Hortus Artium Medievalium

The Church of San Mauro at Parenzo/Poreč (late antique Parentium c. 550) preserves mosaics in its central and two side apses which are contemporary with and comparable to better known ones in Ravenna from the Age of Justinian. Such a three-apsed architectural form-dubbed Syro-Palestinian by Krautheimer-does not appear in Rome until the eighth century during the period of the "Greek" (often Syrian) popes. This paper explores the "Eastern" connections between San Mauro and the slightly earlier Saint Sergius in Gaza, as well as similarities with medieval Hagia Sophia in Kiev. Saint Sergius is no longer extant, but we have a detailed description of the architecture and decoration from the ekphrasis of Choricius of Gaza. All three of these churches have Annunciation and Visitation pairs that, while ostensibly based on the Gospel of Luke, also contain motifs from the apocryphal Protevangelium of James. San Mauro and Saint Sergius also have non-figural decoration that can be interpreted as alluding to the Annunciation in the Protevangelium.

The Research Unit of Università Suor Orsola Benincasa di Napoli had studied, during the CARE project, the places of worship situated or that could be localized in the area of the province of Avellino. The aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of the data obtained, in particular in the analysis of the buildings recorded in the documents as ecclesiae and of those that are still called churches. In total 57 ecclesiae have been recorded: 40 of them are missing and only in few cases we can suppose where they were built; the other 17 are still visibile, but preserved in different ways. A deep study on these evidences can surely help to better understand the development of the spaces of devotion in the medieval Avellino.

During the Middle Ages, a migratory wave of Byzantine monks arrived in the Amalfi Coast. This phenomenon affected both the Duchy of Amalfi and the Principality of Salerno. The written sources of this period mention the translation of the relics, the adoption of the cult of Byzantine saints and the arrival in the territory of specialized craftsmen. The site, object of the study, is situated between the municipalities of Cetara and Maiori. The geological conformation and the ruggedness of the territory is excellent for the experience of Oriental troglodyte monasticism. However, for the same reason, systematic studies on the occupation of caves and high altitude settlements are scarce. The "Grotta dell'affresco", in the area of Monte Piano, represents the site with the most notable evidence of Middle Age material culture. The surface survey revealed the presence of several fictile fragments and a fresco, dating to the medieval period. The caves complex of Monte Piano is part of a wider area of Byzantine religious settlements which occupy the territory of Campania between late 9^th and 11^th centuries

Based on available data from archaeological investigations and written sources, the phenomenon of foundations of churches in the Lombard age is analyzed in depth. Often churches were used to host tombs of representative of the Lombard upper class, and indeed such a custom motivated the foundation of many churches. In fact, besides perpetuating the memory of who passed away, a burial in a church, whatever of ancient or new foundation, was particularly suitable to favor the legitimization and recognition of the new sovereigns. From this perspective, the foundation of churches was a practical way to allow the cultural integration between the new Lombard leadership and the pre-existing Roman-Byzantine people.

In the last two years, research has been specifically dedicated to Early Medieval churches in the city of Capua, a territory belonging to the province of Caserta (Italy) and situated near the river Volturno. The research topic is one of the most relevant regarding this city which was founded in the middle of the IX century by the Lombard aristocracies after the decline of Capua vetus. Despite the difficulties arising from written sources and material data, new interpretations concerning the individual churches can be obtained which contribute to the specific study of the IX-X century urban profile.

Last season of excavation in Phoinike (Albania) helped to better define the chronology and plan of the late antique basilica inserted in a wider Bishop complex. In the meantime a new ecclesiastical building was found on the top of the hill close to the 'Laurus Nobilis'. This church was built during the 7th c. and abandoned in the late 15th century, when the city of Phonike was already controlled by the Sultan of Epirus. It is a church square with a central apse and three small aisles, preceded by a rectangular vestibule. In the second phase, the building was restricted to two aisles. Around the ecclesiastical complex was settled a large cemetery. Some architectural elements, found in the collapsing layers, show an interior decoration made up of limestone capitals and pulvini sculpted by local craftsman. The church sets and reuses the structures of an imposing Stoà, located in one of the most prestigious areas of the city. In this paper we will try to frame the phenomenon of transformation of Albanian cities in an attempt to verify the data collected at Phoinike in a wider regional context, both in terms of new religious structures and other aspects of medieval topography.

