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Home > Italy Travel Guide > Siena Travel Guide > Duomo (Siena)

Duomo (Siena)

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Introduction
History
Location

ATTRACTIONS

Facade
Interior
Pulpit
Crypt
Baptistery
Mosaic floor
Works of art
The Chigi Chapel
Chapel of Saint John the Baptist
Piccolomini Library

INFORMATION

Useful information
Links

Introduction

The Duomo of Siena, is one of the great examples of Italian romanesque architecture and stands on the highest point in the town, to the southwest of the Croce del Travaglio. It is unique among Christian cathedrals in that its axis runs north-south. This is because it was originally intended to be the largest cathedral in existence, with a north-south transept and an east-west aisle, as is usual. After the completion of the transept and the building of the east wall (which still exists and may be climbed by the public via an internal staircase) the money ran out and the rest of the cathedral was abandoned.

History

The origins of the first structure are obscure and shrouded in the mist of legends. There was a 9th century church with bishop's palace at the present location. In December 1058 a synod was held in this church resulting in the election of pope Nicholas II and the deposition of the antipope Benedict X.

In 1196 the Cathedral Masons Guild, the Opera di Santa Maria, was put in charge of the construction of a new cathedral. By 1215 there were already daily masses in the new church. There are records from 1226 on of the transport of black and white marble, probably for the construction of the facade and the bell tower. The vaults and the transept were constructed in 1259-1260. In 1259 Manuello di Ranieri and his son Parri carved some wooden choir stalls, which were replaced about 100 years later and have now disappeared. In 1264, Rosso Padellaio was paid for the copper sphere on top of the dome.

Then in 1339 the people of Siena resolved on a gigantic enlargement of the cathedral which would have made it the largest Gothic building in Italy. The existing church was to become the transept of a new church more than 100m/330ft long, the main axis of which would be turned through 90 degrees. Work on the project soon came to a halt, however, partly because the foundations were inadequate for the weight of the new building and partly because the population of the town was decimated by plague in 1348. The outer walls, remains of this extension, can now be seen to the south of the Duomo. The floor of the nave now serves as a parking lot and museum, and, though unfinished, are testament to Sienese power, ambition, and artistic achievement.

Underneath the choir of the Duomo, a narthex containing important late-thirteenth century frescoes (probably about 1280) was found and excavated in 1999-2003. The frescoes depict scenes from the Old Testament and the life of Christ. This was part of the entrance of an earlier church. But when the baptistry was built, this under-church was filled with rubble. The narthex is now open to the public

Location

Address: Piazza del Duomo, I-53100 Siena, Italy.

Facade

The facade of this cathedral was built in two stages. The lower part in polychrome marble was begun around 1284. It is built in Tuscan Gothic style by Giovanni Pisano. Giovanni Pisano worked on the lower levels until 1296, when he suddenly left Siena. At that time, between 1270 and 1285, the nave of the church had been raised and a higher facade became necessary. Work at the facade continued for another fifteen years and was then stopped. Meanwhile in 1288, the rose window, a round glass-stained window set inside a square, was installed in the choir, based on designs by Duccio di Buoninsegna.

Work on the upper part of the facade only resumed in 1376 under the direction of Giovanni di Cecco, working on a new elaborate design, inspired by the Orvieto Cathedral. It was to be erected much higher than foreseen, because the nave had, once again, been raised. The division of the upper part does not match the division of the lower part. The pinnacles of the upper part do not continue over the columns flanking the central portal. The weight of the elegant side towers was reduced by adding windows.

The facade is richly decorated with sculptured figures, almost all now replaced by copies. The mosaics in the pediments, with a gold ground, were done by Venetian artists in 1877-78. In the angle between the nave and the right-hand transept is the Romanesque campanile; its facing of horizontally banded dark light colored marble gives it an astonishing lightness, an effect reinforced by the six orders of windows, increasing in number as they go up. In the lunette of the doorway at the foot of the tower is a bas-relief of the Virgin and Child (the Madonna del Perdono), attributed to Donatello (15th century). Over the crossing of the original church, on a hexagonal drum, is the dome, which was completed before the heightening of the nave, so that the drum appears to be set into the roof of the nave. Beyond the end of the right-hand transept are fragments of the new cathedral which was never completed: the five-bayed northeastern aisle (now occupied by the Cathedral Museum), the Facciatone (Giant Facade) and three bays of the southwest wall of the nave, which enclose the Piazza Iacopo della Quercia. Much of the left-hand wall of the old cathedral is concealed by the Piccolomini Library. On a column at the left-hand end of the steps leading up to the cathedral is the She-Wolf with Romulus and Remus (copy: original in Cathedral Museum).

