medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Tuesday, December 6, 2005, at 10:37 pm, I wrote, with reference to
the cathedral of San Nicola at Sassari:
> and a medieval interior niche with an early modern image of saint
> Antiochus of the Sulcis:
Which latter I churlishly failed to show. As Antiochus of the Sulcis is
one of the more important saints of Sardinia, this was an especially
regrettable oversight. Here's the view:
http://www.diocesi.sassari.it/santantiocoduomo.jpg
Moving further south in the former judicate of Torres (or Logudoro;
dissolved in 1259), we come to another noteworthy dedication to St.
Nicholas, the church of that name at Ottana (NU). The cathedral of a
diocese suppressed in 1501, this is a twelfth-century structure
replacing an earlier church on the same site and consecrated to N. and
to the BVM in 1160. Severely damaged by an earthquake, it was rebuilt
towards the end of the century. The facade and the front end of the
south side are from the building's earlier phase. An illustrated,
Italian-language account of this church is here:
http://www.ilportalesardo.it/monumenti/nuottana.htm
and some expandable views are here (second set in this gallery):
http://www.immaginidellasardegna.it/chiese/galleria4/
This church contains a fourteenth-century polyptych depicting saints
Francis and Nicholas and scenes from their respective lives. Somewhat
visible in this reproduction (the best I could find, alas) are portraits
of its donors, judge Mariano IV of Arborea (the judicate to which Ottana
now belonged) and bishop Silvestro of Ottana:
http://web.tiscali.it/merdulesbezzos/img/polittico.jpg
Those who wish to try their hand at a little Sardinian might have a look
at the following very brief news account of vandalism at this structure
last June:
http://www.uls.it/377.4234.page?SCREEN=noas_template_noa_cumpreta
At Villaputzu (CA), in the southeastern part of the island in the former
judicate of Caglari, is yet another noteworthy dedication to N.: the late
twelfth-century church of San Nicola di Quirra (Quirra is the name of
the locale, a once militarily important site with remains of a
thirteenth-century castle built to defend against incursions from the
judicate of Gallura). Considerably less attractive than either San
Nicola di Trullas or San Nicola di Ottana, this building is notable
chiefly for its being Sardinia's only "romanesque" church in brick. An
illustrated, Italian-language account of it is here:
http://www.ilportalesardo.it/monumenti/cavillaputzu.htm
and some further views (left-click expandable) are here:
http://web.tiscali.it/romanico/c65.htm
Best,
John Dillon
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