Pomposa Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in the comune of Codigoro on the Adriatic coast near Ferrara , Italy. It was one of the most important in northern Italy, famous for the Carolingian manuscripts preserved in its rich library, one of the wealthiest of Carolingian repositories, and for the Romanesque buildings .
20-437: Pomposa may refer to: Pomposa Abbey Lido di Pomposa , an Italian seaside resort in the province of Ferrara Pomposa (phasmid) , stick insect genus of the subfamily Necrosciinae Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Pomposa . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
40-430: A 12th-century Cosmatesque and mosaic inlaid stone pavement, and frescoes in the apse by Vitale da Bologna and his assistants; and there are also paintings in the refectory by a Riminese master. The chapter hall has early 14th-century frescoes by a pupil of Giotto . The free-standing campanile (begun in 1063 and completed within several decades), standing at 48 m, is one of the finest surviving belltowers from
60-715: A while, but early in his career developed an original style. Freeing himself from Byzantine traditions and influences, Laurentius' style evolved into a decorative architectural mosaic, vigorous in colour and design, which he employed in conjunction with plain or sculpted marble surfaces. "As a rule he used white or light-coloured marbles for his backgrounds; these he inlaid with squares, parallelograms, and circles of darker marble, porphyry, or serpentine , surrounding them with ribbons of mosaic composed of coloured and gold-glass tesseræ. These harlequinads he separated one from another with marble mouldings, carvings, and flat bands, and further enriched them with mosaic. His earliest recorded work
80-569: Is a style of geometric decorative inlay stonework typical of the architecture of Medieval Italy , and especially of Rome and its surroundings. It was used most extensively for the decoration of church floors, but was also used to decorate church walls, pulpits , and bishop's thrones . The name derives from the Cosmati , the leading family workshop of craftsmen in Rome who created such geometrical marble decorations. The style spread across Europe, where it
100-672: Is found in the Cappella Palatina in Palermo . Precisely what its connection may be with the southern art of Sicily has yet to be determined. Although the Cosmati of 12th Century Rome are the eponymous craftsmen of the style, they do not seem to have been the first to develop the art. A similar style may be seen in the pavement of the Benedictine abbey of Monte Cassino (1066–1071), built using workers from Constantinople , making it likely that
120-493: Is inlaid on the white marble architraves of doors, on the friezes of cloisters , the flutings of columns, and on sepulchral monuments. Again, it frames panels, of porphyry or marble, on pulpits, episcopal chairs , screens, etc., or is itself used as a panel. The colour is brilliant, gold tesserae being freely used. While more frequent in Rome than elsewhere in Italy, its use is not confined to that city. Among other locations it
140-601: The cathedral of Civita Castellana , a foreshadowing of the Renaissance. This was a work in which other members of his family took part, and they were all followers of the craft for four generations. Those attaining eminence in their art are named in the following genealogical epitome: Laurentius (1140–1210); Jacobus (1165–1234); Luca (1221–1240); Jacobus (1213–1293); Deodatus (1225–1294); Johannes (1231–1303)." However, an apparently 12th-century Crusader -period vertical high altar panel in what has been described as Cosmatesque style
160-458: The 19th century the abbey was acquired by the Italian government. The church of Santa Maria is an example of a triple-nave Ravennan Romanesque -style basilica with arcaded aisles and carpentry rafters, originating in the 7th-9th century, and sequentially enlarged as the abbey grew in power and prestige, attaining its present aspect, with a segmental apse , in the 11th century. The interior contains
180-594: The Romanesque period, together with the campanile of Abbey of San Mercuriale (75 m), in Forlì . Notable also is the mid-11th century Palazzo della Ragione facing the abbey church in the forecourt or atrium that was built before the abbey church was consecrated in 1026, by an architect trained at Ravenna, Mazulo. 44°49′56″N 12°10′31″E / 44.83222°N 12.17528°E / 44.83222; 12.17528 Cosmatesque Cosmatesque , or Cosmati ,
200-415: The geometric style was heavily influenced by Byzantine floor mosaics . However, the technique is distinct because Cosmati floors are made from various shapes and sizes of stone, a property quite different from opus tessellatum mosaics in which the patterns are made from small units which are all the same size and shape. The stone used by the Cosmati artists were often salvaged material (cf. upcycling ) from
