Santa Maria della Spina, Pisa, c1230, west front

Santa Maria della Spina is a small church in the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

city of

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 ...

. The church, erected around 1230 in the Pisan

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style, and enlarged after 1325, was originally known as Santa Maria di Pontenovo for the newer bridge that existed nearby, collapsed in the 15th century, and was never rebuilt. The name of ''della Spina'' ("of the thorn") derives from the presence of a thorn, putatively part of the

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 ...

placed on Christ during his Passion and Crucifixion. The relic was brought to this church in 1333. In 1871 the church was dismantled and rebuilt on a higher level due to dangerous infiltration of water from the

Arno river The Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the most important river of central Italy after the Tiber. Source and route The river originates on Monte Falterona in the Casentino area of the Apennines, and initially takes a s ...

. The church was altered in the process, however, and

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and politi ...

, who visited Pisa in 1872, was outraged about the restoration. The church no longer houses the “thorn”. The “thorn” is now in the Chiesa di Santa Chiara, which is on show inside and can be found on Via Roma. The church of Santa Maria della Spina has always been administered by the city, except for short interruptions in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when it fell to the responsibility of the local hospital.

Exterior

The church has one of the most outstanding

edifices in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

: it has a rectangular plant, with an external facing wholly composed of marble, laid in polychrome bands. The exterior appearance is marked by

cusp A cusp is the most pointed end of a curve. It often refers to cusp (anatomy), a pointed structure on a tooth. Cusp or CUSP may also refer to: Mathematics * Cusp (singularity), a singular point of a curve * Cusp catastrophe, a branch of bifurca ...

tympani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally ...

and tabernacles, together with a complicated sculpture decoration with tarsiae, rose-windows and numerous statues from the main Pisane artists of the 14th century. These include Lupo di Francesco,

Andrea Pisano Andrea Pisano (Pontedera 12901348 Orvieto) also known as Andrea da Pontedera, was an Italian sculptor and architect. Biography Pisano first learned the trade of a goldsmith. Pisano then became a pupil of Mino di Giovanni, about 1300, and work ...

with his sons Nino and

Tommaso Tommaso is an Italian given name. It has also been used as a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name A * Tommaso Acquaviva d'Aragona (1600–1672), Roman Catholic prelate * Tommaso Aldrovandini (1653–1736), Italian painter of ...

, and

Giovanni di Balduccio Giovanni di Balduccio (c. 1290 – after 1339) was an Italian sculptor of the Medieval period. Life The artist was born in Pisa, and likely did not train directly with the famous Pisan sculptor Andrea Pisano. He travelled to Milan to help s ...

. The façade has two gates with lintelled arches. Among these lies the tabernacle with the statues of ''Madonna with the Child'' and two ''Angels'', attributed to Giovanni Pisano. Two niches open in the upper part of the façade: these house the statue of Christ among the two ''Annunciation'' ones, and two other angels. The right side has also a rich decoration with cusps and thirteen statues of the Apostles and Christ, from Lupo's workshop. The small sculptures portraying ''Saints'' and ''Angels'' over the tympani are from Nino Pisano's workshop, while the niche in the right pillar has a ''Madonna with Child'' by Giovanni di Balduccio. The back side has three round arches with simple windows. The tympani are decorated with the Evangelists' symbols, intervalled by niches with the statues of the Saints Peter, Paul and John the Baptist. The high pyramid-like spires end with the statues of the Madonna with Child between two angels, by Nino Pisano.

Interior

If compared to the rich exterior, the interior appears quite simple. It has a single room, with a ceiling painted during the 19th century reconstruction. In the presbytery's centre is one of the highest masterpieces of

sculpture, the ''Madonna of the Rose'' by Andrea and Nino Pisano. On the left wall is the tabernacle in which once was the crown's relic, by Stagio Stagi (1534). Another statue by the Pisanos, the ''Madonna del Latte'', was once here, but has been moved to the city's National Museum of San Matteo.

Gallery

File:Santa Maria della Spina (from se), Pisa, c1230.jpg, Santa Maria della Spina (from southeast) File:Santa Maria della Spina, south side, Pisa, c1230.jpg, Santa Maria della Spina, Pisa, c.1230, part of south front File:Pisa, Arno river from Ponte Solferino to the east, with Santa Maria della Spina (c. 1230) on the right.jpg, Pisa, Arno river from Ponte Solferino to the east, with Santa Maria della Spina on the south bank to the right

Notes

External links

Page at Antropologia Arte Sacra
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Maria Della Spina Churches completed in 1230 13th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Maria della Spina Gothic architecture in Pisa

Exterior

Interior

Gallery

See also

Notes

External links