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Orvieto is a city in southwestern Umbria, Italy.
Orvieto is noted for its Gothic cathedral, or duomo. The church is striped in white travertine and greenish-black basalt in narrow bands; its design has often been attributed to Arnolfo di Cambio, but the prevailing modern opinion is that its master mason was an obscure monk named Fra' Bevignate from Perugia; construction began in 1290. The façade is particularly striking and includes some remarkable sculpture by Lorenzo Maitani (14th century). Inside the cathedral, the Chapel of San Brizio is frescoed by Fra Angelico and with Luca Signorelli's masterpiece, his Last Judgment (1449-51).
Loreto, Basilica Santuario della Santa Casa
Sagrestia di San Giovanni
Sacristy of Saint John the Baptist
Frescoes of Luca Signorelli on the surrounding wall [~1480]
Original photo by courtesy of wga
Italien / Toskana - Volterra
Palazzo dei Priori
Volterra (Italian pronunciation: [volˈtɛrra]; Latin: Volaterrae) is a walled mountaintop town in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its history dates from before the 8th century BC and it has substantial structures from the Etruscan, Roman, and Medieval periods.
History
Volterra, known to the ancient Etruscans as Velathri or Vlathri and to the Romans as Volaterrae, is a town and comune in the Tuscany region of Italy. The town was a Bronze Age settlement of the Proto-Villanovan culture, and an important Etruscan center (Velàthre, Velathri or Felathri in Etruscan, Volaterrae in Latin language), one of the "twelve cities" of the Etruscan League.
The site is believed to have been continuously inhabited as a city since at least the end of the 8th century BC. It became a municipium allied to Rome at the end of the 3rd century BC. The city was a bishop's residence in the 5th century, and its episcopal power was affirmed during the 12th century. With the decline of the episcopate and the discovery of local alum deposits, Volterra became a place of interest of the Republic of Florence, whose forces conquered Volterra. Florentine rule was not always popular, and opposition occasionally broke into rebellion. These rebellions were put down by Florence.
When the Republic of Florence fell in 1530, Volterra came under the control of the Medici family and later followed the history of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
Culture
The main events that take place during the year in Volterra are
Volterra gusto
Volterra arte
Volterra teatro
Main sights
Roman Theatre of Volterra, 1st century BC, excavated in the 1950s
the Roman amphitheatre was discovered in 2015 and has been excavated over the succeeding years
Piazza dei Priori, the main square, a fine example of medieval Tuscan town squares
Palazzo dei Priori, the town hall located on Piazza dei Priori, construction begun in 1208 and finished in 1257
Pinacoteca e museo civico di Volterra (Art Gallery) in Palazzo Minucci-Solaini. Founded in 1905, the gallery consists mostly of works by Tuscan artists from 14th to 17th centuries. Includes a Deposition by Rosso Fiorentino.
Etruscan Acropolis and Roman Cistern. The acropolis on the citadel dates to the 8th century B.C., while the impressive cistern is from the 1st century B.C.
Volterra Cathedral. It was enlarged in the 13th century after an earthquake. It houses a ciborium and some angels by Mino da Fiesole, a notable wood Deposition (1228), a masterwork of Romanesque sculpture and the Sacrament Chapel, with paintings by Santi di Tito, Giovanni Balducci and Agostino Veracini. In the center of the vault are fragments of an Eternal Father by Niccolò Circignani. Also noteworthy is the Addolorata Chapel, with a terracotta group attributed to Andrea della Robbia and a fresco of Riding Magi by Benozzo Gozzoli. In the nearby chapel, dedicated to the Most Holy Name of Jesus, is a table with Christ's monogram, allegedly painted by Bernardino of Siena. The rectangular bell tower is from 1493.
Volterra Baptistery of San Giovanni, built in the second half of the 13th century.
Fortezza Medicea (Medicean Fortress), built in the 1470s, now a prison housing the noted restaurant, Fortezza Medicea restaurant.
Guarnacci Etruscan Museum, with thousands of funeral urns dating back to the Hellenistic and Archaic periods. Main attractions are the bronze statuette "Ombra della sera" (lit. '"Shadow of the Night"'), and the sculpted effigy, "Urna degli Sposi" (lit. '"Urn of the Spouses"') of an Etruscan couple in terra cotta.
The Etruscan Walls of Volterra, including the well-preserved Walls of Volterra (3rd-2nd centuries BC), and Porta Diana gates.
The Medici Villa di Spedaletto, outside the city, in direction of Lajatico
There are excavations of Etruscan tombs in the Valle Bona area.
Volterra Psychiatric Hospital, Founded in 1888 until 1978, it was reopened for public and will be once more used for psychiatric purposes.
In popular culture
Volterra features in Horatius, a poem by Lord Macaulay.
Linda Proud's A Tabernacle for the Sun (2005), the first volume of The Botticelli Trilogy, begins with the sack of Volterra in 1472. Volterra is the ancestral home of the Maffei family and the events of 1472 lead directly to the Pazzi Conspiracy of 1478. The protagonist of the novel is Tommaso de' Maffei, half brother of one of the conspirators.
Volterra is an important location in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. In the books, Volterra is home to the Volturi, a clan of rich, regal, powerful ancient vampires, who essentially act as the rulers of the world's vampire population. (However, the relevant scenes from the movie were shot in Montepulciano.)
Volterra is the site of Stendhal's famously disastrous encounter in 1819 with his beloved Countess Mathilde Dembowska: she recognised him there, despite his disguise of new clothes and green glasses, and was furious. This is the central incident in his book On Love
Volterra is mentioned repeatedly in British author Dudley Pope's Captain Nicholas Ramage historical nautical series. Gianna, the Marchesa of Volterra and the fictional ruler of the area, features in the first twelve books of the eighteen-book series. The books chart the progress and career of Ramage during the Napoleonic wars of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, providing readers with well-scripted articulate details of life aboard sailing vessels and conditions at sea of that time.
Volterra is the site where the novel Chimaira by the Italian author Valerio Massimo Manfredi takes place.
Valerio Massimo Manfredi's The Ancient Curse is also set in Volterra, where a statue called 'The Shade of Twilight' is stolen from the Volterra museum.
Volterra is featured in Jhumpa Lahiri's 2008 collection of short stories Unaccustomed Earth. It is where Hema and Kaushik, the protagonists of the final short story "Going Ashore," travel before they part.
Volterra is featured in Luchino Visconti's 1965 film Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa, released as Sandra (Of a Thousand Delights) in the United States and as Of These Thousand Pleasures in the UK.
Volterra's scenery is used for Central City in the 2017 film Fullmetal Alchemist (film) directed by Fumihiko Sori.
The 2016 video game The Town of Light is set in a fictionalized version of the notorious Volterra Psychiatric Hospital.
"Volaterrae" is the name given by Dan and Una to their secret place in Far Wood in Rudyard Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill. They named it from the verse in Lord Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome:
From lordly Volaterrae,
Where scowls the far-famed hold
Piled by the hands of giants
For Godlike Kings of old.
Volterra and its relationship with Medici Florence features in the 2018 second season of Medici: Masters of Florence.
(Wikipedia)
Volterra, lateinisch Volaterrae, ist eine italienische Stadt mit 9980 Einwohnern (Stand 31. Dezember 2019) in der Provinz Pisa in der Region Toskana.
Geographie
Volterra liegt etwa 50 Kilometer südlich von Pisa und 30 Kilometer vom Mittelmeer entfernt. Die Stadt gilt mit ihrem spektakulären landschaftlichen Umfeld als eine der schönsten in der Toskana.
Der Kern der heutigen Stadt liegt abgeschieden auf einem 550 m hohen Bergrücken über dem Tal der Cecina (Val di Cecina) inmitten einer kargen, zerfurchten Hügellandschaft. Die Felsabbrüche und Geröllhalden sind das Produkt jahrhundertelanger Erosion. Das Gebiet Le Balze im Nordwesten Volterras vermittelt einen beispielhaften Eindruck dieses Phänomens.
Die Stadt wird beherrscht von einer heute als Staatsgefängnis benutzten Festung der Medici, der Fortezza Medicea. Volterra ist ein Zentrum der Alabasterverarbeitung.
Zu den Ortsteilen (Frazioni) zählen Mazzolla, Montemiccioli, Saline di Volterra und Villamagna.
Die Nachbargemeinden sind Casole d’Elsa (SI), Colle di Val d’Elsa (SI), Gambassi Terme (FI), Lajatico, Montaione (FI), Montecatini Val di Cecina, Peccioli, Pomarance und San Gimignano (SI).
Geschichte
Volterra kann auf eine lange Geschichte zurückblicken. Bereits im 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr. entstand der Ort aus der Verbindung mehrerer kleiner etruskischer Ansiedlungen, deren Bestand bis ins 7. Jahrhundert v. Chr. zurückverfolgt werden kann. Zu dieser Zeit bauten die Etrusker eine sieben Kilometer lange Ringmauer und nannten die nunmehr vereinigte Stadt Velathri.
Volterra war eine der ältesten und größten der zwölf Bundesstädte Etruriens. Später war es eine römische Stadt mit den Rechten eines Municipiums. Ihre hohe Lage machte sie zu einer starken Festung, die Sulla im ersten Bürgerkrieg erst nach zweijähriger Belagerung 79 v. Chr. einnehmen konnte.
Im 12. und 13. Jahrhundert war Volterra eine Republik; im 14. Jahrhundert fiel es an Florenz.
Sehenswürdigkeiten
Architektonische und künstlerische Zeugnisse der verschiedenen Epochen zeugen von der wechselvollen Existenz und Bedeutung der Stadt. Einige der etruskischen Nekropolen und mittelalterlichen Kirchenmauern sind jedoch in der Vergangenheit der Erosion zum Opfer gefallen.
Am Hauptplatz der Stadt, der Piazza dei Priori, steht der älteste erhaltene Kommunalpalast der Toskana, der Palazzo dei Priori.
Von der etruskischen Stadtmauer ist als einziges Tor die Porta all’Arco gut erhalten. Es stammt aus dem 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr. Im äußeren Bogen sind drei verwitterte Köpfe zu erkennen, deren Bedeutung aber umstritten ist.
Außerhalb der mittelalterlichen Porta Fiorentina liegt das Teatro Romano, erbaut zur Zeit des Kaisers Augustus. Von der Zuschauertribüne für etwa 2000 Personen blickt man auf die teilweise rekonstruierte Bühnenwand. Die unterhalb des Theaters liegenden Thermenanlagen stammen aus späterer Zeit.
Andere historische öffentliche Gebäude sind der Dom Santa Maria Assunta aus dem frühen 12. Jahrhundert mit einer Kassettendecke und mit Granit vortäuschender Stuckverkleidung der Säulen sowie etlichen künstlerisch hochrangigen Ausstattungsstücken, das oktogonale Baptisterium mit einem Taufbecken von Andrea Sansovino, der auf Privatpaläste und Wohntürme aus dem 12. und 13. Jahrhundert zurückgehende Palazzo Pretorio sowie der als Gefängnis dienende Torre del Porcellino. Schließlich gehört der Palazzo Incontri-Viti zu den prachtvollsten Gebäuden Volterras.
Unter den Kirchen sind zu nennen: die spätromanische S. Michele sowie die Kirchen von S. Francesco, S. Lino und S. Girolamo mit Bildern und Skulpturen aus der Schule von Florenz.
Museen
Von besonderer Bedeutung ist das archäologische Museo Etrusco Guarnacci im Palazzo Desideri Tangassi. Mario Guarnacci (1701–1785), ein vielseitig interessierter Gelehrter, widmete seine Studien der antiken Geschichte. Dabei konnte er durch Ankäufe und Ausgrabungen eine ansehnliche Menge Belegmaterial über die etruskische Zivilisation sammeln.
Ein bedeutender Teil der Sammlung umfasst Ascheurnen sowie Stücke aus Bronze und Keramik. Die Urnen bestehen aus Tuffstein, Alabaster und Tonerde. Eine der bekanntesten ganz Etruriens ist die Urna degli Sposi (dt. Urne der Brautleute), auf deren Deckel ein Paar beim Festmahl liegend dargestellt ist.