220-463: The history of Eusebius , Cicero 's De officiis and De oratore , the abridgement of Livy called Periochae and the Mathematica of Julius Firmicus Maternus . Until the 14th century the abbey had possessions in the whole of Italy, making its cartulary of more than local importance, but later declined due to impoverishment of the neighbouring area owing to the retreat of the sea front and
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#1732852562535240-405: The increasing presence of malaria of the lower Po valley . It played an important role in the culture of Italy thanks to the work of its scribe monks and in part to the sojourn at Pomposa of Peter Damian . In this abbey Guido d'Arezzo invented the modern musical notation in the early 11th century. The monks of Pomposa migrated to San Benedetto, Ferrara, 1650, leaving the abbey unoccupied. In
260-458: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pomposa&oldid=1025658019 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Pomposa Abbey The earliest report of a Benedictine abbey at this site dates from 874, by which time Pomposa
280-898: The pavements of medieval Roman churches and even in Renaissance times, as, for instance, on the pavements of the Sistine Chapel and the Stanza della Segnatura . Among the churches decorated in cosmatesque style in Rome, the most noteworthy are Santa Maria in Trastevere , St. John Lateran , San Lorenzo fuori le Mura , San Saba , San Paolo fuori le Mura , Santa Maria in Aracoeli , Santa Maria in Cosmedin , Santa Maria Maggiore , San Crisogono , San Clemente , Santa Prassede , Santa Croce in Gerusalemme , and
300-434: The picture from Spoleto (right side) below, whereas opus sectile also includes figurative designs made in the same technique. Opus alexandrinum is another form of opus sectile , where only a few colours are used, such as white and black, or dark green on a red ground, or vice versa. This term is particularly employed to designate a species of geometrical mosaic, found in combination with large slabs of marble, much used on
320-578: The ruins of ancient Roman buildings, the large roundels being the carefully cut cross sections of Roman columns . According to the Catholic Encyclopedia , this style of inlaid ornamental mosaic was "introduced into the decorative art of Europe during the twelfth century by a marble-worker named Laurentius [also known as "Lorenzo Cosmati" ], a native of Anagni, a small hill-town sixty kilometres east-south-east of Rome. Laurentius acquired his craft from Greek masters and followed their method of work for
340-667: Was already a center of sophisticated Carolingian art The settlement was probably two centuries earlier, founded at some point following the devastation of Classe, the port of Ravenna (574) during the Lombard epoch of northern Italy by monks of the Irish missionary, Columbanus . A letter of c. 1093 mentions among classical texts acquired or copied for the library by the abbot Girolamo alludes to Horace ( Carmen Saeculare , Satires , Epistles ), Virgil 's Georgics , Juvenal , Persius , Quintilian , Terence 's Andria , Jerome 's preface to
360-407: Was executed for a church at Fabieri in 1190, and the earliest existing example is to be seen in the church of Ara Coeli at Rome. It consists of an epistle and gospel ambo, a chair, screen, and pavement. "In much of his work he was assisted by his son, Jacobus, who was not only a sculptor and mosaic-worker, but also an architect of ability, as witness the architectural alterations carried out by him in
380-736: Was rediscovered in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which stood under Crusader rule until 1187, and then again at times during the 13th century. Cosmatesque work is also known as opus alexandrinum . Definitions of this term, and the distinction between it and opus sectile , vary somewhat. Some restrict opus alexandrinum to the typical large designs, especially for floors, using white guilloche patterns filled in with roundels and bands in coloured designs using small pieces. Others include any geometric design including large pieces, as in
400-424: Was used in the most prestigious churches; the high altar of Westminster Abbey , for example, is decorated with a Cosmatesque marble floor. The Cosmatesque style takes its name from the family of the Cosmati , which flourished in Rome during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and practiced the art of mosaic. The Cosmati's work is peculiar in that it consists of glass mosaic in combination with marble. At times it
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