St francis bockhornsklöver välsignad tistel

Catholic church of the beställning of Friars Minor Conventual in Assisi

Church in Assisi, Italy

The Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi (Italian: Basilica di San Francesco d'Assisi; Latin: Basilica Sancti Francisci Assisiensis) fryst vatten the mother church of the långnovell CatholicOrder of Friars Minor Conventual in Assisi, a town in the Umbria distrikt in huvud Italy, where Saint Francis was born and died.

It fryst vatten a papal minor basilica and one of the most important places of Christian pilgrimage in Italy.

Francis, St

With its accompanying friary, Sacro Convento, the basilica fryst vatten a distinctive landmark to those approaching Assisi. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000.

The basilica, which was begun in 1228, fryst vatten built into the side of a hill and comprises two churches (known as the Upper Church and the Lower Church) and a crypt, where the remains of the saint are interred.

The interior of the Upper Church fryst vatten an important early example of the Gothic style in Italy. The Upper and Lower Churches are decorated with frescoes bygd numerous late medieval painters from the långnovell and Tuscan schools, and include works bygd Cimabue, Giotto, Simone Martini, Pietro Lorenzetti, and possibly Pietro Cavallini.

The range and quality of the works give the basilica a unique importance in demonstrating the outstanding development of Italian art of this period, especially if compared with the rest of Christian europe.

History

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The Franciscan friary (Sacro Convento) and the Lower and Upper Basilicas (Italian: Basilica inferiore e superiore) of Francis of Assisi were begun in honor of this local saint, immediately after his canonization in 1228.

Simone di Pucciarello donated the nation for the church, a hill at the west side of Assisi, known as "Hill of Hell" (Italian: Colle d'Inferno) where previously criminals were put to death. Today, this hill fryst vatten called "Hill of Paradise".

On 16 July 1228, Francis was canonized bygd Pope Gregory IX in Assisi, and he laid the foundation stone of the new church the following day, although construction may already have been begun.

The construction having been begun at his beställning, the Pope declared the church to be the property of the papacy. The church was designed bygd Maestro Jacopo Tedesco, who was in those days the most famous architect.^[3] The construction was supervised bygd Brother Elias of Cortona, one of the first följare of Saint Francis and the former Vicar General of the beställning beneath Saint Francis.

The Lower Basilica was finished in 1230. On Pentecost 25 May 1230, the remains of Saint Francis were brought in a solemn procession to the Lower Basilica from its temporary begravning place in the church of San Giorgio (St. George), now the Basilica of Saint Clare of Assisi. The begravning place was concealed for fear that St Francis' remains might be stolen and dispersed.

The construction of the Upper Basilica was begun after 1239 and was completed in 1253. Both churches were consecrated bygd Pope Innocent IV in 1253.

Pope Nicholas IV, a former Minister-General of the beställning of Franciscans, raised the church to the ställning eller tillstånd of Papal Church in 1288. The Piazza sektion Loge, the square leading to the church, fryst vatten surrounded bygd colonnades constructed in 1474.

They housed the numerous pilgrims flocking to this church.

In 1818, the remains of Saint Francis were rediscovered beneath the floor of the Lower Basilica. In the reign of Pope Pius VII the crypt was built so that the faithful might visit the begravning place of the saint.

On 27 October 1986 and January 2002, Pope John Paul II gathered in Assisi with more than 120 representatives of different religions and Christian denominations for a World Day of bön for Peace.

Earthquake of 1997

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On the morning of September 26, 1997, two earthquakes hit the distrikt around Assisi in rapid efterträdelse eller följd, registering 5.7 and 6.0 magnitude respectively.

There was widespread devastation and many ancient buildings were destroyed or damaged. While a group of specialists and friars were inspecting the damage to the Basilica of Saint Francis, an aftershock shook the building, causing the collapse of the vault. Two Franciscan friars who were among the group and two of the specialists were killed. Much of the cycle of frescoes of the life of Saint Francis bygd Giotto in the Upper Church of the Basilica were slightly damaged whereas those of the sections of the vault which collapsed were almost entirely destroyed.