Das bedeutendste Stück der Sammlung ist jedoch die Bronzefigur Ombra della sera (dt. Abendschatten). Es ist mit der Zeit zu einer „Ikone“ für das Museum und die Stadt Volterra geworden. Seine Berühmtheit verdankt es hauptsächlich seiner einzigartigen Form, die den italienischen Dichter Gabriele D’Annunzio an den Schatten einer menschlichen Figur in der Abendsonne erinnert haben soll. Es ist ein Meisterwerk etruskischer Bronzegießer aus der hellenistischen Periode. Ein weiteres bedeutendes Exponat ist die Stele des Avile Tite aus dem 6. Jahrhundert v. Chr.
Weitere Ausstellungsstücke sind verschiedene Mosaikböden aus der römischen Kaiserzeit, die aus Volterra und Segalari stammen. Hinzu kommt eine Münzsammlung mit seltenen etruskischen Münzen aus Gold, Silber und Bronze. Schließlich sind noch mit Edelsteinen verzierte etruskische und römische Schmuckstücke zu sehen.
Wichtig ist die Sammlung der seit 1982 im Minucci-Solaini-Palast untergebrachten „Pinacoteca“ mit der berühmten Kreuzesabnahme (1521), dem Meisterwerk des Malers Rosso Fiorentino, und den bedeutendsten Arbeiten von Taddeo di Bartolo, Domenico Ghirlandaio und Luca Signorelli, welche die künstlerischen Einflüsse aus Pisa, Florenz und Siena anschaulich machen.
Im April 2003 wurde im Turmhaus des Palazzo Minucci-Solaini das Ecomuseo dell’Alabastro eröffnet, in dem die Geschichte der Gewinnung und der Verarbeitung von Alabaster seit der Antike bis zur Gegenwart dargestellt ist.
Volterra in der Literatur
Volterra ist eine wichtige Stadt in Stephenie Meyers „Biss“-Serie. Dort ist Volterra die Heimatstadt der Volturi, einer königlichen Vampirfamilie.
Volterra spielt auch in der von Dudley Pope geschriebenen Romanreihe um den britischen Marineoffizier Nicolas Ramage eine Rolle. Im ersten Band rettet er während der Napoleonischen Kriege die Marchesa von Volterra vor den französischen Besatzungstruppen. Er verliebt sich in sie, und ihre Herrschaft über Volterra spielt in den weiteren Bänden eine wichtige Rolle. Auch ihr Neffe, Paolo Orsini, nächster in der Erbreihenfolge der Regentschaft, kommt in den meisten Romanen vor, da er als Fähnrich unter Ramages Kommando segelt.
(Wikipedia)
Der Palazzo dei Priori ist ein Kommunalpalast in der toskanischen Stadt Volterra. Er ist der älteste Palast dieser Art in der Toskana, der noch erhalten ist.
Lage und Baugeschichte
Der Palast liegt im historischen Zentrum von Volterra an der Piazza dei Priori. Auf dem Platz befand sich eine Ulme, unter ihr berieten sich die Konsuln der Stadt vor dem Bau des Palastes.
Der Palast wurde von 1208 bis 1254 oder 1257 errichtet. Er war zum Zeitpunkt der Errichtung eine architektonische Neuheit italienischer Kommunalpaläste. Bis dahin hatten öffentliche Gebäude zumeist über der offenen Markthalle des Untergeschosses lediglich ein weiteres Geschoss für den Ratssaal, so beispielsweise in Bergamo, Mailand oder Como. Im Verhältnis zu ihrer Höhe waren diese Bauten auch sehr breit. Bei diesem Palast wurden gleich drei weitere Geschosse über der ursprünglich offenen Halle des Erdgeschosses errichtet. Die Arkaden der Halle des Erdgeschosses waren beim Bau spitzbögig, nach dem Fall Volterras an Florenz 1361 wurden die Arkaden von den Florentinern 1472 zugemauert. Auch hatte der Bau im Urzustand umlaufende hölzerne Galerien, zu erkennen an den Pfostenlöchern der Außenwände. Insgesamt entstand so ein neuer Typus städtischer Monumentalarchitektur, dazu heißt es: "(...) wird hier eine neue Form des monumentalen Stadthauses gefunden, die aus dem Geist der toskanischen Wohnarchitektur entstanden ist und dem Bilde der hoch- und enggebauten Bergstadt entspricht.". Dennoch gilt die Architektur als "streng". Diese neue Bauweise wurde zum Vorbild für den nur wenige Jahrzehnte danach errichteten berühmten Palazzo Vecchio.
Der Turm des Palastes ist fünfeckig und asymmetrisch angelegt. Bei einem Erdbeben 1846 wurde der Turmaufsatz beschädigt und danach rekonstruiert, allerdings dabei stark verändert. Die Zinnen des Gebäudes entsprechen auch nicht mehr ihrem ursprünglichen Aussehen, die abgerundete Form dürfte nachträglich entstanden sein.
An der Vorderseite befinden sich die Wappen der ehemaligen Florentiner Statthalter, teilweise aus Terrakotta, sonst aus Stein gearbeitet. An der rechten Eckseite des Palastes ist eine Figur des florentinischen Marzocco auf einer Säule aufgestellt.
Die Biforienfenster entsprechen klassischer gotischer Architektur des 13. Jahrhunderts.
Inneres und Nutzung
Im ersten Stock befand sich der Ratssaal, sein Gewölbe allerdings wurde erst später, 1516, eingezogen. Die heute sichtbaren Ausmalungen entstanden erst nach dem Erdbeben von 1846. Darüber befanden sich die Küche und ein Speisesaal, noch ein Stockwerk höher die Schlaf- und Wohngemächer.
Der Palast war bis zum Verlust der Eigenständigkeit seit 1218 Sitz des jeweiligen Podestà Volterras, danach der florentinischen Prioren und Kommissare, auch im Inneren hinterließen sie ihre Wappenschilder.
Im Palast befindet sich heute neben der Stadtverwaltung eine Pinakothek. Gezeigt wird toskanische Malerei aus dem 14. und 15. Jahrhundert im Zusammenhang mit den Ausstellungsstücken des benachbarten Museo Diocesano di Arte Sacra di Volterra stehend.
An klaren Tagen beträgt die Sichtweite von der obersten Turmplattform mehr als 50 Kilometer weit bis zum Golf von Piombino.
(Wikipedia)
1498. Oli sobre fusta. Carrer esquerra: 146,5 x 75,5 cm. Carrer dret: 145,5 x 76 cm. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, Berlín. 79. Obra exposada: Sala XVIII.
Closer look at the depiction of fantasy figures and beasts that are part of the wall decoration on the ground level walls of the Chapel of San Brizio.
Duomo Orvieto; March 2017
The Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore (south of Siena) has a magnificent Chiostro Grande (Great Cloister), constructed between 1426 and 1443. Under the vaults of the cloister are frescoes of the Life of St. Benedict painted by Luca Signorelli and il Sodoma, considered amongst the most important Renaissance artworks in Italy.
Signorelli's paintings were executed in 1497-98, while Sodoma's date to 1505 afterwards.
See my video about the monastery at
Frances Elizabeth Signorelli photographed for the Miami Herald, November 29, 1977, Wright Langley Collection.
The 'Sala dei Trionfi' at Palazzo dei Conservatori is named for the fresco frieze high on the walls just below the ceiling. Painted in 1569 the "Trionfo di Lucio Emilio Paolo su Perseo" depicts the Triumph of Lucius Aemilius Paullus 'Macedonicus' over King Perseus in the Third Macedonian War.
On this fresco, painted in 1569 by Michele Alberti and Jacopo Rocchetti, the spectacular triumph is recreated. During the four day long triumph the victorious general paraded the captured Macedonian king and the immense amount of plunder taken.
This room houses a number of important bronze sculptures including the Capitoline Brutus and the Spinario (Boy with the Thorn)*.
Musei Capitolini, Rome; July 2019
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* The Spinario, normally on the centre of this room, was temporarily moved from the room for inclusion as part of the Luca Signorelli Exhibition.
Monastero di Monte Oliveto Maggiore
Lo splendido monastero di Monte Oliveto Maggiore, ubicato in comune di Asciano a pochi Km. da Buonconvento, in provincia di Siena, racchiude tesori di inestimabile valore i quali, a soli, fanno capire come sia unica l'Italia riguardo i beni artistici conservati nelle chiese, abbazie e musei sacri sparsi per tutto il paese.
Il Chiostro Grande dell'abbazia conserva affreschi di Luca Signorelli che vi lavorò dal 1497 al 1498 e dal Sodoma che terminò il ciclo di affreschi sulla vita di San Benedetto con 35 scene basate sul racconto di San Gregorio Magno.
Questo ritratto è l'affresco dal titolo: "Come Fiorenzo manda male femmine al monastero" ed è opera del Sodoma. La scena rappresenta i monaci con San Benedetto di fronte ad alcune donne; opera di grande influsso a quelle di Leonardo da Vinci. Da notare lo splendido complesso architettonico alle spalle, non a caso è una serie di opere conosciute in tutto il mondo!
Monastery of Monte Oliveto Maggiore
The beautiful monastery of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, located in the municipality of Asciano few kilometers from Buonconvento, in the province of Siena, containing treasures of inestimable value which, in themselves, make it clear how it is unique Italy concerning the artistic heritage preserved in churches, abbeys and art religious museums scattered throughout the country.
The Abbey's Great Cloister (Chiostro Grande) frescoes by Luca Signorelli who worked there from 1497 to 1498 and from Sodoma that ended the cycle of frescoes depicting the life of St. Benedict with 35 scenes based on the St. Gregory the Great's story.
This painting is a fresco entitled "How Fiorenzo sends evil women at the monastery" and is a fresco of Sodoma. The scene represents the monks with St. Benedict in front of some women, work of great influence to those of Leonardo da Vinci's. Note the splendid architectural complex behind it, in fact it's a series of works known all over the world!
© Riccardo Senis, All Rights Reserved
This image may not be copied, reproduced, republished, edited, downloaded, displayed, modified, transmitted, licensed, transferred, sold, distributed or uploaded in any way without my prior written permission.
Italien / Toskana - Montepulciano
In the background you can see the Monte Amiata.
Im Hintergrund sieht man den Monte Amiata.
Montepulciano (Italian: [ˌmontepulˈtʃaːno]) is a medieval and Renaissance hill town and comune in the Italian province of Siena in southern Tuscany. It sits high on a 605-metre (1,985 ft) limestone ridge, 13 kilometres (8 mi) east of Pienza, 70 kilometres (43 mi) southeast of Siena, 124 kilometres (77 mi) southeast of Florence, and 186 kilometres (116 mi) north of Rome by car.
Montepulciano is a wine-producing region. The Vino Nobile di Montepulciano has Denominazione di origine controllata e garantita status and is, with the Brunello di Montalcino and Chianti Classico, one of the principal red wines of Tuscany. The Rosso di Montepulciano and Vin Santo di Montepulciano have Denominazione di origine controllata status.
History
According to legend, it was founded by the Etruscan King Lars Porsena of Clusium (modern Chiusi). Recent findings prove that a settlement was in existence in the 4th-3rd centuries BC. In Roman times it was the seat of a garrison guarding the main roads of the area.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it developed as a religious center under the Lombards. In the 12th century it was repeatedly attacked by the Republic of Siena, which the Poliziani faced with the help of the Perugia and Orvieto, and sometimes Florence, communes. The 14th century was characterized by constant struggles between the local noble families, until the Del Pecora family became rulers of the town. From 1390, Montepulciano was a loyal ally (and later possession) of Florence and, until the mid-16th century, lived a period of splendour with architects such as Antonio da Sangallo the Elder, Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola, Baldassarre Peruzzi, Ippolito Scalza and others, building luxurious residences and other edifices here. In 1559, when Siena was conquered by Florence and Montepulciano lost its strategic role, its importance declined.
After the unification of Italy and the drying of the Val di Chiana, the town remained the most important agricultural centre in the area, while the industrial activities moved mostly next to Chiusi, which was nearer to the railroad being built in that period.
A competitive "barrel race through the city" called the Bravio delle botti has been held on the last Sunday of August since the 14th Century.