Interior

When one enters the cathedral, the pictorial effect of the black and white marble stripes on the walls and columns strikes the eye. Black and white are the colours of the civic coat of arms of Siena. The capitals of the columns in the front section of the nave are sculpted with allegorical busts and animals. The horizontal moulding around the nave and the presbetary contains 172 plaster busts from popes dating from the 15th and 16th c., starting with St. Peter and ending with Lucius III. The spandrels of the round arches below this cornice exhibit the busts of 36 emperors. The vaulted roof is decorated in blue with golden stars, replacing frescoes on the ceiling, while the formerets (half rib) and the tiercerons (secondary rib) are adorned with richly elaborated motifs.

The stained-glass round window in the choir was made in 1288 to the designs of Duccio. It is one of the earliest remaining examples of Italian stained glass. The round stained-glass window in the facade dates from 1549 and represents the Last Supper. It is the craftmanship of Pastorino de'Pastorini.

The hexagonal dome is topped with a gilded lantern, like a golden sun. The trompe l'oeil coffers were painted in blue with golden stars in the late 15th c. The colonnade in the drum is adorned with images and statues of 42 patriarchs and prophets, painted in 1481 by Guidoccio Cozzarelli and Benvenuto di Giovanni. The eight stucco statues in the spandrels beneath the dome were sculpted in 1490 by Ventura di Giuliano and Bastiano di Francesco. Originally they were polychromed, but later, in 1704, gilded. The marble high altar of the presbytery was built in 1532 by Baldassarre Peruzzi. The enormous bronze ciborium is the work of Lorenzo di Pietro (“Vecchietta") (1467-72, originally commissioned for the church of Spedale di Santa Maria della Scala, across the square, and brought to the cathedral in 1506). At the sides of the high altar the uppermost angels are masterpieces by Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439-1502).

Against the pillars of the presbytery there are eight candelabras in the form of angels by Domenico Beccafumi (1548-50), He also painted the frescoes, representing Saints and Paradise, on the walls in the apse. These were partially repainted in 1912. Behind the main altar is a very large painting Assumption of the Virgin by Bartolomea Cesi in 1594. The presbytery keeps also the beautiful wooden choir stalls, made between 1363-1397 and extended in the 16c. Originally there were more than ninety choir stalls, arranged in double rows. The remaining 36 stalls are each crowned by the bust of a saint in a pointed niche. Their backs are decorated with carved panels, the work of Fra'Giovanni da Verona in 1503.

Pulpit

The white marble pulpit by Niccola Pisano and pupils (1256-68) is one of the finest works of art in the cathedral. Octagonal in shape, it is borne on nine columns of granite, porphyry and green marble. The outer columns stand alternately on the base and on figures of lions, the inner ones on allegories of the Seven Liberal Arts and Philosophy. Above the capitals are personifications of the Virtues. On the parapet of the pulpit are seven magnificently carved reliefs: the Nativity, the Adoration of the Kings, the Flight into Egypt, the Slaughter of the Innocents, the Crucifixion and the Last Judgment, with the Elect, and the Damned. The steps leading up to the pulpit were added in the 16th century.

Crypt

The crypt is reached by going round the outside of the right transept and through the doorway in the first bay of the unfinished new cathedral. The entrance to the crypt is on the first landing of the staircase. In the first room are the originals of statues on the cathedral, now replaced by copies, and in the second are remains of late 13th century frescoes of New Testament scenes.

Baptistery

The baptistery is a few steps lower down than the crypt. It was constructed when the choir was extended and underbuilding was necessary to compensate for the fall in the ground; the baptistery has, therefore, something of the aspect of a crypt. The groined vaulting is borne on squat pillars and is wholly covered with frescoes, originally painted about 1450 by Vecchietta (Lorenzo di Pietro, 1412-80) and other artists but now almost devoid of artistic value as a result of clumsy restoration in the late 19th century. In front of the apse, on a stepped hexagonal base, is a marble font fashioned in 1417-30, probably by Iacopo della Quercia. The six sides of the font have bronze reliefs of scenes from the life of John the Baptist by Iacopo della Quercia, Giovanni di Turino, Lorenzo Ghiberti and Donatello. On the canopy of the font is a marble statue of the Baptist.

