GrottaFerrata, Abbey of San Nilo - triumphal arch with empty throne (Hetoimasia)
Monastero Esarchico di Santa Maria di Grottaferrata, Arco trionfale con etimasia
GrottaFerrata, Abbey of San Nilo
Grottaferrata is a small town near Rome, set on the lower slopes of the Colli Albani. The history of Grottaferrata is intertwined with the history of the early 11th-century Basilian Monastery of Santa Maria. According to a legend, the abbey was built at the site where the Virgin appeared to Saint Nilus the Younger and ordered him to found a church in her honour. Nilus died soon after, on 26 December 1005 in the Sant' Agata monastery in Tusculum. His successors, especially the fourth abbot, Saint Bartholomew, finished the building that was completed in 1024 and consecrated by the Tusculan Pope John XIX.
Emperor Frederick II made the abbey his headquarters in the mid-13th century.
There are several courts, all leading to the portico designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, with an arcade of nine bays supported by columns with elegant Renaissance capitals. Its interior features mosaics in the narthex and over the triumphal arch. There were some fragmentary thirteenth-century frescoes revealed in the 1904 restoration of the church. The mosaics depict the Twelve Apostles beside an empty throne after Christ's ascent to Heaven. The chapel of St. Nilus features Domenichino's frescoes, commissioned by Cardinal Odoardo Farnese in 1608. The façade has the marble portal with a mosaic above it, a lovely example of the 12th century Italo-Byzantine art. The 12th century Romanesque campanile with five storeys of tripartite arched windows is also interesting.
Original photo by courtesy of Wilmar Santin, color-modified by p.a.
GrottaFerrata, Abbey of San Nilo - triumphal arch with empty throne (Hetoimasia)
Monastero Esarchico di Santa Maria di Grottaferrata, Arco trionfale con etimasia
GrottaFerrata, Abbey of San Nilo
Grottaferrata is a small town near Rome, set on the lower slopes of the Colli Albani. The history of Grottaferrata is intertwined with the history of the early 11th-century Basilian Monastery of Santa Maria. According to a legend, the abbey was built at the site where the Virgin appeared to Saint Nilus the Younger and ordered him to found a church in her honour. Nilus died soon after, on 26 December 1005 in the Sant' Agata monastery in Tusculum. His successors, especially the fourth abbot, Saint Bartholomew, finished the building that was completed in 1024 and consecrated by the Tusculan Pope John XIX.
Emperor Frederick II made the abbey his headquarters in the mid-13th century.
There are several courts, all leading to the portico designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, with an arcade of nine bays supported by columns with elegant Renaissance capitals. Its interior features mosaics in the narthex and over the triumphal arch. There were some fragmentary thirteenth-century frescoes revealed in the 1904 restoration of the church. The mosaics depict the Twelve Apostles beside an empty throne after Christ's ascent to Heaven. The chapel of St. Nilus features Domenichino's frescoes, commissioned by Cardinal Odoardo Farnese in 1608. The façade has the marble portal with a mosaic above it, a lovely example of the 12th century Italo-Byzantine art. The 12th century Romanesque campanile with five storeys of tripartite arched windows is also interesting.
Original photo by courtesy of Wilmar Santin, color-modified by p.a.