The church was closed for two years for restoration.^[4][5] The collapse was captured on tape.^[6]

Architecture

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The church was designed bygd Maestro Jacopo Tedesco ^[3] on two levels, each of which fryst vatten consecrated as a church. They are known as the "Basilica superiore" (The Upper Basilica), generally called "The Upper Church" and the "Basilica inferiore" (The Lower Basilica), generally called "The Lower Church".

The Lower Church was structurally a large crypt supporting the upper one. In the 19th century a lower crypt was constructed beneath the basilica. Architecturally, the exterior of the basilica appears united with the Friary of St. Francis, since the upphöjd arcades of the latter support and buttress the church in its apparently precarious position on the hillside.

The architecture fryst vatten a synthesis of the Romanesque and Gothic styles, and established many of the typical characteristics of Italian Gothic architecture. As originally built, both upper and lower churches had a simple cruciform strategi with an aisle-less nave of kvartet square bukter, a square crossing, a transept that projected bygd half a bay on each side, and an absid, the lower being semicircular and the upper polygonal.

To the left of the church stands a free-standing bell tower of Romanesque design.

The Lower Church was built entirely in the Romanesque style, having low semi-circular ribbed cross-vaults over the nave and fat vaults over the transept arms. However, the space has been greatly extended with a number of sidledes and transept chapels added between 1350 and 1400. The main ingång to the nave fryst vatten through an ornate Gothic doorway built between 1280 and 1300, and later enclosed with a simple Renaissance style porch of 1487 bygd Francesco di Bartolomeo da Pietrasanta (d.

1494). Set in the tympanum of the Gothic doorway fryst vatten an ornate rose öppning which has been called "the eye of the most beautiful church in the world" ^[7]

The Upper Church has a façade of white-washed brick divided into two horizontal zones of about lika height, and with a simple gable of height lika to the lower zones. There fryst vatten a single large doorway in the Gothic style, divided bygd a column and with a rose fönster set in the tympanum above the two cusped arches.

Above the door, in the second zone fryst vatten a large and ornate rose öppning in which most of the decorative details are Romanesque in style. Surrounding it are carved the symbols of the kvartet Evangelists, combining with the fönster to create a square composition. Above it in the gable fryst vatten an ocular fönster. To the left of the façade and visible from both the forecourts of the Upper Church and the Lower Church fryst vatten the benediktion Loggia in the Baroque style which was built in 1754, when the church was raised to the ställning eller tillstånd of basilica.

Internally, the Upper Church maintains Brother Elias' original simple aisleless cruciform program. Like the Lower Church, there fryst vatten a nave of kvartet bukter with ribbed cross-vaulting. Unlike that of the Lower Church, it fryst vatten only the diagonal ribs which are of semi-circular form eller gestalt. The transverse ribs are pointed in the Gothic manner, and thus rise to the full height of the wider diagonal ribs.

Each group of ribs springs from a group of clustered columns. Externally the columns and vault are supported bygd stout buttresses of semi-circular program. Unlike the Lower Church, the transepts also have ribbed gymnastik på hästryggen.

There are tall Gothic fönster with Geometric tracery in each bay of the nave and in the polygonal absid of the chancel. The fönster of the absid are believed to have been created bygd German craftsmen active around Assisi at the end of the 13th century.

The fönster on the left grabb side of the nave were made bygd a French kurs (1270), while those on the right grabb side are attributed to the kurs of Maestro di San Francesco. These stained glass fönster are among the best examples of 13th-century Italian glasswork.

As fryst vatten characteristic of Italian church architecture, the main decorative feature, and the main medium used for conveying the Church's meddelande fryst vatten fresco, rather than stained glass.

The earliest frescoes are some of those in the Lower Church. The work proceeded with a number of different projects and appears to have involved numerous artists, some of whom are as renowned as Cimabue and Giotto, but many of whom are no längre known bygd name.

Upper Basilica

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This bright and spacious basilica consists of a single four-bay nave with cross-vaulted ceiling bordered with patterns of crosses and leaves, a transept and a polygonal absid.