The church of Saint-Melaine has undergone a huge restoration of its transept in 2013 and a radar survey in 2017. The study of the transept indicates several phases of construction specified by the radiocarbon dates: the crossing should be prior to the IX^th c., the arms go back to the IX^th c., being modified at the beginning of the XI^th and XIII^th centuries. The radar survey in the choir of the church has highlighted the presence of a cavity, which may correspond to a small crypt or a funeral arrangement. These data open several lines of research on the original configuration of the building and its evolution, as well as its contextualization in the religious architecture of Brittany and Gaul between the VIII^th and IX^th c.

The former St Peter and St Paul's abbey of Ferrières-en-Gâtinais (France, Loiret department) is one of the oldest Merovingian abbeys attested in ancient sources from the seventh century. This monastery is a very relevant example that allows us to observe the creation of a monastic complex in the Merovingian period, around a first oratory whose traces probably remain in the walls of the Chapel of Our Lady of Bethlehem, and its architectural evolution in the course of the first millennium with the gradual establishment of a configuration with two churches placed in the extension of one the other. The first abbey church is probably built between 821 and 828, in the time of abbot Aldric, as an octagonal rotunda whose memory has been preserved within the Gothic reconstruction of the monument. The latest research allows us to consider possible funerary functions because of this centered plan, a hypothesis that remains to be verified by future excavations on the site.

Ostrów Lednicki and Giecz are two of the most important centers of the Polish state in the 2-nd half of the 10^th century. In both sites the remains of residential complexes have been discovered. Both consist of a central planned chapel abutted to a rectangular building on the same axis. In both cases the chapel is situated on the east side of the building, divided into small rooms. On the opposite, west side of the whole complex there is a square room, possibly an aula. Taking the idea of composition into consideration we can say that the aula counterbalanced the central chapel. In this whole symmetrical layout we can follow a modular rhythm, which unites both sacral and representational parts of the complex. But the most important question is to determine where the idea of these proportions came from. It is possible that this layout was designed by the same author, who was inspired by the books of Boetius De Arithmetica and De Musica, or by Musica Enchiriadis. Not only is a mathematical theory of music described in these books, but they also contain illustrations of music proportions. It is possible that the architect who worked for Mieszko I or Bolesław the Brave knew one of the copies of the work of Boetius or Anonymus of. St. Amand.

The problems dealing with the design and origin of some early basilicas in the young just Christianized states formed in Central Europe in the 10^th century (in the lands of the Piasts in Poland, the Přemyslids in Bohemia (Czech) and the Arpards in Hungary), haven't been presented in a broader European context. The first monumental churches in Central Europe greatly illustrate the phenomenon of transmission of ready-made patterns or models selected according to the diplomatic relations of the ruling family. It is important to realize in this connexion that the milieu of the rulers of Poland, Bohemia and Hungary adapted the most modern solutions, representing new artistic qualities created by the Ottonian architecture from around the middle of the 10^th century. The Mediterranean impulse played a role in this process of transmission.

This paper aims to analyze a characteristic typology of Medieval portals, with a widespread diffusion in the Medieval western Europe. Specifically, these portals are characterized by monolithic lintels with triangular or pentagonal shape, for which a systematic study in the academic literature is still missing. Depending on the geographical and the historical context, these portals have been variously interpreted: sometimes like Early Medieval elements, result of a systematic re-use of ancient material, or like a legacy of local building traditions which dates back to the Late Middle Ages. In the following work, after an introduction on the topic and a summary state of the research, with some methodological considerations, there is a census of all the portals identified through the systematic examination of the historical and archaeological literature, which allowed to identify the moment of their major expansion. The results and interpretations of this census were then compared with some case-studies on a local scale, which include both ecclesiastical and residential building, for which a reinterpretation of the traditional local chrono-typologies allowed to make some considerations about the relationship between high and medium building contractors.

The foundation of new monasteries by the bishops during the ninth century is a practice that fully falls within the pastoral action of the Carolingian bishops along with the reorganization of basic ecclesiastical structures, carried out through the territorial organization of the parish system. The case of the foundation of the abbey of Saint Faustino Maggiore in Brescia by Ramperto, through the renewal action of the Frankish reform monks Leodegario and Ildemaro and the support of metropolitan Angilberto II, is emblematic of the episcopal commitment and a sign of the strong imperial will to represent public institutions and political orientations also in the ecclesiastical and religious fields.

