The cathedral stands out for being a double church, a solution that was chosen after finding the relics of Saint Nicholas the Pilgrim, stored in the crypt of the church. On that occasion, instead of connecting the room to the new aisles, it was decided to open an under-body in front of it, as wide as the nave, that was divided by colonnades to give the building the appearance of a basilica. The upper church, completed in the thirteenth century, is also laid out like a basilica: it is divided into one nave and two aisles, with a high transept and semicircular apses, so slender they make it look like a Nordic building. The interior is divided into twin pillars that hold cross vaults in the aisles and wooden trusses in the nave, where the women’s galleries open up, architectural solutions that had already been adopted in the late XII century in the Ill de France and some crusade buildings in the Holy Land. The façade, in the Pisan style, boasts a rose window, surrounded by protruding animals, and the plastic decoration of the portal.
A Brief History:
The building of the Basilica began in 1099, when the archbishop of Byzantium proclaimed the pilgrim Nicholas saint and began to build a church in his honour. The saint, a young Greek from the monastery of Saint Luke in Phocys, had walked through Greece and Dalmatia, bound for the Holy Places, and had arrived five years earlier, with no strength left, in Trani, where he had died.
Main Works:
Not to be missed: the 1180 bronze doors by Barisano da Trani, who was also the author of the doors of the Cathedral of Ravello and Monreale. The panels have mould-melted decorations, clearly taking inspiration from motifs that could be seen on Byzantine fabrics and embroideries: mostly they consists of individual figures of soldiers that, with their metal straightforwardness, can be compared to the plastic forms of south-western France.
Style:
The Basilica of Trani, standing on a square opening onto the sea, is perhaps the finest example of the local Romanesque style.
Sources: By the editorial staff Updated on: 09/09/2011
Project created in collaboration with InnovaPuglia.
Regione Puglia
Regione Puglia