Main sights
Since the Second World War, tourism has been a significant aspect in the economy of the urban part of the commune. Many of the streets are designated as car-free. Most of the shops and restaurants are on the main street, which stretches from Porta Al Prato to Piazza Grande[6] for 1.5 kilometres (0.9 mi).
The main landmarks include:
Palazzo Comunale: city hall designed by Michelozzo recalling the Palazzo della Signoria (Palazzo Vecchio) of Florence.
Palazzo Tarugi, attributed to Antonio da Sangallo the Elder or Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola. It is entirely in travertine, with a portico which was once open to the public.
Santa Maria Assunta Cathedral, or the Duomo of Montepulciano, constructed between 1594 and 1680, includes a masterpiece from the Sienese School, a massive Assumption of the Virgin triptych painted by Taddeo di Bartolo in 1401.
Santa Maria delle Grazie: late 16th-century) church with a simple Mannerist façade with a three-arcade portico. The interior has a single nave, and houses a precious terracotta altar by Andrea della Robbia.
Madonna di San Biagio Sanctuary: church, located on the road to Chianciano outside the city, it is a typical 16th century Tuscan edifice, designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Elder on a pre-existing Pieve, between 1518 and 1545. It has a circular (central) plan with a large dome over a terrace and a squared tambour. The exterior, with two bell towers, is built in white travertine.
Santa Lucia: Baroque church with altarpiece by Luca Signorelli.
Museo Civico di Montepulciano: located in the Palazzo Neri Orselli, displaying a collection of archeologic items, paintings, and terracotta works by the Della Robbia family.
(Wikipedia)
Montepulciano ist eine Kleinstadt mit 13.691 Einwohnern (Stand 31. Dezember 2019) in der italienischen Region Toskana und gehört zur Provinz Siena.
Geografie
Montepulciano liegt ca. 45 km südöstlich der Provinzhauptstadt Siena und ca. 86 km südöstlich der Regionalhauptstadt Florenz zwischen dem Val di Chiana und dem Val d’Orcia. Lage und Bau der Stadt sind pittoresk. Die Stadt liegt auf der Kuppe eines rund 600 m hohen Hügels und ist von einer mittelalterlichen Stadtmauer umgeben.
Zu den Ortsteilen gehören Abbadia, Acquaviva, Gracciano, Montepulciano Stazione, Sant’Albino und Valiano.
Die Nachbargemeinden sind Castiglione del Lago (PG), Chianciano Terme, Chiusi, Cortona (AR), Pienza und Torrita di Siena.
Geschichte
Die Geschichte Montepulcianos lässt sich bis ins Jahr 715 v. Chr. zurückverfolgen, also bis mitten in die Etruskerzeit. Der Ort unterlag bis 1202 dem Schutz Sienas, erklärte sich dann für Florenz und wechselte anschließend noch mehrfach die Herrschaft, bis er Anfang des 16. Jahrhunderts endgültig florentinisch wurde. 1561 wurde die Stadt Bischofssitz.
Montepulciano ist der Geburtsort des Humanisten und Poeten Angelo Ambrogini (1454–1494), der als Poliziano bekannt wurde und als Hauslehrer und Freund von Lorenzo il Magnifico den Zeitgeist der Renaissance mitprägte. Ein weiterer Sohn der Stadt ist Kardinal Bellarmino (1542–1621).
Im Zweiten Weltkrieg hatte die deutsche Wehrmacht als Vergeltung von Partisanenangriffen bereits die Zerstörung der historischen Altstadt angeordnet. Dies konnte vom Grafen Origo und seiner Frau, der Schriftstellerin Iris Origo („Toskanisches Tagebuch“), in letzter Minute verhindert werden. Gesprengt wurde lediglich das Osttor „Porta al Prato“.
Am 7. Juni 2016 vereinbarten Vertreter des Partito Democratico aus Montepulciano und Torrita di Siena, die in ihren Gemeinden eine klare Mehrheit haben, eine Fusion beider Gemeinden in die Wege zu leiten. Dies wurde im November 2018 in einem Referendum abgelehnt.
Sehenswürdigkeiten
Die meisten der Gebäude der Altstadt stammen aus der Zeit der Renaissance. Älter sind die Burg, der Palazzo Pubblico aus dem 14. Jahrhundert und das Portal der Kirche Santa Maria (13. Jahrhundert). Es gibt eine Reihe von schönen Privathäusern, von denen einige von Antonio da Sangallo dem Älteren (1455–1534) und Baldassare Peruzzi (1481–1536), andere von Vignola (1507–1573) erbaut wurden.
Die Kirche Madonna di San Biagio – wahrscheinlich das Meisterwerk Sangallos – wurde 1518 bis 1537 gebaut.
Die Kathedrale von Bartolomeo Ammanati (1570), verändert von Ippolito Scalza, und vollendet 1680 (mit Ausnahme der Fassade, die immer noch unvollendet ist) beherbergt einen großen Altar von Taddeo di Bartolo von Siena, und die Fragmente eines imposanten Monuments, das 1427–1436 von dem Florentiner Architekten Michelozzo zu Ehren von Bartolomeo Aragazzi, dem Sekretär Papst Martins V., errichtet wurde, und das im 18. Jahrhundert abgerissen wurde. Die Fassade der Kirche Sant’Agostino ist wahrscheinlich ebenso Michelozzos Werk.
Sehenswert ist auch das aufwendig restaurierte Museo comunale mit der Gemäldesammlung Crociani. Unten im Val di Chiana befindet sich am Lago di Montepulciano ein Naturkundemuseum, das an die Jahrhunderte erinnert, in denen das Tal ein riesiger See und Sumpf war.
Tourismus
Regelmäßige Veranstaltungen
Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte: das Musikfestival, dessen Initiator 1976 der deutsche Komponist Hans Werner Henze war, findet jährlich von Ende Juli bis Anfang August statt.
Europäische Akademie für Musik und Darstellende Kunst: Meisterkurse der Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln in Zusammenarbeit mit der Europäischen Akademie für Musik und Darstellende Kunst finden jährlich mit ihren wöchentlichen Abschlusskonzerten im Palazzo Ricci statt.
Bruscello: ist ein Bauerntheater mit Musik; es findet jedes Jahr zu Ferragosto (am 15. August) statt.
Bravio delle Botti: ein Wettkampf der acht Stadtteile, bei dem Weinfässer den Berg hoch gerollt werden müssen; er findet jedes Jahr am letzten Sonntag im August statt
Tourismus
Neben Weinkennern kommen auch viele Musikliebhaber nach Montepulciano (siehe Abschnitt Regelmäßige Veranstaltungen).
In den letzten Jahren war Montepulciano wiederholt Schauplatz preisgekrönter Spielfilme wie „Der englische Patient“, „Heaven“ oder „Ein Sommernachtstraum“ und „New Moon – Bis(s) zur Mittagsstunde“ mit Robert Pattinson und Kristen Stewart.
Weinbau
Böden, Lagen und Klima der Gegend begünstigen den Weinbau, durch den der Ort bekannt geworden ist. Der Rotwein hat einen „noblen“ Namen: Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, dessen Name aber mit dem Wein Montepulciano d’Abruzzo aus den Marken und Abruzzen verwechselt werden könnte. Die Winzer von Montepulciano machen den Unterschied in den Rebsorten, in der Haltbarkeit und in der Qualität und orientieren sich dabei an den toskanischen Nachbarn aus Montalcino. Der einfachere Wein aus Montepulciano wird Rosso di Montepulciano genannt.
(Wikipedia)
This fresco is in the Monte Oliveto Maggiore Abbey (Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore), which is a stunning abbey perched on the top of a cliff in the Crete Senese area. The Abbey was built in the 15th century. The Great Cloister is decorated with a fresco cycle depicting the life of St Benedict by Luca Signorelli, who began work on its 36 large scenes in 1497. The cycle was finished in 1508 by Sodoma.
Italien / Toskana - Volterra
On the way down to Prato d'Era.
Auf dem Weg hinunter nach Prato d'Era.
Volterra (Italian pronunciation: [volˈtɛrra]; Latin: Volaterrae) is a walled mountaintop town in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its history dates from before the 8th century BC and it has substantial structures from the Etruscan, Roman, and Medieval periods.
History
Volterra, known to the ancient Etruscans as Velathri or Vlathri and to the Romans as Volaterrae, is a town and comune in the Tuscany region of Italy. The town was a Bronze Age settlement of the Proto-Villanovan culture, and an important Etruscan center (Velàthre, Velathri or Felathri in Etruscan, Volaterrae in Latin language), one of the "twelve cities" of the Etruscan League.
The site is believed to have been continuously inhabited as a city since at least the end of the 8th century BC. It became a municipium allied to Rome at the end of the 3rd century BC. The city was a bishop's residence in the 5th century, and its episcopal power was affirmed during the 12th century. With the decline of the episcopate and the discovery of local alum deposits, Volterra became a place of interest of the Republic of Florence, whose forces conquered Volterra. Florentine rule was not always popular, and opposition occasionally broke into rebellion. These rebellions were put down by Florence.
When the Republic of Florence fell in 1530, Volterra came under the control of the Medici family and later followed the history of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
Culture
The main events that take place during the year in Volterra are
Volterra gusto
Volterra arte
Volterra teatro
Main sights
Roman Theatre of Volterra, 1st century BC, excavated in the 1950s
the Roman amphitheatre was discovered in 2015 and has been excavated over the succeeding years
Piazza dei Priori, the main square, a fine example of medieval Tuscan town squares
Palazzo dei Priori, the town hall located on Piazza dei Priori, construction begun in 1208 and finished in 1257
Pinacoteca e museo civico di Volterra (Art Gallery) in Palazzo Minucci-Solaini. Founded in 1905, the gallery consists mostly of works by Tuscan artists from 14th to 17th centuries. Includes a Deposition by Rosso Fiorentino.
Etruscan Acropolis and Roman Cistern. The acropolis on the citadel dates to the 8th century B.C., while the impressive cistern is from the 1st century B.C.
Volterra Cathedral. It was enlarged in the 13th century after an earthquake. It houses a ciborium and some angels by Mino da Fiesole, a notable wood Deposition (1228), a masterwork of Romanesque sculpture and the Sacrament Chapel, with paintings by Santi di Tito, Giovanni Balducci and Agostino Veracini. In the center of the vault are fragments of an Eternal Father by Niccolò Circignani. Also noteworthy is the Addolorata Chapel, with a terracotta group attributed to Andrea della Robbia and a fresco of Riding Magi by Benozzo Gozzoli. In the nearby chapel, dedicated to the Most Holy Name of Jesus, is a table with Christ's monogram, allegedly painted by Bernardino of Siena. The rectangular bell tower is from 1493.
Volterra Baptistery of San Giovanni, built in the second half of the 13th century.
Fortezza Medicea (Medicean Fortress), built in the 1470s, now a prison housing the noted restaurant, Fortezza Medicea restaurant.
Guarnacci Etruscan Museum, with thousands of funeral urns dating back to the Hellenistic and Archaic periods. Main attractions are the bronze statuette "Ombra della sera" (lit. '"Shadow of the Night"'), and the sculpted effigy, "Urna degli Sposi" (lit. '"Urn of the Spouses"') of an Etruscan couple in terra cotta.
The Etruscan Walls of Volterra, including the well-preserved Walls of Volterra (3rd-2nd centuries BC), and Porta Diana gates.
The Medici Villa di Spedaletto, outside the city, in direction of Lajatico
There are excavations of Etruscan tombs in the Valle Bona area.
Volterra Psychiatric Hospital, Founded in 1888 until 1978, it was reopened for public and will be once more used for psychiatric purposes.
In popular culture
Volterra features in Horatius, a poem by Lord Macaulay.
Linda Proud's A Tabernacle for the Sun (2005), the first volume of The Botticelli Trilogy, begins with the sack of Volterra in 1472. Volterra is the ancestral home of the Maffei family and the events of 1472 lead directly to the Pazzi Conspiracy of 1478. The protagonist of the novel is Tommaso de' Maffei, half brother of one of the conspirators.
