

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…monstrous beings of every kind, sinful creatures threatening the spiritual path of humankind…. Images emphasize the symbolic meaning of the church door, which separates the believers gathered inside, from those standing outside, who may fall prey to the Devil.”

UNESCO Guide to Visiting the Cathedral of Modena

Fortunately, if one does not want to pass through the doorway with the most monsters, the Cathedral dominating two plazas in Modena has numerous entrances with other lessons. Sculptural reliefs clustered around and above the doors teach the Biblical lesson of Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden; the story of the city’s patron saint, Saint Geminiani, who died shortly before the year 400 and whose remains are housed in the crypt; seasonal harvests; and Arthurian legends.

Many of these were the work of sculptor Wiligemo, who worked simultaneously with the architect Lanfranco – “the choice of architect had been miraculously inspired by God.” Construction of the Romanesque Cathedral began in 1099, and it was consecrated in 1184. UNESCO describes the result as:

a magnificent example of Romanesque Art which astonished society at the time and still fills us with wonder….

As construction work took more than a century, some interior sculptural work was designed and completed by Campionesi masters.

The soaring Cathedral and the Ghirlandina Tower on its side are among the beautiful buildings in Modena compelling one to linger, meandering its relatively tourist-free streets and plazas.

Postcard from Parma, Italy: Baptistery takes on soaring height

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The soaring height of the Baptistery of Parma makes it a striking addition to the huge plaza fronting the Cathedral. The exterior of the Romanesque and Gothic structure is octagonal and is softly colored with bands of pink stone quarried from the area of Verona. A row of animals, some believable and some fanciful, add a whimsical touch to the structure’s surfaces.

The Baptistery was commissioned in 1196, with Benedetti Antelami generally receiving credit for both the architectural and much of the sculptural design. Restoration has revealed that his sculptures in the lunettes crowning the entrances were polychrome.

Inside, the hexagon is farther divided into 16 arches. Among the themes reflected by the rows of sculpture is the personification of the seasons of the year.

Antelami devoted more than two decades to working on the Baptistery, but it was not completed until after his death around the year 1230.

Postcard from Parma, Italy: A Cathedral packed with artistic distractions

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Completed in 1530, “The Assumption of the Virgin” rising high, higher up than this photo, up above in the cupola in the Cathedral in Parma attracts great attention. The Renaissance fresco is the work of Antonio da Correggio  (1489-1534), the pride of Parma, aside from meat and cheese. But there is so much distracting art in this cathedral, we ended up only with this image capturing a portion of two of the bottom corners of the star of the show.

The massive façade of the cathedral appears awkwardly dwarfed by a single tower, but this certainly was not the original plan. Atop an early Christian crypt, construction began in 1059. Following its consecration, the cathedral served the people of Parma only a decade before many of its walls came tumbling down in an earthquake in 1117.

The “new” façade, completed in 1178, presumably has thicker walls. The single Gothic belfry was added a century later. The planned twin tower never arrived.