The Baptistery of Pisa and the Rotunda of the Holy Sepulchre: A Reconsideration (original) (raw)
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VIATOR MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE STUDIES, 2018
Multiple cities in the Middle Ages built architectural copies of monuments from the Holy sites in Jerusalem. Unusually, the city of Pisa founded not one but two architectural representations of a single Jerusalem prototype—the Holy Sepulcher’s Rotunda of the Resurrection. Both Pisan homages were begun in the twelfth century. The foundation of these monuments—a baptistery and a pilgrimage church—was influenced by Pisa’s participation in the First Crusade and by the presence of Hospitaller Knights in Pisa, two factors that are key to the following analysis. In this paper I present each building separately, question why these two monumental “Holy Sepulchers” were built in Pisa in the twelfth century, and what (if any) was their association with each other. Keywords: Italy, Pisa, First Crusade, Hospitaller Knights, Jerusalem, Holy Sepulchre, architectural copies, maritime republics, devotion, pilgrimage.
The Basilica and the Rotunda: Type, Analogy and Ritual in Medieval Europe
Burning Farm (ed. Pier Vittorio Aureli), TPOD Lab, EPFL , 2023
This paper explores the replication of Jerusalem’s sacred architecture in Medieval Europe. It studies the concept of analogy in order to define the spatial translation of Jerusalem into “analogous” shrines built for pilgrims unable to visit the city itself. These analogous shrines follow a typological structure that originated in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where a basilica (an axial structure built for hierarchical congregations) and a rotunda (a centrifugal space dedicated to private contemplation) were juxtaposed to facilitate the idiosyncratic rituals of the Jerusalem liturgy. Following Carlos Marti Aris’ definition of type as a “principle of organisation by which a series of elements, governed by a specific relationship, acquire a certain structure,” this paper argues that the coupling of a basilica and rotunda forms an archetype that can be identified in Christian architecture of the Middle Ages. While these structures differ from each other in their materiality, style, and scale – reflecting the political and cultural motivations of their patrons – they are united by their adherence to a particular type that is situated “at the level of the form’s deep structure.” Using typological knowledge, this paper traces the evolution of sacred architecture by contrasting the historical variations that change over time with the essential similarities that remain the same through the ages and can, in fact, connect seemingly dissimilar buildings. By studying Jerusalem’s analogies, this paper attempts to locate the essential, structural similarity between them, and thus anchor their fixed coordinates in the typological origin of Christian architecture and ritual.
Lavrentyeva E. The Architectural History of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem: the Question of the Periodization of Melchior De Vogüé, in Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 324. Paris: Atlantis Press, 2019, p. 45-48., 2019
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem has been actively studied since the middle of the 19th century. At the same time, the opinion was formed that the building passed through four construction stages. This periodization was developed and first proposed by Melchior De Vogüé in 1859. Later, it was developed in the research works of L.-H. Vincent and F.-M. Abel (1914-1922), Ch. Couasnon (1974), V.C. Corbo (1981-1982). However, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has undergone much more destruction and local restoration works, as reported by written sources. The goal of this paper is to get a more complete picture of the shrine history by analyzing the medieval descriptions of it. Keywords: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; Church of the Resurrection; Church of the Anastasis; Eugene-Melchior De Vogüé; the architectural reconstruction; Jerusalem; Holy Land
International Journal of Architectural Heritage, 2019
Using digital measurement on the thirteenth century double church of St. Francis in Assisi (Italy) revealed a modulated design canon involving symbolic geometries and proportional arithmetic. The author identifies the simulacrum of the biblical temple of King Solomon and the integration of an exclusive sepulchral sphere geometry with several design components copied from both Christian mother churches: the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the Old St. Peter's in Rome. St. Francis Church is the result of a double mission, translated in two different architectural languages: an Umbrian Romanesque Lower Church for devotion of the Saint's tomb, and an Early Gothic, French inspired, Upper Church for use by the Roman Pope and the Convent. The geometry and design canon are both instruments for communication and education addressed to the medieval community. This analysis aims to contribute to architectural design, construction history and digital measurement applications.
The edicule in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Since the start of the new restoration works in the early 1960s, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has undergone a thorough archaeological and architectural investigation. The results presented mainly by V. Corbo and C. Coüasnon have placed on firmer ground the monumental study by the Dominican fathers H. Vincent and F.-M. Abel, 1 but strangely enough the edicule of the Tomb of Christ, located at the centre of the Anastasis, had not been given the same attention, apart from studies by G. Dalman and J. Wilkinson. 2 The book under review is an enhanced and richly illustrated version of an article published by Biddle in 1994. 3 Although most of the text remains unchanged, it includes some significant improvements relating to the history of the structure, and the new material, as well as the splendid illustrations, are good enough reasons for the re-publication and for this review; as a monograph too it will reach a much larger audience. It is both a historical study and a vehicle for communicating the chief observations and conclusions of the new architectural study. 4 It comprises a meticulous documentation of the present edicule that was made in 1989, 1990 and 1992. Since 1934-35 the edicule, in poor condition, has been encased by steel and timber shoring put up by the British Mandate government following damage by the earthquake of 1927. The documentation was carried out with the help of the most advanced methods of photogrammetry and 3-D computer modelling, as well as by conventional surveying, drawing, and photography. Biddle's assumption that anomalies in its form would shed light on its structural development turned out to be fully justified. The floor of the rotunda was also surveyed, and all the records were incorporated in a coherent database that was established not only to serve the 3-D reconstruction and architectural study but also to guarantee proper documentation of the current state of the structure prior to future works of consolidation. These works will require first the careful disassembling, stone by stone, of the entire structure (9). Chapter 1 presents the state of research and outlines the principles and procedures applied in his new study. Chapter 2 presents the visual resources for the study of the edicule, according to the 4 main phases of its history:
Essay written for University of York MA in Conservation Studies (Historic Buildings), 2017. In this essay, I will explore the changing approaches to the analysis and interpretation of ecclesiastical architecture, focusing on the new body of scholarship put forward by Giles and Graves that discusses how we interpret historical ideas of viewing space. I will argue that this approach goes further than traditional scholarship to facilitate an understanding of the function of ecclesiastical structures through those who used it. Furthermore, I will discuss how digital reconstruction can be used to advance these interpretations by providing a historical context in which scholars can experiment with ongoing theories. I will begin my essay with a short chronological overview of the historiography of ecclesiastical architecture before developing my argument for these modern methods through the examination of two in-depth case studies. Throughout this essay I will argue that the modern scholarship put forward by Giles and Graves can show us how the laity interacted with elements of the church and moves us forward in our understanding of the function of these ecclesiastical structures.