Volterra is an important location in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. In the books, Volterra is home to the Volturi, a clan of rich, regal, powerful ancient vampires, who essentially act as the rulers of the world's vampire population. (However, the relevant scenes from the movie were shot in Montepulciano.)
Volterra is the site of Stendhal's famously disastrous encounter in 1819 with his beloved Countess Mathilde Dembowska: she recognised him there, despite his disguise of new clothes and green glasses, and was furious. This is the central incident in his book On Love
Volterra is mentioned repeatedly in British author Dudley Pope's Captain Nicholas Ramage historical nautical series. Gianna, the Marchesa of Volterra and the fictional ruler of the area, features in the first twelve books of the eighteen-book series. The books chart the progress and career of Ramage during the Napoleonic wars of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, providing readers with well-scripted articulate details of life aboard sailing vessels and conditions at sea of that time.
Volterra is the site where the novel Chimaira by the Italian author Valerio Massimo Manfredi takes place.
Valerio Massimo Manfredi's The Ancient Curse is also set in Volterra, where a statue called 'The Shade of Twilight' is stolen from the Volterra museum.
Volterra is featured in Jhumpa Lahiri's 2008 collection of short stories Unaccustomed Earth. It is where Hema and Kaushik, the protagonists of the final short story "Going Ashore," travel before they part.
Volterra is featured in Luchino Visconti's 1965 film Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa, released as Sandra (Of a Thousand Delights) in the United States and as Of These Thousand Pleasures in the UK.
Volterra's scenery is used for Central City in the 2017 film Fullmetal Alchemist (film) directed by Fumihiko Sori.
The 2016 video game The Town of Light is set in a fictionalized version of the notorious Volterra Psychiatric Hospital.
"Volaterrae" is the name given by Dan and Una to their secret place in Far Wood in Rudyard Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill. They named it from the verse in Lord Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome:
From lordly Volaterrae,
Where scowls the far-famed hold
Piled by the hands of giants
For Godlike Kings of old.
Volterra and its relationship with Medici Florence features in the 2018 second season of Medici: Masters of Florence.
(Wikipedia)
Volterra, lateinisch Volaterrae, ist eine italienische Stadt mit 9980 Einwohnern (Stand 31. Dezember 2019) in der Provinz Pisa in der Region Toskana.
Geographie
Volterra liegt etwa 50 Kilometer südlich von Pisa und 30 Kilometer vom Mittelmeer entfernt. Die Stadt gilt mit ihrem spektakulären landschaftlichen Umfeld als eine der schönsten in der Toskana.
Der Kern der heutigen Stadt liegt abgeschieden auf einem 550 m hohen Bergrücken über dem Tal der Cecina (Val di Cecina) inmitten einer kargen, zerfurchten Hügellandschaft. Die Felsabbrüche und Geröllhalden sind das Produkt jahrhundertelanger Erosion. Das Gebiet Le Balze im Nordwesten Volterras vermittelt einen beispielhaften Eindruck dieses Phänomens.
Die Stadt wird beherrscht von einer heute als Staatsgefängnis benutzten Festung der Medici, der Fortezza Medicea. Volterra ist ein Zentrum der Alabasterverarbeitung.
Zu den Ortsteilen (Frazioni) zählen Mazzolla, Montemiccioli, Saline di Volterra und Villamagna.
Die Nachbargemeinden sind Casole d’Elsa (SI), Colle di Val d’Elsa (SI), Gambassi Terme (FI), Lajatico, Montaione (FI), Montecatini Val di Cecina, Peccioli, Pomarance und San Gimignano (SI).
Geschichte
Volterra kann auf eine lange Geschichte zurückblicken. Bereits im 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr. entstand der Ort aus der Verbindung mehrerer kleiner etruskischer Ansiedlungen, deren Bestand bis ins 7. Jahrhundert v. Chr. zurückverfolgt werden kann. Zu dieser Zeit bauten die Etrusker eine sieben Kilometer lange Ringmauer und nannten die nunmehr vereinigte Stadt Velathri.
Volterra war eine der ältesten und größten der zwölf Bundesstädte Etruriens. Später war es eine römische Stadt mit den Rechten eines Municipiums. Ihre hohe Lage machte sie zu einer starken Festung, die Sulla im ersten Bürgerkrieg erst nach zweijähriger Belagerung 79 v. Chr. einnehmen konnte.
Im 12. und 13. Jahrhundert war Volterra eine Republik; im 14. Jahrhundert fiel es an Florenz.
Sehenswürdigkeiten
Architektonische und künstlerische Zeugnisse der verschiedenen Epochen zeugen von der wechselvollen Existenz und Bedeutung der Stadt. Einige der etruskischen Nekropolen und mittelalterlichen Kirchenmauern sind jedoch in der Vergangenheit der Erosion zum Opfer gefallen.
Am Hauptplatz der Stadt, der Piazza dei Priori, steht der älteste erhaltene Kommunalpalast der Toskana, der Palazzo dei Priori.
Von der etruskischen Stadtmauer ist als einziges Tor die Porta all’Arco gut erhalten. Es stammt aus dem 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr. Im äußeren Bogen sind drei verwitterte Köpfe zu erkennen, deren Bedeutung aber umstritten ist.
Außerhalb der mittelalterlichen Porta Fiorentina liegt das Teatro Romano, erbaut zur Zeit des Kaisers Augustus. Von der Zuschauertribüne für etwa 2000 Personen blickt man auf die teilweise rekonstruierte Bühnenwand. Die unterhalb des Theaters liegenden Thermenanlagen stammen aus späterer Zeit.
Andere historische öffentliche Gebäude sind der Dom Santa Maria Assunta aus dem frühen 12. Jahrhundert mit einer Kassettendecke und mit Granit vortäuschender Stuckverkleidung der Säulen sowie etlichen künstlerisch hochrangigen Ausstattungsstücken, das oktogonale Baptisterium mit einem Taufbecken von Andrea Sansovino, der auf Privatpaläste und Wohntürme aus dem 12. und 13. Jahrhundert zurückgehende Palazzo Pretorio sowie der als Gefängnis dienende Torre del Porcellino. Schließlich gehört der Palazzo Incontri-Viti zu den prachtvollsten Gebäuden Volterras.
Unter den Kirchen sind zu nennen: die spätromanische S. Michele sowie die Kirchen von S. Francesco, S. Lino und S. Girolamo mit Bildern und Skulpturen aus der Schule von Florenz.
Museen
Von besonderer Bedeutung ist das archäologische Museo Etrusco Guarnacci im Palazzo Desideri Tangassi. Mario Guarnacci (1701–1785), ein vielseitig interessierter Gelehrter, widmete seine Studien der antiken Geschichte. Dabei konnte er durch Ankäufe und Ausgrabungen eine ansehnliche Menge Belegmaterial über die etruskische Zivilisation sammeln.
Ein bedeutender Teil der Sammlung umfasst Ascheurnen sowie Stücke aus Bronze und Keramik. Die Urnen bestehen aus Tuffstein, Alabaster und Tonerde. Eine der bekanntesten ganz Etruriens ist die Urna degli Sposi (dt. Urne der Brautleute), auf deren Deckel ein Paar beim Festmahl liegend dargestellt ist.
Das bedeutendste Stück der Sammlung ist jedoch die Bronzefigur Ombra della sera (dt. Abendschatten). Es ist mit der Zeit zu einer „Ikone“ für das Museum und die Stadt Volterra geworden. Seine Berühmtheit verdankt es hauptsächlich seiner einzigartigen Form, die den italienischen Dichter Gabriele D’Annunzio an den Schatten einer menschlichen Figur in der Abendsonne erinnert haben soll. Es ist ein Meisterwerk etruskischer Bronzegießer aus der hellenistischen Periode. Ein weiteres bedeutendes Exponat ist die Stele des Avile Tite aus dem 6. Jahrhundert v. Chr.
Weitere Ausstellungsstücke sind verschiedene Mosaikböden aus der römischen Kaiserzeit, die aus Volterra und Segalari stammen. Hinzu kommt eine Münzsammlung mit seltenen etruskischen Münzen aus Gold, Silber und Bronze. Schließlich sind noch mit Edelsteinen verzierte etruskische und römische Schmuckstücke zu sehen.
Wichtig ist die Sammlung der seit 1982 im Minucci-Solaini-Palast untergebrachten „Pinacoteca“ mit der berühmten Kreuzesabnahme (1521), dem Meisterwerk des Malers Rosso Fiorentino, und den bedeutendsten Arbeiten von Taddeo di Bartolo, Domenico Ghirlandaio und Luca Signorelli, welche die künstlerischen Einflüsse aus Pisa, Florenz und Siena anschaulich machen.
Im April 2003 wurde im Turmhaus des Palazzo Minucci-Solaini das Ecomuseo dell’Alabastro eröffnet, in dem die Geschichte der Gewinnung und der Verarbeitung von Alabaster seit der Antike bis zur Gegenwart dargestellt ist.
Volterra in der Literatur
Volterra ist eine wichtige Stadt in Stephenie Meyers „Biss“-Serie. Dort ist Volterra die Heimatstadt der Volturi, einer königlichen Vampirfamilie.
Volterra spielt auch in der von Dudley Pope geschriebenen Romanreihe um den britischen Marineoffizier Nicolas Ramage eine Rolle. Im ersten Band rettet er während der Napoleonischen Kriege die Marchesa von Volterra vor den französischen Besatzungstruppen. Er verliebt sich in sie, und ihre Herrschaft über Volterra spielt in den weiteren Bänden eine wichtige Rolle. Auch ihr Neffe, Paolo Orsini, nächster in der Erbreihenfolge der Regentschaft, kommt in den meisten Romanen vor, da er als Fähnrich unter Ramages Kommando segelt.
(Wikipedia)
Luca Signorelli, The Damned Cast into Hell, 1499-1504, fresco, 23′ wide (San Brizio chapel, Orvieto Cathedral, Orvieto, Italy)
Luca Signorelli -
Apocalypse, The destruction of the world [1499-1502]
Orvieto, Duomo, Cappella di San Brizio - finestresullarte
**********************************************************************************************
Apocalypse
According to the prediction in the Scriptures, the deeds of the Antichrist take place immediately before the end of the world, in those last days when 'the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken' (Mark, 13: 24-25).
For his description of the end of the world the artist had to make do with the narrow spaces on either side of the entrance door to the chapel. He was thus forced to divide the scene into two narrative sections. To the right he describes the first signs of the Apocalypse, which has been the object of prophecies since earliest times. In the foreground, in the lower part of the painting, he has shown King David and the Sibyl, as witnesses of Dies Irae. The stars go pale, fires and earthquakes sweep the earth, war and murder spread throughout the world. The lefthand section recounts the epilogue of this pre-announced catastrophe. Demons looking like monstrous bats soar through the darkened sky, showering earth with flaming arrows; the last survivors fall under their shots, piling up on top of each other like broken dolls.
Source: wga
La Cattedrale di Cortona (Arezzo)
La Cattedrale di Cortona ha tratti etruschi e romani essendo infatti eretta su quella che era la Corys etrusca e alcune parti di essa sono effettivamente etrusche. Verso l'anno 1000 venne eretta una pieve romanica che, successivamente, l'architetto Nicola Pisano ristrutturò nel 1262. Costituita attualmente da tre navate, essa è principalmente rinascimentale a seguito di una ristrutturazione avvenuta tra il 1481 e il 1507. La Cattedrale è praticamente un museo con opere di grandissimo valore artistico, tra i quali la Madonna del Rosario di Lodovico Carli detto il Cigoli, un Crocefisso della scuola di Luca Signorelli, l'Assunzione di Maria di Andrea Del Sarto, la Natività di Pietro Berrettini detto il Cortona.
The Cathedral of Cortona (Arezzo)
The Cathedral of Cortona has Etruscans and Romans features because it was built on what once was the Etruscan Corys and some parts of it are actually Etruscan. Around the year 1000 was built a Romanesque church, which later the architect Nicola Pisano rebuilt in 1262. Currently consists of three naves, it is mainly in Renaissance style as a result of a restructuring that took place between 1481 and 1507. The Cathedral is virtually a museum with masterpieces of great artistic value, including the Madonna of the Rosary of Lodovico Carli known as Cigoli, a crucifix from the school of Luca Signorelli, the Assumption of the Virgin by Andrea del Sarto, the Nativity of Pietro Berrettini known as Il Cortona.
