Tuscania - Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore 1

Santa Maria Maggiore is an ancient Romanesque

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

church located at the foot of ''Colle di San Pietro'' (St Peter Hill) in

Tuscania Tuscania is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Viterbo, Lazio Region, Italy. Until the late 19th century the town was known as Toscanella. History Antiquity According to the legend, Tuscania was founded by Aeneas' son, Ascanius, wher ...

Province of Viterbo The province of Viterbo () is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lazio region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Viterbo. Geography Viterbo is the most northerly of the provinces of Lazio. It is bordered to the south by the Metropolitan Cit ...

, Region of

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Atop the hill is the Basilica of San Pietro.

History

A church named ''Santa Maria Maggiore'' is first documented here in a Papal bull from the year 852 from

Pope Leo IV Pope Leo IV (died 17 July 855) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 10 April 847 to his death in 855. He is remembered for repairing Roman churches that had been damaged during the Arab raid against Rome, and for building the ...

to the Bishop of Tuscania—records of a consecration date to 1206. The church has been reconstructed many times over the centuries. The facade has three distinctive and finely decorated medieval portals. The central one is flanked by two spiral-fluted marble columns nestled on two "lion" bases, and topped by an animal figure. These enclose four thinner columns receding backwards, each with their individual capital, generally Corinthian in appearance but some contain human figures. In the pilasters flanking the door stand two figures of the Apostles Peter and Paul, partly rebuilt after an act of vandalism. In the lunette are rectangular bas-reliefs, somewhat haphazardly assembled, depicting the ''Madonna and Child Blessing'' and images of ''

Balaam Balaam (;; ; ), son of Beor, was, according to the Hebrew Bible, a non-Israelite prophet and diviner who lived in Pethor, a place identified with the ancient city of Pitru, thought to have been located between the region of Iraq and norther ...

'', the ''

Sacrifice of Isaac The Binding of Isaac (), or simply "The Binding" (), is a story from Book of Genesis#Patriarchal age (chapters 12–50), chapter 22 of the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. In the biblical narrative, God in Abrahamic religions, God orders A ...

'', and the ''

Agnus Dei is the Latin name under which the "Lamb of God" is honoured within Christian liturgies descending from the historic Latin liturgical tradition, including those of Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism and Anglicanism. It is the name given to a spec ...

-like archetype''. The right portal is decorated with classically inspired foliage, while the arch on the left features an ornament of the Sicilian-Norman style. At the top is spread between a lion and a

griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (; Classical Latin: ''gryps'' or ''grypus''; Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk ...

, and the loggia above the entrance has nine columns and ten arches. The semicircular apse is covered by pilasters and bands of arches. The interior has columns and pillars with Romanesque capitals also carved with plant and zoomorphic motifs. Along the walls of the aisles are blind arches that enclose blind arcades of half-pillars. The sanctuary is flanked by two

transverse arch In architecture, a transverse arch is an arch in a vaulted building that goes across the barrel vault. A series of transverse arches sitting on tops of the columns on the sides of the nave was typical in the churches of Romanesque architecture ( ...

es; the frontal of the altar, surmounted by a Gothic ciborium. There is a bishop's chair, which consists of a parapet of the eighth and ninth centuries. In the right aisle is located a 13th-century octagonal baptismal immersion pool. In the nave is a pulpit of the thirteenth century. The apse contains a 13th-century fresco depicting ''Twelve Apostles''; a 14th-century fresco in the chancel arch of the apse depicts ''San Secondiano'' and the ''Last Judgement''. This has been attributed to Gregorio and

Donato D'Arezzo Donato may refer to: People *Donato (surname) As a given name * Donato Bilancia (1951–2020), Italian serial killer * Donato Bramante (1444–1514), Italian architect * Donato da Cascia (fl. c. 1350 – 1370), Italian composer of trecento ma ...

. One bell tower dates to the 12th century. The church is property of the Ministry for Architectural Structures of the Province of Rome, Rieti and Viterbo.Comune of Tuscania

History

References

See also