Mosaic floor

The inlaid marble mosaic floor is one of the most ornate of its kind in Italy, covering the whole floor of the cathedral. This undertaking went on for two centuries (14th-16th c.) and about forty artists made their contribution. The floor consists of 56 panels in different sizes. Most have a rectangular shape, but the later ones in the transept are hexagons or rhombuses. They represent the sibyls, scenes from the Old Testament, allegories and virtues. Most are still in their original state.

Works of art

The cathedral contains valuable pieces of art including The Feast of Herod by Donatello, and works by Bernini and the young Michelangelo. It makes this cathedral an extraordinary museum of Italian sculpture.

The funeral monument for cardinal Riccardo Petroni was erected between 1317 and 1318 by the Sienese sculptor Tino di Camaino. He had succeeded his father as the master builder of the Siena cathedral. The marble monument in the left transept is the earliest example of 14th c. funeral architecture. It is composed of a richly decorated sarcophagus, held aloft on the shoulders of four statues. Above the sarcophagus, two angels draw apart a curtain, revealing the cardinal lying on his deathbed, accompanied by two guardian angels. The monument is crowned by a spired tabernacle with statues of the Madonna and Child, Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

In the pavement, in front of this monument, lies the bronze tombstone of Bishop Giovanni di Bartolomeo Pecci, bishop of Grosseto, made by Donatello in 1427. It shows the dead prelate laid out in a concave bier in highly illusionistic low relief. Looking at it obliquely from the end of the tomb, gives the impression of a three-dimensionality. It was originally located in front of the high altar and moved to the present location in 1506.

The wall tomb of bishop Tommaso Piccolomini del Testa is set above the small door leading to the bell tower. It is the work of the Sienese painter and sculptor Neroccio di Bartolomeo Landi in 1483.

The Piccolomini altar, left of the entrance to the library, is the work of the Lombard sculptor Andrea Bregno in 1483. This altarpiece is remarkable because of the four sculptures in the lower niches, made by the young Michelangelo between 1501 and 1504: Saint Peter, Saint Paul, Saint Gregory (with the help of an assistant) and Saint Pius. On top of the altar is the Madonna and Child, a sculpture (probably) by Jacopo della Quercia.

Many of the Duomo's original furnishings, such as Duccio di Buoninsegna's Maestà and Cimabue's stained glass window, have been removed to the nearby Museo del Opera del Duomo.

The Chigi Chapel

In the right transept is the entrance to the Cappella Chigi (Chigi Chapel) or Cappella della Madonna del Voto (Chapel of the Madonna of the Vow), which was built in 1659-62 to the design of the great Baroque architect Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini. Of the four statues in the chapel two (“St Jerome” and “The Magdalene”) are by Bernini; the other two (“San Bernardino” and “St Catherine of Siena”) are by his pupils.

Chapel of Saint John the Baptist

The Chapel of Saint John the Baptist is situated in the left transept. At the back of this chapel, amidst a rich renaissance decorations, is the bronze statue of St. John the Baptist by Donatello. In the middle is a 15th c. baptismal font. But most impressive in this chapel are the eight frescoes by Pinturicchio, commissioned by Alberto Aringhieri, and painted between 1504 and 1505. Two are repainted in the 17th c. and a third was completely replaced in 1868. The original paintings in the chapel are: Nativity of John the Baptist, John the Baptist in the desert and John the Baptist preaching. He also painted two portraits: Aringhieri with the cloak of the Order of the Knights of Malta and Kneeling Knight in Armour. These two portraits show us a very detailed background.

Piccolomini Library

In the left-hand aisle of the cathedral in Siena is the entrance to the Piccolomini Library. The entrance wall (by Lorenzo di Mariano, 1497) is a fine example of High Renaissance decorative sculpture. A bronze grille gives access to the library, one of the finest and best-preserved creations of the Early Renaissance. Begun in 1495, it was built for Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini (later Pope Pius III) in honor of his kinsman Enea Silvio (Aeneas Sylvius) Piccolomini (Pope Pius II, 1458-64).

Useful information

Open: November 1 to March 15: 7:30am to 13:30 and 14:30 to 17:30.
March 16 to October 31: 7:30am to 19:30.
Disabled: Full facilities for persons with disabilities.
Tips: Photography prohibited.

Links

The Gargoyles of Siena Duomo

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