© Riccardo Senis, All Rights Reserved
This image may not be copied, reproduced, republished, edited, downloaded, displayed, modified, transmitted, licensed, transferred, sold, distributed or uploaded in any way without my prior written permission.
Luca Signorelli, Cortona ca. 1445 - 1523
Trinità, Madonna col Bambino, santi e arcangeli /
Madonna und Kind mit der Dreifaltigkeit, Erzengeln und Heiligen / The Trinity, the Virgin and Two Saints
Luca Signorelli wurde wahrscheinlich in der Werkstatt von Piero della Francesca in Arezzo ausgebidet. Er lebte und arbeitete vor allem in der Toskana und in Umbrien und fand in Florenz durch den Einfluss von Antonio del Pollaiolo und Andrea del Verrocchio seinen eigenen Stil mit einer kraftvoll-bewegten Formensprache.
Die große Tafel zeigt eine Sacra Conversazione mit der Madonna und dem Kind im Zentrum, über denen die heilige Dreifaltigkeit umgeben von Cherubim schwebt. Links von Maria und dem Kind steht der Erzengel Michael, der als römischer Krieger gekleidet ist und die Seelenwage hält. Rechts trägt der Erzengel Gabriel eine Lilie und eineSchriftband, auf dem die ersten Worte der Verkündigung "Ave Maria gratia plena" zu lesen sind. Am unteren Bildrand sitzen die in reiche Messgewänder gekleideten Heiligen Augustinus and Athanasius von Alexandria.
Italien / Toskana - Volterra
Volterra (Italian pronunciation: [volˈtɛrra]; Latin: Volaterrae) is a walled mountaintop town in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its history dates from before the 8th century BC and it has substantial structures from the Etruscan, Roman, and Medieval periods.
History
Volterra, known to the ancient Etruscans as Velathri or Vlathri and to the Romans as Volaterrae, is a town and comune in the Tuscany region of Italy. The town was a Bronze Age settlement of the Proto-Villanovan culture, and an important Etruscan center (Velàthre, Velathri or Felathri in Etruscan, Volaterrae in Latin language), one of the "twelve cities" of the Etruscan League.
The site is believed to have been continuously inhabited as a city since at least the end of the 8th century BC. It became a municipium allied to Rome at the end of the 3rd century BC. The city was a bishop's residence in the 5th century, and its episcopal power was affirmed during the 12th century. With the decline of the episcopate and the discovery of local alum deposits, Volterra became a place of interest of the Republic of Florence, whose forces conquered Volterra. Florentine rule was not always popular, and opposition occasionally broke into rebellion. These rebellions were put down by Florence.
When the Republic of Florence fell in 1530, Volterra came under the control of the Medici family and later followed the history of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
Culture
The main events that take place during the year in Volterra are
Volterra gusto
Volterra arte
Volterra teatro
Main sights
Roman Theatre of Volterra, 1st century BC, excavated in the 1950s
the Roman amphitheatre was discovered in 2015 and has been excavated over the succeeding years
Piazza dei Priori, the main square, a fine example of medieval Tuscan town squares
Palazzo dei Priori, the town hall located on Piazza dei Priori, construction begun in 1208 and finished in 1257
Pinacoteca e museo civico di Volterra (Art Gallery) in Palazzo Minucci-Solaini. Founded in 1905, the gallery consists mostly of works by Tuscan artists from 14th to 17th centuries. Includes a Deposition by Rosso Fiorentino.
Etruscan Acropolis and Roman Cistern. The acropolis on the citadel dates to the 8th century B.C., while the impressive cistern is from the 1st century B.C.
Volterra Cathedral. It was enlarged in the 13th century after an earthquake. It houses a ciborium and some angels by Mino da Fiesole, a notable wood Deposition (1228), a masterwork of Romanesque sculpture and the Sacrament Chapel, with paintings by Santi di Tito, Giovanni Balducci and Agostino Veracini. In the center of the vault are fragments of an Eternal Father by Niccolò Circignani. Also noteworthy is the Addolorata Chapel, with a terracotta group attributed to Andrea della Robbia and a fresco of Riding Magi by Benozzo Gozzoli. In the nearby chapel, dedicated to the Most Holy Name of Jesus, is a table with Christ's monogram, allegedly painted by Bernardino of Siena. The rectangular bell tower is from 1493.
Volterra Baptistery of San Giovanni, built in the second half of the 13th century.
Fortezza Medicea (Medicean Fortress), built in the 1470s, now a prison housing the noted restaurant, Fortezza Medicea restaurant.
Guarnacci Etruscan Museum, with thousands of funeral urns dating back to the Hellenistic and Archaic periods. Main attractions are the bronze statuette "Ombra della sera" (lit. '"Shadow of the Night"'), and the sculpted effigy, "Urna degli Sposi" (lit. '"Urn of the Spouses"') of an Etruscan couple in terra cotta.
The Etruscan Walls of Volterra, including the well-preserved Walls of Volterra (3rd-2nd centuries BC), and Porta Diana gates.
The Medici Villa di Spedaletto, outside the city, in direction of Lajatico
There are excavations of Etruscan tombs in the Valle Bona area.
Volterra Psychiatric Hospital, Founded in 1888 until 1978, it was reopened for public and will be once more used for psychiatric purposes.
In popular culture
Volterra features in Horatius, a poem by Lord Macaulay.
Linda Proud's A Tabernacle for the Sun (2005), the first volume of The Botticelli Trilogy, begins with the sack of Volterra in 1472. Volterra is the ancestral home of the Maffei family and the events of 1472 lead directly to the Pazzi Conspiracy of 1478. The protagonist of the novel is Tommaso de' Maffei, half brother of one of the conspirators.
Volterra is an important location in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. In the books, Volterra is home to the Volturi, a clan of rich, regal, powerful ancient vampires, who essentially act as the rulers of the world's vampire population. (However, the relevant scenes from the movie were shot in Montepulciano.)
Volterra is the site of Stendhal's famously disastrous encounter in 1819 with his beloved Countess Mathilde Dembowska: she recognised him there, despite his disguise of new clothes and green glasses, and was furious. This is the central incident in his book On Love
Volterra is mentioned repeatedly in British author Dudley Pope's Captain Nicholas Ramage historical nautical series. Gianna, the Marchesa of Volterra and the fictional ruler of the area, features in the first twelve books of the eighteen-book series. The books chart the progress and career of Ramage during the Napoleonic wars of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, providing readers with well-scripted articulate details of life aboard sailing vessels and conditions at sea of that time.
Volterra is the site where the novel Chimaira by the Italian author Valerio Massimo Manfredi takes place.
Valerio Massimo Manfredi's The Ancient Curse is also set in Volterra, where a statue called 'The Shade of Twilight' is stolen from the Volterra museum.
Volterra is featured in Jhumpa Lahiri's 2008 collection of short stories Unaccustomed Earth. It is where Hema and Kaushik, the protagonists of the final short story "Going Ashore," travel before they part.
Volterra is featured in Luchino Visconti's 1965 film Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa, released as Sandra (Of a Thousand Delights) in the United States and as Of These Thousand Pleasures in the UK.
Volterra's scenery is used for Central City in the 2017 film Fullmetal Alchemist (film) directed by Fumihiko Sori.
The 2016 video game The Town of Light is set in a fictionalized version of the notorious Volterra Psychiatric Hospital.
"Volaterrae" is the name given by Dan and Una to their secret place in Far Wood in Rudyard Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill. They named it from the verse in Lord Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome:
From lordly Volaterrae,
Where scowls the far-famed hold
Piled by the hands of giants
For Godlike Kings of old.
Volterra and its relationship with Medici Florence features in the 2018 second season of Medici: Masters of Florence.
(Wikipedia)
Volterra, lateinisch Volaterrae, ist eine italienische Stadt mit 9980 Einwohnern (Stand 31. Dezember 2019) in der Provinz Pisa in der Region Toskana.
Geographie
Volterra liegt etwa 50 Kilometer südlich von Pisa und 30 Kilometer vom Mittelmeer entfernt. Die Stadt gilt mit ihrem spektakulären landschaftlichen Umfeld als eine der schönsten in der Toskana.
Der Kern der heutigen Stadt liegt abgeschieden auf einem 550 m hohen Bergrücken über dem Tal der Cecina (Val di Cecina) inmitten einer kargen, zerfurchten Hügellandschaft. Die Felsabbrüche und Geröllhalden sind das Produkt jahrhundertelanger Erosion. Das Gebiet Le Balze im Nordwesten Volterras vermittelt einen beispielhaften Eindruck dieses Phänomens.
Die Stadt wird beherrscht von einer heute als Staatsgefängnis benutzten Festung der Medici, der Fortezza Medicea. Volterra ist ein Zentrum der Alabasterverarbeitung.
Zu den Ortsteilen (Frazioni) zählen Mazzolla, Montemiccioli, Saline di Volterra und Villamagna.
Die Nachbargemeinden sind Casole d’Elsa (SI), Colle di Val d’Elsa (SI), Gambassi Terme (FI), Lajatico, Montaione (FI), Montecatini Val di Cecina, Peccioli, Pomarance und San Gimignano (SI).
Geschichte
Volterra kann auf eine lange Geschichte zurückblicken. Bereits im 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr. entstand der Ort aus der Verbindung mehrerer kleiner etruskischer Ansiedlungen, deren Bestand bis ins 7. Jahrhundert v. Chr. zurückverfolgt werden kann. Zu dieser Zeit bauten die Etrusker eine sieben Kilometer lange Ringmauer und nannten die nunmehr vereinigte Stadt Velathri.
Volterra war eine der ältesten und größten der zwölf Bundesstädte Etruriens. Später war es eine römische Stadt mit den Rechten eines Municipiums. Ihre hohe Lage machte sie zu einer starken Festung, die Sulla im ersten Bürgerkrieg erst nach zweijähriger Belagerung 79 v. Chr. einnehmen konnte.
Im 12. und 13. Jahrhundert war Volterra eine Republik; im 14. Jahrhundert fiel es an Florenz.
Sehenswürdigkeiten
Architektonische und künstlerische Zeugnisse der verschiedenen Epochen zeugen von der wechselvollen Existenz und Bedeutung der Stadt. Einige der etruskischen Nekropolen und mittelalterlichen Kirchenmauern sind jedoch in der Vergangenheit der Erosion zum Opfer gefallen.
Am Hauptplatz der Stadt, der Piazza dei Priori, steht der älteste erhaltene Kommunalpalast der Toskana, der Palazzo dei Priori.
Von der etruskischen Stadtmauer ist als einziges Tor die Porta all’Arco gut erhalten. Es stammt aus dem 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr. Im äußeren Bogen sind drei verwitterte Köpfe zu erkennen, deren Bedeutung aber umstritten ist.
Außerhalb der mittelalterlichen Porta Fiorentina liegt das Teatro Romano, erbaut zur Zeit des Kaisers Augustus. Von der Zuschauertribüne für etwa 2000 Personen blickt man auf die teilweise rekonstruierte Bühnenwand. Die unterhalb des Theaters liegenden Thermenanlagen stammen aus späterer Zeit.
Andere historische öffentliche Gebäude sind der Dom Santa Maria Assunta aus dem frühen 12. Jahrhundert mit einer Kassettendecke und mit Granit vortäuschender Stuckverkleidung der Säulen sowie etlichen künstlerisch hochrangigen Ausstattungsstücken, das oktogonale Baptisterium mit einem Taufbecken von Andrea Sansovino, der auf Privatpaläste und Wohntürme aus dem 12. und 13. Jahrhundert zurückgehende Palazzo Pretorio sowie der als Gefängnis dienende Torre del Porcellino. Schließlich gehört der Palazzo Incontri-Viti zu den prachtvollsten Gebäuden Volterras.
Unter den Kirchen sind zu nennen: die spätromanische S. Michele sowie die Kirchen von S. Francesco, S. Lino und S. Girolamo mit Bildern und Skulpturen aus der Schule von Florenz.
