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Carlo Antonio Dal Pozzo in 1594; it has an altar dedicated to St. Jerome and a little dome. In this chapel in 2009 were translation (relics), translated the relics of the cathedral: the relics include among the others eleven of the twelve Apostles, two fragments of the True Cross, a thorn from the
The Campo Santo, also known as Camposanto Monumentale ("
Carlo Antonio Dal Pozzo">717, Pisan">708, Pisan); on 30–31 July 1716 [1717, Pisan and on 31 J ...monumental cemetery
A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...
") or Camposanto Vecchio ("old cemetery"), is a historical edifice at the northern edge of the Cathedral Square in Pisa
Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...
, Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
.
"Campo Santo" can be literally translated as "holy field", because it is said to have been built around a shipload of sacred soil from Golgotha, brought back to Pisa from the Third Crusade
The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt by three European monarchs of Western Christianity (Philip II of France, Richard I of England and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor) to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by ...
by Ubaldo Lanfranchi Ubaldo Lanfranchi (died 19 June 1207) was an Italian Catholic archbishop.
A member of the noble Lanfranchi family, he was consecrated archbishop of Pisa on 11 April 1176. The primacy of the Pisan church extended to the ecclesiastical provinces of T ...
, archbishop of Pisa
The Archdiocese of Pisa ( la, Archidioecesis Pisana) is a metropolitan see of the Catholic Church in Pisa, Italy.717,_Pisan.html" ;"title="708, Pisan); on 30–31 July 1716 [1717, Pisan">708, Pisan); on 30–31 July 1716 [1717, Pisan and on 31 J ...
in the 12th century. A legend claims that bodies buried in that ground will rot in just 24 hours. The burial ground lies over the ruins of the old baptistery of the church of Santa Reparata, the church that once stood where the cathedral now stands.
The term "monumental" serves to differentiate it from the later-established urban cemetery in Pisa.
History
The building was the fourth and last one to be raised in the Cathedral Square. It dates from a century after the bringing of the soil from Golgotha, and was erected over the earlier burial ground. The construction of this huge, oblongGothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
cloister was begun in 1278 by the architect Giovanni di Simone Giovanni may refer to:
* Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname
* Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data
* ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...
. He died in 1284 when Pisa suffered a defeat in the naval battle of Meloria
The Battle of Meloria was fought near the islet of Meloria in the Ligurian Sea on 5 and 6 August 1284 between the fleets of the Republics of Genoa and Pisa as part of the Genoese-Pisan War. The victory of Genoa and the destruction of the Pisan ...
against the Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
ns. The cemetery was only completed in 1464.
It seems that the building was not meant to be a real cemetery, but a church called ''Santissima Trinità'' (Most Holy Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...
), but the project changed during the construction. However we know that the original part was the western one (and this should be, at least for a while, the mentioned church), and all the eastern part was the last to be built, finally closing the structure.
Building
The outer wall is composed of 43blind arch
A blind arch is an arch found in the wall of a building that has been infilled with solid construction and so cannot serve as a passageway, door or window.''A Dictionary of Architecture''; Fleming, John; Honour, Hugh & Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966) T ...
es. There are two doorways. The one on the right is crowned by a gracious Gothic tabernacle
According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle ( he, מִשְׁכַּן, mīškān, residence, dwelling place), also known as the Tent of the Congregation ( he, link=no, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ōhel mō‘ēḏ, also Tent of Meeting, etc.), ...
. It contains the Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...
with Child, surrounded by four saints. It is the work from the second half of the 14th century by a follower of Giovanni Pisano
Giovanni Pisano (c. 1250 – c. 1315) was an Italian sculptor, painter and architect, who worked in the cities of Pisa, Siena and Pistoia. He is best known for his sculpture which shows the influence of both the French Gothic and the Ancient Rom ...
. This was the original entrance door. Most of the tombs are under the arcades, although a few are on the central lawn. The inner court is surrounded by elaborate round arches with slender mullion
A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...
s and plurilobed tracery
Tracery is an architecture, architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of Molding (decorative), moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the s ...
.
The cemetery has three chapels. The oldest ones are the chapel Ammannati (1360) and takes its name from the tomb of Ligo Ammannati, a teacher in the University of Pisa
The University of Pisa ( it, Università di Pisa, UniPi), officially founded in 1343, is one of the oldest universities in Europe.
History
The Origins
The University of Pisa was officially founded in 1343, although various scholars place ...
; and the chapel Aulla, were there is an altar made by Giovanni della Robbia
image:Saint Sebastian Della Robbia Louvre InvML96.jpg, 250px, ''Saint Sebastian'', Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Giovanni della Robbia (1469–1529) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, mostly in ceramics.
Biography
Giovanni della Robbia was the son o ...
in 1518. In the Aulla chapel we can see also the original incense lamp that Galileo Galilei
Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...
used for calculation of pendular movements. This lamp is the one Galileo saw inside the cathedral, now replaced by a larger more elaborate one. The last chapel was ''Dal Pozzo'', commissioned by archbishop of Pisa
The Archdiocese of Pisa ( la, Archidioecesis Pisana) is a metropolitan see of the Catholic Church in Pisa, Italy.717,_Pisan.html" ;"title="708, Pisan); on 30–31 July 1716 708,_Pisan);_on_30–31_July_1716_[1717,_Pisan_and_on_31_J_...
