Detail View: Archivision Base to Module 9: Lucca Cathedral

Preferred Title: 
Lucca Cathedral
Image View: 
Apse, side view looking at upper tier
Creator: 
Guidetto da Como (Italian architect, active early 12th century); Nicola Pisano (Italian sculptor, active 1258-1278)
Location: 
site: Lucca, Tuscany, Italy
Date: 
begun 1060 (creation)
Cultural Context: 
Italian
Style Period: 
Gothic (Medieval); Romanesque
Work Type 1: 
cathedral
Work Type 2: 
campanile
Classification: 
architecture
Material: 
stone; marble
Technique: 
construction (assembling)
Subjects: 
architectural exteriors; saints; St. Martin; San Martino; Saint Martin; apse; arcade: blind
Description: 
Dedicated to S Martino, Lucca Cathedral, which was built on the site of an Early Christian building, was begun in 1060 by Archbishop Anselmo da Baggio (later Pope Alexander II, reigned 1061-1073) and consecrated in 1070. The decoration on the north front, which features blind arches outlined by curved lintels decorated with delicate acanthus leaves, probably dates from this period. The main portico , with three majestic semicircular arches, is derived from imperial Roman architecture and has been variously assigned to the early or mid-12th century. Around 1258-1260 Nicola Pisano decorated the left-hand façade portal under the portico with reliefs of the Nativity and Deposition, thus insinuating himself into a context where the Lombard masters may still have been at work. His sculpture was executed in a radically new style that marked a sharp break with previous Luccan tradition and was the basis of further decoration carried out at the cathedral in subsequent centuries. The interior of the cathedral was rebui
Collection: 
Archivision Addition Module Three
Identifier: 
1A2-I-L-D-B3
Rights: 
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.