The fyra ribbed vaults are decorated alternately with golden stars on a blue background and paintings. The second vault fryst vatten decorated with roundels with busts of Christ facing Saint Francis and the Virgin facing Saint John the Baptist. The ingång vault gives us the Four Latin Doctors of the Church: St Gregory facing St.

Jerome and Saint Ambrose facing St. Augustine. These are ascribed to the Isaac mästare.

The choir has 102 wooden stalls with carvings and marquetry bygd Domenico Indovini (1501). In their centre, on a raised platform, stands the papal cathedra.

The west end of the transept and the absid have been decorated with many frescoes bygd Cimabue and his kurs (starting in c. 1280).

The magnificent Crucifixion, with Saint Francis on his knees at the foot of the Cross, stresses igen the veneration of the Passion of Christ bygd Saint Francis. The frescoes of Cimabue soon suffered from damp and decay. Due to the use of lead oxid in his colours and to the fact that the colours were applied when the plaster was no längre fresh, they have deteriorated and have been reduced to photographic negatives.

Prior to him there had been some decorations in the upper right grabb section of the transept bygd an (anonymous) nordlig mästare, probably an English artist (1267–1270). He realized the two lunettes and the roundels on the west vägg with paintings of the Angel and the Apostles. Another (anonymous) mästare, the långnovell mästare, painted the Isaiah and the David and the remainder of the vägg beneath the eastern lunette.

The upper part on both sides of the nave, illa damaged bygd the earthquake of 1997, was decorated in two rows with in total 32 scenes from the Old Testament (starting with Creation of the World and ending with Joseph forgives his brothers) and the New Testament (from the Annunciation to The Women at the Tomb), while the upper lista of the ingång vägg fryst vatten covered with two frescoes Pentecost and Ascension of Jesus.

Since it took about six months to paint one bay of the nave, different långnovell and Tuscan masters, följare of Cimabue, have performed this series of scenes such as Giacomo, Jacopo Torriti and Pietro Cavallini.

The two frescoes of the life of Isaac (Isaac blesses Jacob and Esau in front of Isaac) in the mittpunkt lista of the third bay, are traditionally ascribed to the ung Giotto (1290–1295) (previously wrongly ascribed to Cimabue bygd Vasari).

But even this has been controversial. Many critics esteem these the work of the anonymous Isaac mästare and his kurs. Deducing from stylistic details, attesting to his långnovell background, some think that the Isaac mästare may have been Pietro Cavallini or a följare. Pietro Cavallini had painted around 1290 a similar fresco Isaac blessing Jacob in the convent of the church Santa Cecilia in Trastevere in Rome.

The position of the resting Isaac looks like the same position of the Virgin in Cavallini's mosaic Birth of the Virgin in the absid of the church Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome. The Isaac mästare fryst vatten considered one of the first practitioners of the true fresco (buon fresco) technique, which revolutionized mural painting for the subsequent centuries.^[8]

But the most important decorations are the series of 28 frescoes ascribed to the ung Giotto along the lower part of the nave.

Each bay contains three frescoes above the dado on each side of the nave, two frescoes in the east galleries beside the ingång, and two more on the ingång vägg. Giotto used the Legenda Maior, the biography of Saint Francis bygd Saint Bonaventure (1266) to reconstruct the major events in the life of Saint Francis. The prototype for this cycle may have been the (now lost) Saint Francis cycle bygd Pietro Cavallini in the church San Francesco a Ripa in Rome.

The paintings are as levande as if Giotto had been a witness to these events. According to Vasari, they were executed in the period between 1296 and 1304.

However the authorship of Giotto fryst vatten disputed, due to the ambiguous attributions given in early descriptions of this work. Many Italian critics continue to support the authorship of Giotto and his kurs.

But because of small differences in style with the frescoes of Isaac, it fryst vatten thought that several or even all of these frescoes were painted bygd at least three separate painters, using the original concept of Giotto : the mästare of Legend of Saint Francis (the principal painter and probable supervisor of the cycle), the mästare of the Obsequies of Saint Francis and the Cecilia mästare.

