Rotonda di San Lorenzo - Mantua, Italy
The Rotonda di San Lorenzo is the most ancient church in Mantua, Lombardy (northern Italy) and also one of the oldest religious buildings in the world.
It is now sunk below the level of the Piazza della Erbe. It probably stands on the site of a Roman temple that was dedicated to the goddess Venus.
It was built in the late 11th century, during the reign of Canossa family. According to the Lombard tradition, the construction is brick, while two marble columns and other details are coming from ancient edifices.
Inspired by the Holy Sepulchre church in Jerusalem and dedicated to the martyr St. Lawrence, the Rotonda has a central plan and maintains ancient features like the matronaeum (loggia for women) and frescoes of the Byzantine school from the 11th-12th century. Another fresco fragment in the apse, dated to the 15th century, portrays the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence.
Rotonda di San Lorenzo - Mantua, Italy
The Rotonda di San Lorenzo is the most ancient church in Mantua, Lombardy (northern Italy) and also one of the oldest religious buildings in the world.
It is now sunk below the level of the Piazza della Erbe. It probably stands on the site of a Roman temple that was dedicated to the goddess Venus.
It was built in the late 11th century, during the reign of Canossa family. According to the Lombard tradition, the construction is brick, while two marble columns and other details are coming from ancient edifices.
Inspired by the Holy Sepulchre church in Jerusalem and dedicated to the martyr St. Lawrence, the Rotonda has a central plan and maintains ancient features like the matronaeum (loggia for women) and frescoes of the Byzantine school from the 11th-12th century. Another fresco fragment in the apse, dated to the 15th century, portrays the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence.