Basilica di San Nicola (Bari)

Basilica Di San Nicola (Bari)

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Basilica di San Nicola (Bari)

The Basilica di San Nicola (Basilica

Basilica

The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a ancient Rome public building , usually located in the Forum of a Roman town. In Hellenistic cities, public basilicas appeared in the 2nd century BC....
of Saint Nicholas

Saint Nicholas

Saint Nicholas is the common name for Nicholas of Myra, a saint and Bishop of Myra . Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker....
) is a church in Bari

Bari

Bari is the capital city of the province of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic sea, in Italy. It is the second economic centre of mainland Southern Italy and is well known as a port and university city, as well as the city of Saint Nicholas....
, southern Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
, that holds wide religious significance throughout Europe and the Christian world. The basilica is an important pilgrimage

Pilgrimage

File:Supplicating Pilgrim at Masjid Al Haram. Mecca, Saudi Arabia.jpgIn religion and spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long quest or search of great moral significance....
destination both for Italians and Orthodox Christians from Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is a term that applies to the geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the Europe. Throughout history and to a lesser extent today, parts of Eastern Europe has been distinguishable from Western Europe and other regions due to cultural, religious, economic, and historical reasons, even though there i...
.

basilica

Basilica

Italo-Norman

The Italo-Normans, or Siculo-Normans when referring to Sicily, were the Italy-born descendants of the first Norman conquest of southern Italy to travel to the Mezzogiorno in the first half of the eleventh century....
domination of Apulia

Apulia

Apulia is a region in southeastern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Otranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south....
, the area previously occupied by the Byzantine Catapan

Catapanate of Italy

The Catepanate of Italy was a province of the Byzantine Empire, comprising mainland Italy south of a line drawn from Monte Gargano to the Gulf of Salerno....
of which Bari was the seat.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Basilica di San Nicola (Bari)'

Start a new discussion about 'Basilica di San Nicola (Bari)'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

The Basilica di San Nicola (Basilica

Basilica

Saint Nicholas

Bari

Italy

Pilgrimage

Eastern Europe

History

The basilica

Basilica

Italo-Norman

Apulia

Catapanate of Italy

The Catepanate of Italy was a province of the Byzantine Empire, comprising mainland Italy south of a line drawn from Monte Gargano to the Gulf of Salerno....
of which Bari was the seat. Its foundation is related to the stealing of the relic

Relic

A relic is an object or a personal item of Religion significance, carefully preserved with an air of veneration as a tangible memorial. Relics are an important aspect of some forms of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, shamanism, and many other religions....
s of St. Nicholas from the saint’s original shrine in Myra

Myra

File:Myra Theatre.JPGMyra is an ancient town in Lycia, where the small town of Kale is situated today in present day Antalya Province of Turkey....
, in what is now Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
. When Myra passed into the hands of the Saracens, some saw it as an opportunity to move the saint's relics to a more hospitable location. According to the justifying legend, the saint, passing by the city on his way to Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
, had chosen Bari as his burial place. There was great competition for the relics between Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital city of the Italian regions Veneto, a population of 271,251 . Together with Padua, Italy, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area ....
and Bari. The last-named won, the relics were carried off under the noses of the lawful Greek custodians and their Mohammedan

Mohammedan

Mohammedan is a term used as both a noun and an adjective meaning belonging or relating to either the religion of Islam or to that of the Prophets of Islam Muhammad....
masters, and on May 9, 1087, were safely landed at Bari. A new church was built to shelter Nicholas' remains and Pope Urban II

Pope Urban II

Pope Urban II , born Otho de Lagery , was Pope from March 12, 1088 until his death. He is most known for starting the First Crusade and setting up the modern day Roman Curia, in the manner of a royal court, to help run the Church....
was present at the consecration

Consecration

Consecration is the ritual dedication to a special purpose or service, usually religious. The word "consecration" literally means "to associate with the sacred"....
of the crypt

Crypt

In terms of European architecture, a crypt is a stone chamber or vault beneath the floor of a church usually used as a chapel or burial vault possibly containing sarcophagus, coffins or relics....
in 1089. The edifice was officially consecrated in 1197, in the presence of the Imperial Vicar

Vicar

In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, anyone acting "in the person of" or wiktionary:agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant, literally the "place-holder"....
, Bishop Conrad of Hildesheim, and of numerous bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordination or consecration member of the Clergy#Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight....
s, prelate

Prelate

A prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy who either is an ordinary or ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from Latin pr?latus, the past participle of pr?ferre, literally, "carry before," or "to be set above, or over," or "to prefer," hence a prelate is one set over others....
s and noblemen. Elias, abbot

Abbot

The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery....
of the nearby monastery

Monastery

Monastery , a term derived from the Greek language word ???ast?????, neut. of ???ast????? - monasterios denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of Monk, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in Cenobium or alone ....
of St. Benedict, was named as first archbishop

Archbishop

In Christianity, an archbishop is an elevated bishop. In the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion and others, this means that they lead a diocese of particular importance called an archdiocese, or in the Anglican Communion an Ecclesiastical Province, but this is not always the case....
. His cathedra

Cathedra

A cathedra is the chair or throne of a bishop. It is a symbol of the bishop's teaching authority in the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, and has in some sense remained such in the Anglican Communion and in Lutheran church es....
(bishop's throne) still stands in the church to this day.