The theme of the burial and its link to the evangelical tradition and to the Christian cult of relics leads to significant transformations of obituary practice in the early Middle Ages and to an ever-closer link between cemetery areas and relic memory, for which the burial within sacred spaces and next to the "holy bodies" it is considered a viaticum for eternal salvation. In the case of Brescia, the example of the funeral rituals and the cult of the Cross, attested in the women's abbey of San Salvatore - Santa Giulia acts as a model for the revival of the episcopal image in full Gregorian age through the renewal of the great round cathedral of Santa Maria (today the old Cathedral) and the erection of the tower of imperial matrix on the façade, then collapsed in 1708.

The sarcophagus of Ithacio is currently the only surviving vestige of the times of the Asturian monarchy in the funerary church of Santa Maria, located in Oviedo. It was the king Alfonso II (r. 791-842) who developed an intense urbanizing program that transformed Oviedo into a sacred city, where the church of Santa Maria became the centre of the cult of the royal remembrance. Despite its complex historical context and due to its total transformation and the consequent loss of the early medieval factory, Santa Maria has always been linked to royal power and it has always possessed a strong symbolic character.

The essay aims to shed some light on some Romanesque buildings preserved in the ancient parish district of Casalmaggiore, the largest one of the diocese of Cremona in medieval times. The preserved structures amount to six of which only two are known to historians of medieval architecture. In fact, Santa Maria dell'Argine in Vicobellignano and San Lorenzo in Fossacaprara are known and recently been studied buildings, but any search has ever been dedicated to Sant'Agata in Cappella, Santa Giulia in Cicognara and to the churches of St. John and St. Stephen in Casalmaggiore. In particular, in addition to formal comparisons and observations in order to propose a chronology for these structures, some hypotheses was also proposed about ecclesiastical settlements in Cicognara, originally a Longobard court, and in Casalmaggiore too.

Romanesque architecture in North-West Italy was mainly characterized by the use of ribbed vaults, with diagonally reinforced arches used in some important monastic sites where the architectural choices became more specific and accomplished. The diocese of Vercelli seems to be the area where rib vaults were developed; some examples are the church of San Bernardo in Vercelli and the solutions implemented in the Badia of Dulzago and partly in San Nazzaro Sesia. Novarese architecture underwent a considerable period of experimentation during the first quarter of the 12^th century: Novara cathedral, consecrated in 1132 (and destroyed in the middle of the 19^th century), is the most evident and relevant example of pillars with diagonal lesenes, an alternate system of support, and ribbed vaults with diagonally reinforced arches. Similar solutions were also adopted in Vercelli cathedral, which also no longer exists. To trace the technical and architectural changes in rib vaulting, it was necessary to investigate the main Cistercian sites opened during the 12^th century: in particular those located in Lucedio, Tiglieto, Staffarda and Casanova, and in Rivalta Scrivia, and also Canonical of Vezzolano, where the first forms of experimentation of ribbed vaults, especially in the sections and laying of ribs, reached full maturity.

The sculptures of the cathedral of Bitonto are the core of a future corpus of Apulian sculpture between the end of the twelfth century and the beginning of the thirteenth century. The sculptures of the central portal can be dated to the end of the twelfth century. The ambo of magister Nicolaus is dated to 1229. The author analyzes the style and the iconography of the sculptures, contextualizing them within a larger Adriatic area.

This essay focuses on the lost church of Santa Croce a Villa Madama in Rome, often mentioned by scholars but yet unknown in its ichnographic features. A series of hitherto unpublished drawings from the collection of the art historian Jean-Baptiste Seroux d'Agincourt, housed in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, allows reconstructing the original aspect of the building, formerly a roman cistern.

Starting from the paradoxical presence of windows on late antique baptisteries used at night, the paper considers the effect windows of cultic buildings had in the period. Drawing on late antique descriptions, the paper argues for windows being instrumental in the construction of a concept of sacred space and, with it, of a hierarchy rooted in their perception. The analysis points to the windows as part of a coherent strategy developed by the Church to both segment and integrate late antique communities in a crucial moment of its existence, when the cult became a mass religion.