250px, Verona Cathedral (2022)
Verona Cathedral ( it, Cattedrale Santa Maria Matricolare; Duomo di Verona) is a
Roman Catholic
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 lette ...
cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...
in
Verona
Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...
, northern
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 ...
, dedicated to the
Blessed 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 Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...
under the designation ''Santa Maria Matricolare''. It is the episcopal seat of the
Diocese of Verona.
It was erected after two Palaeo-Christian churches on the same site had been destroyed by an
earthquake in 1117. Built in
Romanesque style, the cathedral was consecrated on September 13, 1187. The structure was later modified by several renovation interventions, although the plan has remained unchanged.
Exterior
The façade is divided into three parts, with a
pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedimen ...
and a two storied projecting porch or protiro embellished with sculpture, which is the work of the twelfth-century sculptor Nicholaus, who also executed and signed the entranceway at the abbey church of
San Zeno, also in Verona, and
Ferrara Cathedral
Ferrara Cathedral ( it, Basilica Cattedrale di San Giorgio, ''Duomo di Ferrara'') is a Roman Catholic cathedral and minor basilica in Ferrara, Northern Italy. Dedicated to Saint George, the patron saint of the city, it is the seat of the Archb ...
. The portico is supported on the backs of two
griffin
The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late Latin, Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail ...
s, similar to those from the dismantled Porta dei Mesi at Ferrara. The lunette depicts the ''Virgin holding the Christ child'' in high relief, centered between two low relief scenes, the ''Annunciation to the Shepherds'' (left) and the ''Adoration of the Magi'' (right). On the lintel in medallions are the three theological virtues, ''Faith'', ''Charity'' and ''Hope''. Ten figures of prophets are set in the doorposts and jambs; the four symbols of the Evangelists and the Hand of God are set above in the barrel vault of the first story of the porch. Set into the walls on either side of the portal are figures of Roland and Oliver, who as holy warriors, remind one of the constant need to provide protection to the church.
The Gothic windows in the facade provide evidence of the renovation that took place in the 14th century. The Baroque addition at the upper part of the facade is part of 17th-century additions. On the south side of the church is a second portal executed in the so-called Lombard or Como style. The main apse has retained its integrity and as such is an example of mid-12th-century architecture. The bell tower, begun in the 16th century by
Michele Sanmicheli
Michele Sanmicheli (also spelled ''Sanmmicheli'', ''Sanmichele'' or ''Sammichele'') (1484–1559), was a Venetian architect and urban planner of Mannerist-style, among the greatest of his era. A tireless worker, he was in charge of designing bui ...
and left unfinished, has two orders of columns with highly decorated capitals, bas-reliefs and traces of 14th-century frescoes. It contains nine bells in the scale of A. The tenor weight is 4566 kg. The bells are rung with the tradition of
Veronese bellringing art
Veronese bell ringing is a style of ringing church bells that developed around Verona, Italy from the eighteenth century. The bells are rung full circle (mouth uppermost to mouth uppermost), being held up by a rope and wheel until a note is r ...
.
Interior
The current appearance of the interior dates from the 15th-century renovations. It has a nave and two aisles divided by tall pilasters in
red Verona marble
Red Verona marble is a variety of limestone rock which takes its name from Verona in Northern Italy.
It includes internal skeletons of ammonites and belemnoidea rostra in a fecal pellets matrix. It has been quarried from Red Ammonitic ''facies'' ...
, which support Gothic arcades. The first three chapels on each side are in the same style, and house mostly Renaissance artworks by Veronese artists. The nave ends with the main Chapel (''Cappella Maggiore''), also by Sanmicheli.
Library
The Chapter Library of Verona Cathedral (''Biblioteca Capitolare della Cattedrale di Verona'') is claimed to be the world's oldest library in continuous function. Such is its importance that it has been dubbed the “Queen of ecclesiastical collections”. Many ancient works of the
Classical tradition
The Western classical tradition is the reception of classical Greco-Roman antiquity by later cultures, especially the post-classical West, involving texts, imagery, objects, ideas, institutions, monuments, architecture, cultural artifacts, ritua ...
have survived only because of the
Chapter Library, including:
*the only surviving ''corpus'' of
Catullus
Gaius Valerius Catullus (; 84 - 54 BCE), often referred to simply as Catullus (, ), was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, focusing on personal life rather than classical heroes. His s ...