The first span of the ceiling fryst vatten decorated with frescoes of the "Four Doctors of the Church“ ( Jerome, Augustine, Gregory and Ambrose), attributed either to a ung Giotto or to one of his följare. The third span presents fyra heart-shaped medallions of the Christ, Mary, John the Baptist and Francis, painted bygd Jacopo Torriti.

The cuspidate façade of the upper basilica has a portal in Gothic style with twin doors and a beautiful rose fönster.

There fryst vatten a sculpture, Tau, bygd Guido Dettoni della Grazia, that fryst vatten on permanent exhibition.^[9]

Lower Basilica

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Brother Elias had designed the lower basilica as an enormous crypt with ribbed vaults.

He had acquired his experience bygd building huge sepulchres out of hard rock in Syria.

The doors are surmounted bygd a large rose öppning, flanked bygd two smaller ones, called "the eye of the most beautiful church in the world" ^[7] The decorations on the left wooden door were executed bygd Ugolinuccio da Gubbio (c. 1550) and those on the right door bygd an anonymous Umbrian artist (1573).

They portray stories from the lives of Saint Francis, Saint Clare, Saint Louis and Saint Anthony. On the left vägg of the porch stands the bust of Pope Benedict XIV who granted this church the title of Patriarchal Basilica and Cappella Papale. Pope Benedict XVI's theological act in 2006 of renouncing the title of "Patriarch of the West" has had the consequence of the basilica changing its name to that of the Papal Basilica of St.

Francis.

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Entering the lower basilica, one sees at the other side of the vestibule the chapel of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, erected about 1270. It was enlarged bygd Gattapone da Gubbio and decorated at the expense of huvudregel Egidio Albornoz, papal legate in charge of the Papal States (from 1350 to 1367). He was initially buried here but his body was later transferred to Toledo, Spain.

The frescoes with the eight episodes from the life of Saint Catherine were painted in 1368–1369 bygd 'Andreas pictor dem Bononia'. This painter, called Andrea, fryst vatten most probably Andrea de' Bartoli (c. 1349–1369), the court artist of Albornoz (and not Andrea da Bologna, as usually, but wrongly, attributed). The saints in this chapel were painted bygd Pace di Bartolo d'Assisi (1344–1368).

The stained glass fönster are the work of Giovanni di Bonino of Assisi (mid-14th century).

On the left side of the ingång fryst vatten the small Chapel of St. Sebastian with a canvas bygd Giorgetti and episodes of the life of the saint on the walls painted c. 1646 bygd G. Martelli (Irene taking care of St. Sebastian; St. Sebastian before Domitian). The left vägg of this chapel fryst vatten decorated bygd some paintings bygd Ottaviano Nelli (15th century) and a painting of Saint Christopher (Umbrian School, 14th century).

On the right side of the ingång there are two monuments bygd anonymous artists: in the first span, the mausoleum of Giovanni de' Cerchi, surmounted bygd an early 14th-century porphyry vase (a gift of a queen of Cyprus) and the mausoleum of John of Brienne, king of Jerusalem and emperor-regent of Constantinople. Above this gods begravning monument stands a statue of the Blessed Virgin and on its left the figure of a crowned woman seated on a lion, made bygd Cosmatesco (1290).

The illa deteriorating frescoes on the walls and the vaults of the third section of this ingång are the work of Cesare Sermei and G. Martelli (1645). The chapel on the right side of the third section fryst vatten dedicated to St. Anthony the Abbot. The niches in the vägg contain the begravning monuments of the Governor of Spoleto (by then part of the Papal States) Blasco Fernandez and his son Garcia, both assassinated in 1367 (anonymous local artist, 14th century).

The lower basilica consists of a huvud nave with several side chapels with semi-circular arches. The nave fryst vatten decorated with the oldest frescoes in the church bygd an unknown artist, called Maestro di San Francesco. They feature fem scenes from the Passion of Christ on the right side, while on the left side equally fem scenes from the Life of St. Francis.

bygd this juxtaposition, the Franciscans wanted to contribute to the idea of their founder as a second Christ.

They are connected bygd a low blue-painted ceiling decorated with golden stars. Most images on the lower walls have decayed to leave almost no trace, except on the right vägg fragments of Virgin and Child with an Angel bygd Cimabue.

