Ostuni Cathedral: A Late Gothic Cathedral in Italy
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Italy
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Kingdom of Naples, Kingdom of Sicily
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Cathedral
On this page13 sections
History
Early churches and the Romanesque foundation
Ostuni Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church in Ostuni, Italy, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. The present building was begun in the fifteenth century and rebuilt or completed in a late Gothic form between 1469 and 1495, within the wider Apulian Romanesque tradition and with Lombard Gothic and Venetian-school influences. An earlier church stood on Ostuni’s highest hill in the tenth century, while the site was associated with an Orthodox-rite church before the year 1000.
In 1228–1229, Frederick II of Swabia, the medieval Holy Roman Emperor who was active in southern Italy, established a Romanesque church on the site. That building was badly damaged by the earthquake of 1456, an event strongly felt in Brindisi and followed by the construction of the later cathedral.
The fifteenth-century rebuilding
The later church was begun in the fifteenth century, with 1435 given as the starting date for the new building. Its rebuilding or completion between 1469 and 1495 took place at the urging of Ferdinand of Aragon and Alfonso II of Naples, rulers of the Kingdom of Naples. The resulting structure combined regional Romanesque traditions with the Gothic forms and decorative influences associated with northern Italy and Venice.
Later changes and ecclesiastical status
The interior was substantially altered in the eighteenth century, when Baroque chapels were added and the flat ceiling was painted with scenes from the life of Christ. Restoration in the 1970s aimed to remove plaster decoration that concealed elements of the earlier Romanesque and Gothic architecture. Further restoration followed in 2006–2007.
Ostuni Cathedral was declared an Italian National Monument in 1902 and received the title of minor basilica in 2011, an honorary Roman Catholic designation for churches of particular historical, devotional, or liturgical importance. It was formerly the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Ostuni and has been a co-cathedral of the Archdiocese of Brindisi-Ostuni since 1986. A co-cathedral shares the cathedral seat of a diocese or archdiocese with another cathedral. The cathedral archive preserves about 200 parchment documents dating from the twelfth century, including material dated to 1137, while the church remains active in Roman Catholic worship.
Remains
Exterior and facade
Ostuni Cathedral stands at the summit of the city’s highest hill. Its main facade is divided into three sections by lesenes, narrow flat strips that articulate a wall. Three pointed portals open the lower part of the facade, and each is surmounted by a rose window, a large circular window divided by radiating stone elements. The portal dedicated to Saint Blaise includes a carved representation of the saint.
Portal sculpture
The central portal has a bas-relief in its tympanum, the surface enclosed within the portal’s arch or pediment. It shows Bishop Nicola Arpone kneeling before the Virgin and Child in Glory. The tympana of the two side portals depict Saint Blaise and Saint John the Baptist.
Rose windows and upper facade
The central rose window is considerably larger than the two beside it and is traditionally described as the second largest in Europe. Its 24 radiating columns represent the hours of the day, while its 12 innermost concentric capitals represent the months. Seven seraphim heads represent the days of the week, surrounding Christ with a halo as master of time. The church formerly had four rose windows, and further large examples are set in the transept, the part of a church that crosses the main nave to create a cross-shaped plan.
The upper facade has unusual curved and geometric forms. The central section ends in a curved pediment made from concave arches, while the side sections are topped by circular sectors slightly more than rectangular in shape. Four semicircular mouldings carry a belt of trefoil arches with a toothed profile. The same ornament continues along the side walls and transept. A multicolored tiled dome rises above the building and can be seen from throughout the medieval city.
Interior arrangement and furnishings
The interior follows a Latin-cross plan with three naves. Two rows of round columns separate the low side naves from the central nave. Windows light the central nave, which is covered by a flat painted ceiling. The eighteenth-century decoration added Baroque chapels and painted scenes from the life of Christ to this earlier structural arrangement.
Romanesque capitals
Near the entrance, surviving capitals from the earlier Romanesque construction carry carved biblical scenes. On the right are the Resurrection of Lazarus and the Flagellation. On the left are scenes of Ecce Homo, the Crucifixion, the Lamentation over Christ’s death, and the Resurrection.
Chapels and altar
The Chapel of the Sacred Heart, formerly the Chapel of Saint Cajetan, was associated with a canvas of the saint attributed to Domenico Antonio Vaccaro, an Italian Baroque artist. At the end of the left nave stands a wooden altar dated 1734. Its busts represent Saints Oronzo, Blaise, and Augustine, identified as the patron saints of Ostuni.
The Chapel of Saint Mary of Health contains a fresco of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. In the right nave is the tomb of Bishop Filo, dated 1720. A fifteenth-century statue of Christ stands in a niche in the counterfacade, the inner side of the main facade facing into the nave.
Apse and choir
The apse, the usually curved termination of the church beyond its main body, contains a richly carved seventeenth-century choir with walnut stalls. An altarpiece of the Assumption completes this principal liturgical setting.
Former painting by Jacopo Palma the Younger
A painting of the Virgin and Child with Saints by Jacopo Palma the Younger, a Venetian painter of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, formerly stood in the last chapel of the right nave. The painting was stolen.
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