(Verona Codex, now lost);
*the ''
epistulae ad Atticum
''Epistulae ad Atticum'' (Latin for "Letters to Atticus") is a collection of letters from Roman politician and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero to his close friend Titus Pomponius Atticus. The letters in this collection, together with Cicero's othe ...
'', ''
ad Quintum
Ad Quintum ( sq, Stacioni Romak) was an ancient settlement and a Roman Empire, Roman thermal complex in Illyria, Illyricum, near Bradashesh, present-day Albania. Ad Quintum was a ''mutatio'' ("changing station" or "way station") of the Via Egnatia ...
'', ''
ad Brutum'' by
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
, rediscovered by
Petrarch
Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists.
Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited w ...
(exemplar now lost);
*the ''
Institutes of Gaius
The ''Institutes'' ( la, Institutiones; from , 'to establish') is a beginners' textbook on Roman private law written around 161 CE by the classical Roman jurist Gaius. The ''Institutes'' are considered to be "by far the most influential el ...
'',
overwritten with works of
Saint Jerome
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is comm ...
, rediscovered by
Barthold Niebuhr
Barthold Georg Niebuhr (27 August 1776 – 2 January 1831) was a Danish–German statesman, banker, and historian who became Germany's leading historian of Ancient Rome and a founding father of modern scholarly historiography. By 1810 Niebuhr wa ...
;
*the ''fasti consulares'' of Verona, a list of Roman consuls from 439 to 494;
*the
Laterculus Veronensis
The ''Laterculus Veronensis'' or Verona List is a list of Roman provinces and barbarian peoples from the time of the emperors Diocletian and Constantine I, most likely from AD 314.
The list is transmitted only in a 7th-century manuscript preserve ...
, a list of Roman dioceses;
It holds also important early Christian writings, such as:
*the
Leonine Sacramentary
The Verona Sacramentary ( la, Sacramentarium Veronense) or Leonine Sacramentary (''Sacramentarium Leonianum'') is the oldest surviving liturgical book of the Roman rite. It is not a sacramentary in the strict sense, but rather a private collection ...
, the oldest liturgical book of the
Roman Rite
The Roman Rite ( la, Ritus Romanus) is the primary liturgical rite of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. It developed in the Latin language in the city of Rome and, while dist ...
;
*the
Verona Palimpsest
The Verona Palimpsest (or ''Fragmentum Veronese'') is a manuscript, dated about the 494 AD, which contains a Christian collection of Church Orders in Latin. The manuscript, which contains many lacunae, is the only source of the Latin version of t ...
, containing early Church Orders;
*the
Codex Veronensis
The Codex Veronensis, designated by siglum b or 4 (in the Beuron system), is a 5th century Latin Gospel Book. The text, written on purple dyed vellum in silver and occasionally gold ink, is a version of the old Latin. The Gospels follow in the We ...
, containing an old version of the
Latin Psalter;
*the
Codex Veronensis (R) is a diglot psalter in Greek and Latin
The following signature in a life of
Saint Martin of Tours
Martin of Tours ( la, Sanctus Martinus Turonensis; 316/336 – 8 November 397), also known as Martin the Merciful, was the third bishop of Tours. He has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints in France, heralded as the ...
by a scribe is usually considered to mark the conventional dating of the founding of the Library: “my name is Ursicinus, Lector of the
Church of Verona”, confirming that he finished the work in the consulship of Agapitus (517).
Gallery
Duomo di Verona - navata centrale.jpg, Central nave
Verona Duomo3 tango7174.jpg, Main Chapel
Biblioteca Capitolare in Verona.jpg, The Chapter Library
Biblioteca Capitolare cathedral cloister.jpg, View from the cathedral cloister with Sanmicheli's bell tower
See also
*
Jacquet de Berchem Jacquet de Berchem (also known as Giachet(to) Berchem or Jakob van Berchem; c. 1505 – before 2 March 1567) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance, active in Italy. He was famous in mid-16th-century Italy for his madrigals, approximately ...
References
External links
Official website
{{Authority control
Cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...
Verona
Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...
Cathedrals in Veneto
Sites of papal elections
Burial places of popes
Romanesque architecture in Verona
Churches completed in 1187