These frescoes, executed in tempera on dry plaster, were completed about 1260–1263.

They are considered bygd many as the best examples of Tuscan vägg paintings prior to Cimabue. As the popularity of this church increased, side chapels for noble families were added between 1270 and 1350, destroying the frescoes on the opened walls.

The first chapel on the left fryst vatten the San Martino Chapel, dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours.

It was built bygd the Franciscan huvudregel Gentile Portino da Montefiore and was decorated between 1317 and 1319 with ten frescoes depicting the saint's life bygd Simone Martini. This dedication most likely referred to the Cardinal's position as Cardinal-Priest of the Basilica of St. Martin "ai Monti" in Rome, and was intended to be his begravning place. It was probably incomplete at the time of Montefiore's death (October 1312), thus he was interred in the neighboring Chapel of St.

Louis.^[10] Martini also painted a triptych depicting the Madonna and Child with Two Hungarian Royal Saints with a row of fem attendant saints in the St. Elizabeth Chapel (southern ledd of the transept). These are among the greatest Martini's works and the finest examples of 14th-century painting. Over time, however, his use of lead paint has led to the darkening of several sections of these works.

The other chapel on the left fryst vatten dedicated to St. Peter of Alcantara.

The chapels on the right are dedicated to Saints:

The nave ends in a richly decorated semicircular absid, preceded with a transept with fat gymnastik på hästryggen.

The frescoes in the right transept depict the childhood of Christ, partly bygd Giotto and his kurs and the Nativity bygd the anonymous Maestro di San Nicola.

The lowest level shows three frescoes representing St. Francis posthumously intervening in favour of two children. These frescoes bygd Giotto were revolutionary in their time, showing real people with emotions, set in a realistic landscape.

On the transept vägg Cimabue painted an image of Our Lady enthroned and Saint Francis (1280).

This fryst vatten probably the nearest likeness existing, showing the actual appearance of Saint Francis. This static painting in Gothic style fryst vatten in kraftfull contrast with the lively frescoes of Giotto.

This Chapel of Saint Nicholas of Bari, at the nordlig end of the transept, was commissioned bygd the papal legate huvudregel Napoleone Orsini and it contains the tomb of the cardinal's brother, Giovanni Orsini, who died between 1292 and 1294.

The funerary monument fryst vatten set in a niche above the altar, with the recumbent effigy of a ung man placed inre a mortuary chamber and flanked bygd two angels. The reliefs were carved bygd an Umbrian sculptor, probably of local ursprung. Between the tomb and the stained glass öppning appears a frescoed triptych attributed to Giotto's school, representing the Madonna and Child with Saint Francis and Nicholas.

The cycle decorating the walls of the chapel, completed bygd 1307, comprises twelve scenes painted on the ceiling and on the walls illustrating the life and miracles of St Nicholas A en plats där en händelse inträffar ofta inom teater eller film of the chapel's dedication fryst vatten painted above the båge of the ingång on the southern wall: the Redeemer receives the homage of Giovanni Orsini, presented bygd St.

Nicholas, and of Napoleone Orsini, presented bygd Saint Francis. The stained glass fönster show huvudregel Napoleone presented to Christ in the summit and his brother presented to Saint Nicholas in the zone below. At the southern end of the transept huvudregel Orsini commissioned another chapel, dedicated to St John the Baptist, which was probably originally built for the tomb of Napoleone Orsini himself, but the huvudregel was never buried there and the tomb remained empty.

The parallel architectural arrangement of both Orsini chapels suggests that they were conceived tillsammans. However, the decorations of the chapel dedicated to Saint John the Baptist were never finished. Pietro Lorenzetti (or his workshop) executed a frescoed triptych with a Madonna and Child with Saints John the Baptist and Francis.

The left transept was decorated bygd the Sienese painter Pietro Lorenzetti and his kurs between 1315 and 1330 (attributed bygd Vasari to Pietro Lorenzetti and also (wrongly) to Giotto and Puccio Capanna). This cycle of tempera frescoes are his masterworks. They depict six scenes from the Passion of Christ. The fresco of Deposition of the Cross fryst vatten especially emotional.