Museen
Von besonderer Bedeutung ist das archäologische Museo Etrusco Guarnacci im Palazzo Desideri Tangassi. Mario Guarnacci (1701–1785), ein vielseitig interessierter Gelehrter, widmete seine Studien der antiken Geschichte. Dabei konnte er durch Ankäufe und Ausgrabungen eine ansehnliche Menge Belegmaterial über die etruskische Zivilisation sammeln.
Ein bedeutender Teil der Sammlung umfasst Ascheurnen sowie Stücke aus Bronze und Keramik. Die Urnen bestehen aus Tuffstein, Alabaster und Tonerde. Eine der bekanntesten ganz Etruriens ist die Urna degli Sposi (dt. Urne der Brautleute), auf deren Deckel ein Paar beim Festmahl liegend dargestellt ist.
Das bedeutendste Stück der Sammlung ist jedoch die Bronzefigur Ombra della sera (dt. Abendschatten). Es ist mit der Zeit zu einer „Ikone“ für das Museum und die Stadt Volterra geworden. Seine Berühmtheit verdankt es hauptsächlich seiner einzigartigen Form, die den italienischen Dichter Gabriele D’Annunzio an den Schatten einer menschlichen Figur in der Abendsonne erinnert haben soll. Es ist ein Meisterwerk etruskischer Bronzegießer aus der hellenistischen Periode. Ein weiteres bedeutendes Exponat ist die Stele des Avile Tite aus dem 6. Jahrhundert v. Chr.
Weitere Ausstellungsstücke sind verschiedene Mosaikböden aus der römischen Kaiserzeit, die aus Volterra und Segalari stammen. Hinzu kommt eine Münzsammlung mit seltenen etruskischen Münzen aus Gold, Silber und Bronze. Schließlich sind noch mit Edelsteinen verzierte etruskische und römische Schmuckstücke zu sehen.
Wichtig ist die Sammlung der seit 1982 im Minucci-Solaini-Palast untergebrachten „Pinacoteca“ mit der berühmten Kreuzesabnahme (1521), dem Meisterwerk des Malers Rosso Fiorentino, und den bedeutendsten Arbeiten von Taddeo di Bartolo, Domenico Ghirlandaio und Luca Signorelli, welche die künstlerischen Einflüsse aus Pisa, Florenz und Siena anschaulich machen.
Im April 2003 wurde im Turmhaus des Palazzo Minucci-Solaini das Ecomuseo dell’Alabastro eröffnet, in dem die Geschichte der Gewinnung und der Verarbeitung von Alabaster seit der Antike bis zur Gegenwart dargestellt ist.
Volterra in der Literatur
Volterra ist eine wichtige Stadt in Stephenie Meyers „Biss“-Serie. Dort ist Volterra die Heimatstadt der Volturi, einer königlichen Vampirfamilie.
Volterra spielt auch in der von Dudley Pope geschriebenen Romanreihe um den britischen Marineoffizier Nicolas Ramage eine Rolle. Im ersten Band rettet er während der Napoleonischen Kriege die Marchesa von Volterra vor den französischen Besatzungstruppen. Er verliebt sich in sie, und ihre Herrschaft über Volterra spielt in den weiteren Bänden eine wichtige Rolle. Auch ihr Neffe, Paolo Orsini, nächster in der Erbreihenfolge der Regentschaft, kommt in den meisten Romanen vor, da er als Fähnrich unter Ramages Kommando segelt.
(Wikipedia)
CarneMag® Issue#12 is finally online!
Some of the artists featured on this issue are:
ANDREA D'AQUINO / MATEUSZ KOLEK / FACUNDO GARAY / JOSEPH MARCONI / BORJA BONAQUE / FLORENCIA SIGNORELLI / MARULINA / KRISTINA COLLANTES / CECILIA AUSTIN / FEDERICO SCOPINICH / VICTORIA LEITES / CALLY WHITHAM / EMMAN MONTALVAN / CHARLY V REAL / LOBO VELAR / YOSIGO / ANDY SMITH / JACOB RING / DAVID NIKOLAISEN / MATTHEW THE HORSE / IAN FLANIGAN / THANARUTH PHOMVEHA / MICHAL PUDELKA / SIVAN MILLER / JORGE ARAGON / LAURA CAMMARATA / RACHEL AUST / RAFAEL AGUILAR / GIORGIA BORNETO / LARISSA FELSEN
Also some exclusive interviews to great artists like: Cecilia Austin, Lobo Velar & Facundo Garay.
Musical Guest: Florentino
Cover Artist: Joseph Marconi
To download this Issue or any other visit: www.carnemag.com
Closer look at the depiction of fantasy figures and beasts that are part of the wall decoration on the ground level walls of the Chapel of San Brizio.
Duomo Orvieto; March 2017
More Duomo Orvieto Pics at - www.flickr.com/photos/justaslice/albums/72157666258857589
Toledo, Ohio, Toledo Museum of Art
On loan to the exhibition, The Renaissance Nude, at the J. Paul Getty Museum, 2018-2019
Luca Signorelli -
Self-portrait with Niccolò di Angelo Franchi [ca. 1504] -
Selbstbildnis mit Niccolò di Angelo Franchi [um 1504] - Orvieto, Museo Opera del Duomo
c. 1505-1507. Oli i or sobre fusta. 51,4 x 47,6 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nova York. 49.7.13. Obra exposada: Galeria 604.
Luca Signorelli & Bartolomeo della Gatta
Testament and death of Moses [1482] fresco
Vatican, Sistine chapel, South wall
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Description:
The fresco portrays the last episode in Moses' life, in two sectors: a foreground one including two scenes, and a background one, with three further scenes and, on the right, a landscape. Moses is always recognizable through his yellow garments and the green cloak, as in the rest of the cycle. The artist made an extensive use of gold painting.
On the background Moses, on the Mount Nebo, receives by an angel the command baton, which gives him the authority to lead the Israelites towards the Promised Land. Below, Moses descends from the mountain with the baton in his hand, similarly to Cosimo Rosselli's Descent from Mount Sinai nearby. In the foreground, on the right, is a 120-year-old Moses speaking at the crowd while holding the baton and a Holy Book: rays of light stem from his head. At his feet is the Ark of the Covenant, opened to show the Twelve Tables and the vase of the Manna. In the center, the procession includes a woman holding a child on her shoulders, wearing silk, an elegant youth portrayed from behind and a naked man sitting. The latter two characters are attributed to Luca Signorelli, as well as the man with a stick next the throne of Moses.
On the left is the appointment of Joshua as Moses' successor; the former kneels to receive the command baton, while the prophet has his cloak opened, showing a red-lined interior. Finally, on the left background, is the corpse of Moses on a shroud, surrounded by the dismayed Israelites.
Source:
Die römisch-katholische Pfarrkirche Dornbirn-St. Martin (auch: Marktkirche oder Pfarrkirche Dornbirn-Markt) steht im zentralen Stadtteil Markt in der Gemeinde Dornbirn im Bezirk Dornbirn in Vorarlberg. Sie ist dem heiligen Martin geweiht und gehört zum Dekanat Dornbirn in der Diözese Feldkirch. Das Bauwerk steht unter Denkmalschutz.
Lagebeschreibung
Die Kirche steht im zentralen Stadtteil Markt am Marktplatz.
Geschichte
Skizze der Architekten Schöch und Kornberger zum projektierten aber nicht ausgeführten Umbau 1901
Mit dem Jahre 1266 ist ein Pfarrer nachweisbar und mit dem Jahre 1401 ist eine Kirche beurkundet. Nach einem Brand wurde die Kirche in den Jahren 1669 bis 1670 vergrößert und barockisiert. In den Jahren 1751 bis 1753 wurde ein Neubau nach den Plänen von Kaspar Koller errichtet. In den Jahren 1839 bis 1840 erfolgte wieder der heutige Neubau nach den Plänen von Martin von Kink und Weihe im Jahre 1857. Von 1967 bis 1969 erfolgte eine Innenrestaurierung und Umgestaltung unter Architekt Emil Steffan.
Der ursprünglich um die Kirche liegende Friedhof wurde 1842, anlässlich des Neubaus der Kirche etwa 300 Meter Luftlinie östlich neben dem Rathaus neu errichtet, wo er noch heute besteht. Der bisherige "alte" Friedhof wurde aufgelassen und teilweise mit Bäumen bepflanzt und ist heute ein Teil des sogenannten Martinspark. 1854 wurde beim alten Friedhof vom damaligen Pfarrer ein Missionskreuz errichtet.
Architektur
Kirchenäußeres
Die Kirche mit mächtigem Saalbau und Rundchor unter einem Satteldach besitzt an der Hauptgiebelfassade einen Säulenportikus über die gesamte Breite und hat nördlich einen freistehenden Kirchturm mit Giebelspitzhelm. An der Eingangswand über den drei Portalen ist ein Fresko Christus der Weltenrichter, davon links Einzug der Krieger in den Himmel mit Heiligen Martin und Maria und rechts die Kirchenlehrer Augustinus, Hieronymus und Chrystostomus und die Dichter Dante und Milton und Künstler Michelangelo, Dürer, Rubens, Signorelli und oben Kampf der bösen Geister ist vom Maler Josef Huber aus dem Jahre 1923. Im Giebelfeld des Portikus ist ein Mosaik Einzug Jesu in Jerusalem von Josef Huber aus 1924.
Kircheninneres
Im Inneren befindet sich an der Decke ein Fresko Anbetung der Könige und Hirten, mit Vertretern des Alten und Neuen Testamentes aus 1849 vom Maler Johann Kaspar Rick. Weiters Fresken stammen von Franz Plattner aus den Jahren 1876 bis 1877.
Ausstattung
Der Volksaltar und der Taufstein sind vom Bildhauer Herbert Albrecht aus dem Jahre 1969.
L'Apocalypse
Détail des fresques de la chapelle Saint-Brice / Cappella San Brizio (1408)
Oeuvres des peintres Fra Angelico (1447-1449) puis Luca Signorelli (1499-1504) qui a complété et achevé les fresques.
Le site officiel du duomo d'Orvieto
Article de Wikipedia sur la cathédrale d'Orvieto
Luca Signorelli (ca. 1450-1523) - Flagellation of Jesus (ca. 1482-1485). In the collction of the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.
Painting commissioned by the Confraternità dei Raccomandati [Confraternity of the Commended] a brotherhood devoted to charitable works for abandonned children, whose forms of penance included auto-flagellation.
Exterior of the Sistine Chapel, from saint Peter's Basilic Sistine Chapel.
Text, in english, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Sistine Chapel (Italian: Cappella Sistina) is the best-known chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in Vatican City. Its fame rests on its architecture, evocative of Solomon's Temple of the Old Testament and on its decoration which has been frescoed throughout by the greatest Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Raphael, Bernini, and Sandro Botticelli. Under the patronage of Pope Julius II, Michelangelo painted12,000 square feet (1,100 m2) of the chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512. He resented the commission, and believed his work only served the Pope's need for grandeur. However, today the ceiling, and especially The Last Judgement, are widely believed to be Michelangelo's crowning achievements in painting.
The Sistine Chapel takes its name from a pope, Pope Sixtus IV, who restored the old Cappella Magna between 1477 and 1480. During this period a team of painters that included Pietro Perugino, Sandro Botticelli and Domenico Ghirlandaio created a series of frescoed panels depicting the life of Moses and the life of Christ, offset by papal portraits above and trompe l’oeil drapery below. These paintings were completed in 1482, and on August 15, 1483, Sixtus IV consecrated the first mass in honor of Our Lady of the Assumption.
Since the time of Sixtus IV, the chapel has served as a place of both religious and functionary papal activity. Today it is the site of the Papal conclave, the ceremony by which a new Pope is selected.
