JOIN JANE CONTINUING TO MAKE SENSE OF ART
And this month Jane is exploring the
old and new mix ofOrtonaCathedral
Like most of you, I expect, I have visited many cathedrals in my time – I live in a cathedral city and have had the opportunity to sing in quite a few UK cathedrals from the likes of Exeter and Hereford to the post war Coventry Cathedral. All are different experiences – and I am always interested to see how modern architecture and art are incorporated in to some very ancient buildings – some with more success than others.
A few weeks ago I visited Ortona Cathedral in Abruzzo, Italy – a coastal town on the Adriatic.
As you can see from the photo above it looks like a very typical Italian cathedral – however it’s not! This is The Cathedral of San Tommaso Apostolo and there has been a cathedral there since 1311, built by Nicola Mancino of Ortona. However in December 1943, the Germans occupied Ortona and the allies bombed the town very heavily, including their beautiful cathedral, driving out the Germans. The cathedral was pretty much destroyed apart from the facade with its 2 Gothic style ogival arches.
It was rebuilt in 1949, architecturally a replica of the original, blending Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque elements. The portal was rebuilt with fragments from the original building. Original art work had been saved including some frescoes which were cleaned but not fully restored as can be seen below.
However it did give them plenty of scope for new art. The ceiling paintings, mainly beautiful patterns are stunning. The inside of the cupola below is a mix of painted patterns and sculpture.
The paintings in the Cupola below are definitely a modern take on the old, and the modern stain glass with its bright colours floods that part of the cathedral with light.
I loved this mix of styles. At the west end of the building there is a small chapel with a very modern altar and a really quite blingy art representation of The Virgin Mary and as yet a completely unadorned cupola.
Attached to the Cathedral is a museum containing saved antiquities from the original building as well as from other churches in the Ortona area. The detail in the stone carvings are incredible – and of course would probably have not been particularly visible to the human eye when they were in situ!
I have never before seen anything like these wooden busts – again quite extraordinary – and sadly there wasn’t any information about them, their age or where they were in the original building.
