EUHeritageTOUR-TourGuide-Basic-EN

Italy
Matera,
Benevento,
Foggia,Trevi,
Assisi, Brescia
Longobards and the
Places of the Power. St.
Sofia Church, Benevento
Description
The CHURCH OF SANTA SOFIA is one of the most
complex and best preserved structures of the period of
Arechi II, Duke of Benevento. The Church was built
around 760 as a personal chapel and natio¬nal
Sanctuary by the Duke, for redemption of his soul and
salvation of his people and nation.
The interior space of the characteristic central structure
is divided by columns and pillars laid out to form an
hexagon and a concentric decagon; the columns re-use
capitals from the classical era, placed upside down to
form bases. The Church, with its star layout, is extremely
original and is the result of a blend of Roman-Hellenist
and Byzantine tradition (the characteristic eastern
architecture with a centred plan from the 5th and 6th
centuries) align with the tendency to experiment that was
part of Longobard culture, and in this building it comes
through once again by the intentional use of recycled
spolia.The ancient Church also shows the renewed
interest in buildings with centred plans that spread
especially in northern Europe from the Carolingian
period and mainly for palace chapels. In the two minor
apses there are the most important fragments of the wall
paintings dedicated to stories of the life of Christ, which
pro¬bably covered the entire interior surface of the
Church, the highest evidence of the pittura beneventana,
an art movement parallel to the scriptura beneventana
phenomenon, the national script of the Longobards in
Southern Italy, also used in Monasteries to tran¬scribe
works from antiquity. A female Convent was annexed to
the church of Santa Sofia, whose extraordinary
CLOISTER, rebuilt in Romanesque times, re-uses a
some elements from the original Longobard construction
The complex is the maximum expression of the ideology
of power, having been founded by duke Arechi ii to
serve as a national temple and votive chapel for the
Longobard people. Its original purpose was the
maximum expression of Longobard sovereignty and of
the link with local christian élites, which was also behind
the dedication in line with that of St. Sophia in
Constantinople.
Source: UNESCO/CLT/WHC