The Sistine Chapel is best known for being the location of Papal conclaves. More commonly, it is the physical chapel of the Papal Chapel. At the time of Pope Sixtus IV in the late 15th century, this corporate body comprised about 200 people, including clerics, officials of the Vatican and distinguished laity. There were 50 occasions during the year on which it was prescribed by the Papal Calendar that the whole Papal Chapel should meet. Of these 50 occasions, 35 were masses, of which 8 were held in Basilicas, generally St. Peters, and were attended by large congregations. These included the Christmas Day and Easter masses, at which the Pope himself was the celebrant. The other 27 masses could be held in a smaller, less public space, for which the Cappella Maggiore was used before it was rebuilt on the same site as the Sistine Chapel.
The Cappella Maggiore derived its name, the Greater Chapel, from the fact that there was another chapel also in use by the Pope and his retinue for daily worship. At the time of Pope Sixtus IV this was the Chapel of Pope Nicholas V, which had been decorated by Fra Angelico. The Cappella Maggiore is recorded as existing in 1368. According to a communication from Andreas of Trebizond to Pope Sixtus IV, by the time of its demolition to make way for the present chapel the Cappella Maggiore was in a ruinous state with its walls leaning.
The present chapel, on the site of the Cappella Maggiore, was designed by Baccio Pontelli for Pope Sixtus IV, for whom it is named, and built under the supervision of Giovannino de Dolci between 1473 and 1481. The proportions of the present chapel appear to closely follow those of the original. After its completion, the chapel was decorated with frescoes by a number of the most famous artists of the High Renaissance, including Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Perugino and Michelangelo.
The first mass in the Sistine Chapel was celebrated on August 9, 1483, the Feast of the Assumption, at which ceremony the chapel was consecrated and dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
The Sistine Chapel has maintained its function to the present day, and continues to host the important services of the Papal Calendar, unless the Pope is travelling. There is a permanent choir for whom much original music has been written, the most famous piece being Allegri's Miserere.
One of the primary functions of the Sistine Chapel is as a venue for the election of each successive pope in a conclave of the College of Cardinals. On the occasion of a conclave, a chimney is installed in the roof of the chapel, from which smoke arises as a signal. If white smoke appears, created by burning the ballots of the election and some chemical additives, a new Pope has been elected. If a candidate receives less than a two-thirds majority, the cardinals send up black smoke—created by burning the ballots along with wet straw or chemical additives—it means that no successful election has yet occurred.
The conclave also provides for the cardinals a space in which they can hear mass, and in which they can eat, sleep, and pass time abetted by servants. From 1455, conclaves have been held in the Vatican; until the Great Schism, they were held in the Dominican convent of Santa Maria sopra Minerva.
Canopies for each cardinal-elector were once used during conclaves—a sign of equal dignity. After the new Pope accepts his election, he would give his new name; at this time, the other Cardinals would tug on a rope attached to their seats to lower their canopies. Until reforms instituted by Saint Pius X, the canopies were of different colours to designate which Cardinals had been appointed by which Pope. Paul VI abolished the canopies altogether, since under his papacy, the population of the College of Cardinals had increased so much to the point that they would need to be seated in rows of two against the walls, making the canopies obstruct the view of the cardinals in the back row.
The Chapel is a high rectangular brick building, its exterior unadorned by architectural or decorative details, as common in many Medieval and Renaissance churches in Italy. It has no exterior facade or exterior processional doorways as the ingress has always been from internal rooms within the Papal Palace, and the exterior can only be seen from nearby windows and light-wells in the palace. The internal spaces are divided into three stories of which the lowest is huge with a robustly vaulted basement with several utilitarian windows and a doorway giving onto the exterior court.
Above is the main space, the Chapel, the internal measurements of which are 40.9 meters (134 ft) long by 13.4 meters (44 ft) wide—the dimensions of the Temple of Solomon, as given in the Old Testament. The vaulted ceiling rises to 20.7 meters (68 ft). The building had six tall arched windows down each side and two at either end. Several of these have been blocked, but the chapel is still accessible. Above the vault rises a third story with wardrooms for guards. At this level an open projecting gangway was constructed, which encircled the building supported on an arcade springing from the walls. The gangway has been roofed as it was a continual source of water leaking in to the vault of the Chapel.
Subsidence and cracking of masonry such as must also have affected the Cappella Maggiore has necessitated the building of very large buttresses to brace the exterior walls. The accretion of other buildings has further altered the exterior appearance of the Chapel.
As with most buildings measured internally, absolute measurement is hard to ascertain. However, the general proportions of the chapel are clear to within a few centimetres. The length is the measurement and has been divided by three to get the width and by two to get the height. Maintaining the ratio, there were six windows down each side and two at either end. The screen which divides the chapel was originally placed half way from the altar wall, but this has changed. Clearly defined proportions were a feature of Renaissance architecture and reflected the growing interest in the Classical heritage of Rome.
The ceiling of the chapel is a flattened barrel vault springing from a course that encircles the walls at the level of the springing of the window arches. This barrel vault is cut transversely by smaller vaults over each window, which divide the barrel vault at its lowest level into a series of large pendentives rising from shallow pilasters between each window. The barrel vault was originally painted brilliant blue and dotted with gold stars, to the design of Piermatteo Lauro de' Manfredi da Amelia. The pavement is in opus alexandrinum, a decorative style using marble and coloured stone in a pattern that reflects the earlier proportion in the division of the interior and also marks the processional way form the main door, used by the Pope on important occasions such as Palm Sunday.
The screen or transenna in marble by Mino da Fiesole, Andrea Bregno and Giovanni Dalmata divides the chapel into two parts. Originally these made equal space for the members of the Papal Chapel within the sanctuary near the altar and the pilgrims and townsfolk without. However, with growth in the number of those attending the Pope, the screen was moved giving a reduced area for the faithful laity. The transenna is surmounted by a row of ornate candlesticks, once gilt, and has a wooden door, where once there was an ornate door of gilded wrought iron. The sculptors of the transenna also provided the cantoria or projecting choir gallery.
During occasional ceremonies of particular importance, the side walls are covered with a series of tapestries originally designed for the chapel from Raphael, but looted a few years later in the 1527 Sack of Rome and either burnt for their precious metal content or scattered around Europe. The tapestries depict events from the Life of St. Peter and the Life of St. Paul as described in the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. In the late 20th century a set was reassembled (several further sets had been made) and displayed again in the Sistine Chapel in 1983. The full-size preparatory cartoons for seven of the ten tapestries are known as the Raphael Cartoons and are in London.
Michelangelo Buonarroti was commissioned by Pope Julius II in 1508 to repaint the ceiling, originally representing golden stars on a blue sky; the work was completed between 1508 and 1 November 1512. He painted the Last Judgment over the altar, between 1535 and 1541, on commission from Pope Paul III Farnese.
Michelangelo was intimidated by the scale of the commission, and made it known from the outset of Julius II's approach that he would prefer to decline. He felt he was more of a sculptor than a painter, and was suspicious that such a large scale project was being offered to him by enemies as a set-up for an inevitable fall. For Michelangelo, the project was a distraction from the major marble sculpture that had preoccupied him for the previous few years.
The sources of Michelangelo's inspiration are not easily determined; both Joachite and Augustinian theologians were within the sphere of Julius influence. Nor is known the extent to which his own hand physically contributed to the actual physical painting of any of particular images attributed to him.
n 1508, Michelangelo was commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint the vault, or ceiling of the chapel. It took him until 1512 to complete. To be able to reach the ceiling, Michelangelo needed a support; the first idea was by Julius' favoured architect Donato Bramante, who wanted to build for him a scaffold to be suspended in the air with ropes. However, Bramante did not successfully complete the task, and the structure he built was flawed. He had perforated the vault in order to lower strings to secure the scaffold. Michelangelo laughed when he saw the structure, and believed it would leave holes in the ceiling once the work was ended. He asked Bramante what was to happen when the painter reached the perforations, but the architect had no answer.
The matter was taken before the Pope, who ordered Michelangelo to build a scaffold of his own. Michelangelo created a flat wooden platform on brackets built out from holes in the wall, high up near the top of the windows. He stood on this scaffolding while he painted.
Michelangelo used bright colours, easily visible from the floor. On the lowest part of the ceiling he painted the ancestors of Christ. Above this he alternated male and female prophets, with Jonah over the altar. On the highest section Michelangelo painted nine stories from the Book of Genesis. He was originally commissioned to paint only 12 figures, the Apostles. He turned down the commission because he saw himself as a sculptor, not a painter. The Pope offered to allow Michelangelo to paint biblical scenes of his own choice as a compromise. When the work was finished there were more than 300. His figures showed the creation, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and the Great Flood.
The Sistine Chapel's ceiling restoration began on November 7th, 1984. The restoration complete, the chapel was re-opened to the public on April 8th, 1994. The part of the restoration in the Sistine Chapel that has caused the most concern is the ceiling, painted by Michelangelo. The emergence of the brightly-coloured Ancestors of Christ from the gloom sparked a reaction of fear that the processes being employed in the cleaning were too severe.
The problem lies in the analysis and understanding of the techniques utilised by Michelangelo, and the technical response of the restorers to that understanding. A close examination of the frescoes of the lunettes convinced the restorers that Michelangelo worked exclusively in "buon fresco"; that is, the artist worked only on freshly laid plaster and each section of work was completed while the plaster was still in its fresh state. In other words, Michelangelo did not work "a secco"; he did not come back later and add details onto the dry plaster.
The restorers, by assuming that the artist took a universal approach to the painting, took a universal approach to the restoration. A decision was made that all of the shadowy layer of animal glue and "lamp black", all of the wax, and all of the overpainted areas were contamination of one sort or another:- smoke deposits, earlier restoration attempts and painted definition by later restorers in an attempt to enliven the appearance of the work. Based on this decision, according to Arguimbau's critical reading of the restoration data that has been provided, the chemists of the restoration team decided upon a solvent that would effectively strip the ceiling down to its paint-impregnated plaster. After treatment, only that which was painted "buon fresco" would remain.
Vista externa da Capela Sistina do alto da cúpula principal da Basílica de São Pedro.
Texto, em português, da Wikipédia, a Enciclopédia livre:
A Capela Sistina é uma capela situada no Palácio Apostólico, residência oficial do Papa na Cidade do Vaticano, erigida entre os anos 1475 e 1483, durante o pontificado do Papa Sisto IV. A Celebração Eucarística de inauguração ocorreu em 15 de Agosto de 1483.
Era um projeto relativamente simples e despretensioso, no início, destinado ao culto particular dos papas e da alta hierarquia eclesiástica, contudo, fruto de uma época de expansão política e territorial da Santa Sé, viria a tornar-se num dos símbolos desta, tamanha magnificência adquiriu.
A celebridade da capela deve-se, também, ao fato de nela se realizarem os conclaves para a eleição do Sumo Pontífice da Igreja Católica Romana.
A virada do Quattrocento para o Cinquecento foi um dos momentos mais marcantes para a História da arte ocidental, quiçá mundial. A Itália, com epicentro em Florença, deu ao mundo uma tal gama de geniais artistas que parece milagrosa. "Não há como explicar a existência do gênio. É preferível apreciá-lo", diz Gombrich, tentando entender por que tantos grandes mestres nasceram no mesmo período.
A Capela Sistina é um dos locais mais propícios para aquilatar a dimensão desta explosão criativa. Para a sua feitura concorreram os maiores nomes de que dispunha a Itália no momento.
Sisto IV, como parte da política que empreendia para o restabelecimento do prestígio e fortalecimento do papado, convocou a Roma os maiores artistas da Itália. Florença era o centro de excelência até então. De lá e da Úmbria vieram os maiores nomes, fato que deslocaria para Roma a capitalidade cultural, que atingiria o zênite algumas décadas depois, com a eleição de Júlio II para ocupar a Cátedra de São Pedro. Para a história da cultura o significado do projeto e construção da Sistina é imenso, juntamente com as demais obras encomendadas por Sisto IV. Não somente porque marca o deslocamento da capitalidade cultural para Roma, mas por se tratar do ciclo pictórico de maior relevo da Itália no final do século XV, "constituindo além disso um documento inapreciável para observar as virtudes e os limites da pintura do Quattrocento'".
Com exceção de Ghirlandaio, os pintores que nela assinalaram seus talentos avançam com a sua obra o século seguinte e os gênios que mudaram os rumos da pintura no período estão todos estreitamente relacionados com eles: Ghirlandaio fora mestre de Michelangelo; Rafael aprendiz de Perugino; e no atelier de Verrocchio passaram: Leonardo, Perugino e Botticelli.