_Carlo_Antonio_Dal_Pozzo.html" ;"title="717, Pisan">708, Pisan); on 30–31 July 1716 [1717, Pisan and on 31 J ...Crown of Thorns
According to the New Testament, a woven crown of thorns ( or grc, ἀκάνθινος στέφανος, akanthinos stephanos, label=none) was placed on the head of Jesus during the events leading up to his crucifixion. It was one of the instru ...
of Christ and a small piece of the dress of the Virgin Mary. Also in the Dal Pozzo chapel sometimes a Mass is celebrated.
Sarcophagi
The Campo Santo contained a huge collection of Romansarcophagi
A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a cadaver, corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from ...
, but there are only 84 left together with a collection of Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
and Etruscan __NOTOC__
Etruscan may refer to:
Ancient civilization
*The Etruscan language, an extinct language in ancient Italy
*Something derived from or related to the Etruscan civilization
**Etruscan architecture
**Etruscan art
**Etruscan cities
** Etrusca ...
sculptures and urns, now in the Museum of the vestry board.
The sarcophagi were initially all around the cathedral, often attached to the building itself. That until the cemetery was built, then they were collected in the middle all over the meadow. Carlo Lasinio, in the years he was the curator
A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...
of the Campo Santo, collected many other ancient relics that were spread in Pisa to make a sort of archeological museum inside the cemetery. Nowadays the sarcophagi are inside the galleries, near the walls.
Frescoes
The walls of the vast structure were covered in over 2600 meters squared offresco
Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
es, a greater expanse than the Sistine Chapel. The earliest, attributed to Francesco Traini, were painted 1336/41 in the south-western corner. The ''Last Judgement'', ''Hell'', ''Triumph of Death'', and the ''Thebaid'' (stories of the Desert Fathers)'','' usually attributed to Buonamico di Martino da Firenze, detto il Buffalmacco, were painted in the years after the Black Death. The cycle of frescoes continues with the ''Stories of the Old Testament'' by Benozzo Gozzoli
Benozzo Gozzoli (4 October 1497) was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. A pupil of Fra Angelico, Gozzoli is best known for a series of murals in the Magi Chapel of the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, depicting festive, vibrant processions wi ...
(15th century) that were situated in the north gallery, while in the south arcade were the ''Stories of Pisan Saints'', by Andrea Bonaiuti, Antonio Veneziano and Spinello Aretino
Spinello Aretino (c. 1350 – c. 1410) was an Italian painter from Arezzo, who was active in Tuscany at the end of the 14th and the first decennium of the 15th century.Taddeo Gaddi
Taddeo Gaddi (c. 1290, in Florence – 1366, in Florence) was a medieval Italy, Italian Painting, painter and architect.
He was the son of Gaddo di Zanobi, called Gaddo Gaddi. He was a member of Giotto's workshop from 1313 until the master's d ...
(end of 14th century). In the same time, in the north gallery were the ''Stories of the Genesis'' by Piero di Puccio
Piero di Puccio was a fourteenth-century Italian painter of the Gothic period, active mainly in Orvieto. He is also known as ''Pietro di Puccio''. He painted a fresco of stories from Genesis, from the ''Creation'' to the ''Deluge'' on the North ...
. The last images date from the early 17th century.
On 27 July 1944, a bomb fragment from an Allied raid started a fire in the Camposanto, which burned for three days, causing the timber lead roof to collapse. The destruction of the roof severely damaged everything inside the cemetery, destroying most of the sculptures and sarcophagi and compromising all the frescoes. An initial effort to rescue the frescoes was organized by Deane Keller of the U.S. Army's Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program. Pieces of the frescoes were salvaged and a temporary roof was erected to prevent further damage.
After World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, restoration work began. The roof was restored as closely as possible to its pre-war appearance and the frescoes were separated from the walls to be restored and displayed elsewhere.
Once the frescoes had been removed, the preliminary drawings, called '' sinopie'' were also removed. These under-drawings were separated using the same technique used on the frescoes and now they are in the Museum of the Sinopie, on the opposite side of the Square.
The adhesivity of the casein glue initially used to fix the paint layers to wooden supports, failed after mold penetrated the glue. This required the ungluing, transferring again, and re-affixing of all the paintings to new supports. To prevent intramural condensation from seeping into the panels, an elaborate system of sensors woven into a synthetic fabric was placed between wall and panel. These sensors adjust the temperature of the wall to within 3 degrees of the ambient temperature every 10 minutes, thus preventing condensation.
The restoration campaign concluded with the reinstallation of part of the Buffalmacco cycle in 2005; the ''Thebiad'' frescoes in 2014; Hell in 2015; the Last Judgement in 2017; and the ''Triumph of Death'' in July 2018.
References
Sources
*{{Authority control Cemeteries in Italy Roman Catholic cemeteries Buildings and structures in Pisa Museums in Pisa 1278 establishments in Europe 13th-century establishments in Italy Buildings and structures completed in 1464 Domes Tourist attractions in Pisa