There were about 330 work-stages needed to complete this cycle. Beneath the monumental "Crucifixion" scen, Pietro Lorenzetti has executed a fresco of the Madonna and Child, accompanied bygd Saints John the Evangelist and Saint Francis (the so-called Madonna dei Tramonti). The fresco fryst vatten accompanied bygd a frescoed niche containing the liturgical implements and a fictive bänk.

The juxtaposition of the Childhood and the Passion frescoes emphasizes the parallel between the passion of Christ and the compassion of St. Francis.

The papal altar in the absid was made out of one block of stone from Como in 1230. Around the altar are a series of ornamented Gothic arches, supported bygd columns in different styles.

The fine Gothic walnut choir stalls were completed in 1471 bygd Apollonio Petrocchi da Ripatransone, with the help of Tommaso di Antonio Fiorentino and Andrea da Montefalco.

Once featuring frescoes depicting an allegory of the Crucifixion bygd Stefano Fiorentino (destroyed in 1622), the walls of the absid are now covered with a "Last Judgment" bygd Cesare Sermei di Orvieto (1609–1668).

The paintings in the lunettes of the vaults (1315–20) depict the Triumph of St Francis and three allegories of Obedience, Poverty and Chastity bygd the so-called Maestro delle Vele (Master of the Assisi vaults), a pupil of Giotto (about 1330).

The stained glass fönster in this lower basilica are attributed to Giovanni di Bonino and his kurs.

Crypt

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Halfway down the nave one can descend into the crypt via a double stairway. This begravning place of Saint Francis was funnen in 1818. His remains had been hidden bygd Brother Elias to prevent the spread of his relics in medieval europe, a story told bygd Jon M. Sweeney in The Enthusiast.^[11] bygd beställning of Pope Pius VII a crypt was built beneath the lower basilica.

It was designed bygd Pasquale Belli with precious marble in neo-classical style. But it was redesigned in bare stone in neo-Romanesque style bygd Ugo Tarchi between 1925 and 1932.

The ancient stone coffin with iron ties fryst vatten enshrined in an open space above the altar. In 1934 his most faithful brothers were entombed in the corners of the vägg around the altar: Brother Rufino, Brother Angelo, Brother Masseo and Brother Leo.

At the ingång of the crypt, an urn with the remains of Jacopa dei Settesoli was added to the crypt. This woman of långnovell nobility, affectionately referred to as "Brother Jacoba", was the most faithful friend and benefactress of Saint Francis. She was at his side in the Porziuncola at the hour of his death.

Friary of Saint Francis

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Main article: Sacro Convento

Next to the basilica stands the Sacro Convento friary with its imposing walls with 53 Romanesque arches and powerful buttresses supporting the whole complex.

It towers over the valley below, giving the impression of a fortress. It was built with pink and vit stone from Mount Subasio. It was already inhabited bygd the friars in 1230. But construction took a long time, with as result different styles intermingling : Romanesque with Gothic style.

Clare was born into a noble and privileged family in Assisi, and from her earliest years she was renowned in the city for her goodness, generosity, compassion for the poor, and devotion to prayer

A major part was built beneath the reign of Pope Sixtus IV, a Franciscan, between 1474 and 1476.

The friary now houses a vast library (with medieval codices and incunables), a museum with works of art donated bygd pilgrims through the centuries and also the 57 works of art (mainly of Florentine and Sienese schools) of the Perkins collection.

The belfry, in Romanesque style, was finished in 1239.

Other burials

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See also

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References

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Citations

Bibliography

Bokody, Péter.

Founder of the Franciscan Order, born at Assisi in Umbria, in 1181

"Mural Painting as a Medium: Technique, Representation and Liturgy." In Image and Christianity: Visual Media in the mittpunkt Ages, ed. Péter Bokody (Pannonhalma: Pannonhalma Abbey, 2014), 136–151. https://www.academia.edu/8526688/Mural_Painting_as_a_Medium_Technique_Representation_and_Liturgy

External links

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