Mais que um liame entre o Quattrocento e o Cinquecento, esta geração de artistas "representa um ponto final, a constatação de uma crise. Algo que ficará manifesto pelo fato de que tanto Leonardo como Michelangelo construírem em boa medida suas respectivas linguagens sobre a negação da deles".
foi o autor do projeto arquitetônico para a construção da capela. Este florentino era um dos responsáveis pela reformulação e revitalização urbanística que Sisto IV efetuava em Roma, tendo realizado dezenas de obras públicas.
No projeto, construído com a supervisão de Giovannino de Dolci entre 1473 e 1484, emprestaram seus dons: Perugino, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Rosselli, Signorelli, Pinturicchio, Piero di Cosimo, Bartolomeo della Gatta, Rafael e outros. Coroando este festival, alguns anos depois, um dos maiores gênios artísticos de todos os tempos: Michelangelo Buonarroti.
As dimensões do projeto de Baccio Pontelli tiveram como inspiração as descrições contidas no Antigo Testamento relativas ao Templo de Salomão. A sua forma é retangular medindo 40,93 m de longitude, 13,41 m e largura e 20,70 m de altura. Os numerosos artistas vestiram o seu interior, esculpindo e pintando as suas paredes, transformando-a em um estupendo e célebre lugar conhecido em todo o mundo pelas maravilhosas obras de arte que encerra.
Uma finíssima transenna de mármore, em que trabalharam Mino de Fiesole, Giovanni Dálmata e Andréa Bregno, divide a capela em duas partes desiguais. Os mesmos artistas levaram a cabo a construção do coro.
Internamente, as paredes, divididas por cornijas horizontais, apresentam 3 níveis:
* o primeiro nível, junto ao chão em mármore - que, em alguns setores, apresenta o característico marchetado cosmatesco - simula refinadas tapeçarias. No lado direito, próximo à transenna está o coro;
* o intermediário é onde figuram os afrescos narrando os episódios da vida de Cristo e de Moisés. A cronologia inicia-se a partir da parede do altar, onde se encontravam, antes da feitura do Juízo Final de Michelangelo, as primeiras cenas e um retábulo de Perugino representando a Virgem da Assunção, a quem foi dedicada a capela.
* o nível mais alto, onde estão as pilastras que sustentam os pendentes do teto. Acima da cornija estão situadas as lunettes, entre as quais foram alocadas as imagens dos primeiros papas.
No último quartel do século XX, obras empreendidas no teto da Capela Sistina no intuito de recuperar o brilho original do tempo de Michelangelo foram motivo de inúmeras controvérsias.
Restaurações vinham sendo feitas ao longo dos anos, e desde a década de 1960 já se trabalhava nos afrescos mais antigos. O projeto mais audacioso, a cargo do restaurador Gianluigi Colalucci, iniciou-se em 1979 com a limpeza da parede do altar: o Juízo Final, de Michelangelo.
Durante este período a capela esteve fechada ao público que visita o Museu do Vaticano - cerca de 3.000.000 pessoas por ano - só voltando a ser reaberta em 8 de Abril de 1994.
The construction of this chapel (also known as the Cappella Nuova and Signorelli chapel) was started in 1408 and completed in 1444. The chapel was decorated with frescos initially by Fra Angelico and Benozzo Gozzoli in 1447, but most of the frescos were made by Luca Signorelli between 1500 and 1503.
Severus Alexander. AD 222-235. AV Aureus (21mm, 6.35 g, 12h). Rome mint. 14th emission, AD 231. IMP ALEXAN DER PIVS AVG, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / VOTIS/VICEN/NALI/BVS in four lines within wreath. RIC IV 260; Calicó 3146a; Cohen 595; BMCRE 818; Biaggi –. Choice EF, lustrous. Well centered on a broad flan. Extremely rare, apparently the third known of this reverse type and the second known of this variety. RIC references Cohen who, along with BMCRE, cites the piece in Vienna. There are none in CoinArchives, and the type is absent from all the following collections: (public) ANS, BM, BN, Boston MFA, Fitzwilliam, Hunterian, Milan, Princeton, Torino, and Uppsala; (private) Bahrfeldt, Bement, Biaggi, Brand, Cantoni, Caruso, Echt, A.J. Evans, Garrucci, Giorgi, Hunt, Jameson, Levis, Magnaguti, Mazzini, Montagu, Piancastelli, Platt-Hall, Ponton d’Amecourt, de Quelen, Roth, Sartiges, Signorelli, and Trau. Cf. Calicó 3146 for the unique aureus with the same reverse type, but a different bust type.
This extremely limited issue produced in AD 231 to celebrate Severus Alexander’s vicennalia poses some interesting questions for numismatists. The year previous, types commemorating Alexander’s decennalia were minted, and were evidently intended to mark a decade since Alexander had been installed as Caesar by Elagabalus. Although Melville Jones suggests that coins commemorating vows could be struck several years ahead of time (the emperor Valens, for example, celebrated his vicennalia despite only reigning for fourteen years), striking an issue an entire decade in advance seems rather unusual. One possibility is that the issue in AD 230 was to commemorate the discharge of Alexander’s first set of vows, which were then renewed the following year, at which point another special issue was struck. In this sense the two issues would be the precursor of the “VOT X MULT XX” types seen so frequently from the fourth century onwards. This coin lacks the “SIC” or “MULT” wording common in later issues, however, and the lapse in time between the decennalia and vicennalia types suggests that they were not conceived as two halves of the same issue.
TRITONXXI, 800
1510s. Oli sobre fusta. 155,7 x 135,6 cm. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. 1961.9.87. Obra exposada: Galeria 19.
This shows the left side of the chapel.
On top here are the ceiling panels depicting Doctors/Learned Men and the Choir of the Apostles.
Two large frescoes showing the Sermon of the Antichrist and The Elect in Heaven are in the middle.
And below, at ground level, is a small Chapel/Alcove to Mary Magdalene with various paintings/frescoes on the wall, including (immediately to the right) a portrait of Dante Alighieri
Duomo Orvieto, March 2017
Panorama Stitched from 2 Images with Arcsoft Panorama Maker
More Duomo Orvieto Pics at - www.flickr.com/photos/justaslice/albums/72157666258857589
This chapel was a fifteenth-century addition to the cathedral. It is almost identical in structure to the Chapel of the Corporal. The construction of this chapel (also known as the Cappella Nuova and Signorelli chapel) was started in 1408 and completed in 1444. It is closed off from the rest of the cathedral by two wrought iron gates. The first one closes off the right arm of the transept. It was signed by the Sienese master Conte di lello Orlandi (1337). The second gate stands at the entrance of the chapel and is of a much later date. It was signed by master Gismondo da Orvieto (1516).
Originally called the Cappella Nuova, or New Chapel, in 1622 this chapel was dedicated to Saint Britius (San Brizio), one of the first bishops of Spoleto and Foligno, who evangelized the people of Orvieto. Legend says that he left them a panel of the Madonna della Tavola, a Madonna enthroned with Child and Angels. This painting is from an anonymous late 13th-century master from Orvieto, who was probably influenced by Cimabue and Coppo di Marcovaldo. The face of the Child is a restoration from the 14th century. This panel stands on the late-Baroque altar of the Gloria, dating from 1715 and made by Bernardino Cametti.
Fra Angelico and Benozzo Gozzoli began the decoration of the vault of the chapel in 1447. They painted only two sections: Christ in Judgment and Angels and Prophets as they were summoned in the same year to the Vatican by Pope Nicholas V to paint the Niccoline Chapel. Work came to a halt until Perugino was approached in 1489. However, he never began. After being abandoned for about 50 years, the decoration of the rest of the vault was awarded to Luca Signorelli on 5 April 1499. He added the scenes with the Choir of the Apostles, of the Doctors, of the Martyrs, Virgins and Patriarchs.
His work pleased the board and they assigned him to paint frescoes in the large lunettes of the walls of the chapel. Work began in 1500 and was completed in 1503. (There was a break in 1502 because funds were lacking.) These frescoes in the chapel are considered the most complex and impressive work by Signorelli. He and his school spent two years creating a series of frescoes concerning the Apocalypse and the Last Judgment, starting with the Preaching of the Antichrist, continuing with tumultuous episodes of the End of the World, finding a counterpart in the Resurrection of the Flesh. The fourth scene is a frightening depiction of the Damned taken to Hell and received by Demons. On the wall behind the altar, Signorelli depicts on the left side the Elect being led to Paradise and on the right side the Reprobates driven to Hell. He added to these expressive scenes some striking details.
The Preaching of the Antichrist was painted shortly after the trial on charges of heresy and execution of the Observant Dominican friar, Giralamo Savonarola in Florence on 23 May 1498. The Antichirst is depicted under the influence of the incarnated angel named Satan who suggests him what to say, while touching his rib cage. The analogy of the Antichrist sowing discord by preaching slander and calumny, would not have been lost on late 15th-century viewers. To underscore the contemporary analogy, at lower right, Signorelli includes recognizable portraits of the young Raphael, in a striking pose; Dante; possibly Christopher Columbus; Boccaccio; Petrarch; and Cesare Borgia, and, on the left, he depicts himself, dressed in noble garments, and Fra Angelico, in his Dominican habit.
In the left background the Antichrist is expelled from heavens by the archangel Michael, and his acolytes killed by a rain of fire. In the right background he depicts a large, domed temple in the Renaissance style.
The End of the World is painted over the arch of the entrance to the chapel. Signorelli paints frightening scenes as cities collapse in ruins and people flee under darkened skies. On the right side below he shows the Sibyl with her book of prophesies, and King David with raised hand predicting the end of the world. In the left corner below, people are scrambling and lying in diverse positions on the ground, producing an illusion as if falling out of the painting. This successful attempt in foreshortening was striking in its day.
The Resurrection of the Flesh is a study by Signorelli, exploring the possibilities of the male and female nude, while trying to recreate a three-dimensional setting. Signorelli shows his mastery in depicting the many positions of the human body. The risen, brought back to life, are crawling in an extreme effort from under the earth and are received by two angels in the sky blowing on a trumpet.
The Damned are taken to Hell and received by Demons is in stark contrast to the previous one. Signorelli has gone to the extremes of his fantasy and evocative powers to portray his cataclysmic vision of the horrible fate, the agony and the despair of the damned. He uses the naked human body as his only expressive element, showing the isolated bodies entangling each other, merging in a convoluted mass. They are overpowered by demons in near-human form, depicted in colours of every shade of decomposing flesh. Above them, a flying demon transports a woman. This is probably a depiction of the Whore of the Apocalypse.
The Elect in Paradise shows the elect in ecstasy looking up to music-making angels. The few extant drawings, made in preparation for this fresco, are kept in the Uffizi in Florence. They show each figure in various positions, indicating that Signorelli must have used real models in the nude to portray his figures.
Below this are smaller paintings of famous writers and philosophers watching the unfolding disaster above them with interest. Legend states that the writers depicted here are Homer, Empedocles, Lucan, Horace, Ovid, Virgil, and Dante, but the identifications are disputed by modern scholars. Several small-scale grisaille medallions depicting images from their works, including the first eleven books of Dante's Purgatorio, Orpheus, Hercules, and various scenes from Ovid and Virgil, among others.
In a niche in the lower wall is shown a Pietà that contains explicit references to two important Orvietan martyr saints, S. Pietro Parenzo (podestà of Orvieto in 1199) and S. Faustino. They stand next to the dead Christ, along with Mary Magdalen and the Virgin Mary. The figure of the dead Christ, according to Giorgio Vasari, is the image of Signorelli's son Antonio, who died from the plague during the course of the execution of the paintings. This fresco was Signorelli's last work in the chapel. But Tom Henry in his book "The Life and Art of Luca Signorelli" (Yale University Press, 2012) states that Vasari's story is not correct: "Signorelli had two sons, Antonio and Tomasso. Tomasso outlived his father and Antonio was alive when this Lamentation was delivered in February 1502, dying a few months later in July 1502." (Preface, p. xiii)