Architecture

The church has a rather square appearance, seemingly more suited to a castle than to a church. This impression is strengthened by the presence of two low massive towers framing the façade. It was indeed used several times as castle during its history.

The interior has a nave

Nave

In Romanesque architecture and Gothic architecture Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and Church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar....
and two aisles, divided by granite columns and pilasters. The presbytery

Presbytery (architecture)

The Presbytery is the name for an area in a church building which is reserved for the clergy.References...
is separated from the rest of the edifice by mean of three arches supported by columns of Byzantine influence. Above the aisles is the matronaeum, a tribune

Tribune (architecture)

Tribune is an ambiguous often misused architecture term which can have several meanings.The word stems from medieval Latin tribuna, from classical Latin tribunal, the elevated placing of a Tribune or other Roman magistrate's seat for official functions such as throne....
gallery for women, opening into the nave. The basilica was the first church of this design, setting a precedent which was later imitated in numerous other constructions in the region.

Treasures

The Basilica houses one of the most noteworthy Romanesque sculptural works of southern Italy, a cathedra

Cathedra

Ciborium

A ciborium is a covered container used in Roman Catholic Church, Anglican, and related churches to store the consecration host s of the sacrament of Holy Communion....
, the most ancient in the region, is also decorated with mosaic; it has four columns with foliage, animals and mythological figures. The crypt, with 26 columns sporting capitals in Byzantine and Romanesque style, houses the relics of St. Nicholas.

In the church is the Renaissance tomb of Bona Sforza

Bona Sforza

Bona Sforza d'Aragona was a member of the House of Sforza who in 1518 became the second wife of Sigismund I of Poland.When her mother Isabella of Naples died in 1524, Bona succeeded to the titles Duchess of Bari and Princess of Rossano....
, (sixteenth century), in marble. The museum of the Basilica has precious works of art, including a collection of twelfth-century candlesticks donated by King Charles I of Anjou.

The church was restored in the late thirteenth century, in 1456 and in the seventeenth century. In the twentieth-century restoration, most of the Baroque

Baroque

In the the arts, the Baroque was a Western cultural Epoch , starting roughly at the beginning of the 17th century in Rome, Italy. It was exemplified by drama and grandeur in Baroque sculpture, Baroque painting, literature, Baroque dance, and Baroque music....
additions were removed, leaving only the giled wooden ceiling, enframing canvases by Carlo De Rosa.

Feast days

December 6 is Saint Nicholas Day, the main feast day of Saint Nicholas. On this day, it is traditional for the clergy of the basilica to lower a flask into the suberranean tomb of Saint Nicholas to extract some of the myrrh

Myrrh

Myrrh is a reddish-brown resinous material, the dried Plant sap of a number of trees, but primarily from Commiphora myrrha, native to Yemen, Somalia, the eastern parts of Ethiopia and Commiphora gileadensis, native to Jordan....
which is believed to exude from the relics. Containers of this myrrh are sent all over the world, and believers have reported numerous miracles as a result of being anointed

Anointing

To anoint is to pour or smear with perfumed oil, milk, water, melted butter or other substances, a process employed ritually by many religions and races....
with it. For those Orthodox Churches which follow the traditional Julian Calendar

Julian calendar

The Julian calendar, a reform of the Roman calendar, was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, and came into force in 45 BC . It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year, known at least since Hipparchus....
, December 6 falls on December 19 of the Gregorian Calendar

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom it was named, on 24 February 1582 by the papal bull Inter gravissimas....
, so there will actually be two celebrations of the same holy day: one according to the New Calendar (December 6) and one according to the Old Calendar (December 19). Both are celebrated with great solemnity at Bari.

May 9 (May 22) is celebrated annually in the Russian Orthodox Church

Russian Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox Church ; or The Moscow Patriarchate , also known as the Orthodox Christian Church of Russia, is a body of Christianity who constitute an Autocephaly Eastern Orthodox Church under the jurisdiction of the List of Metropolitans and Patriarchs of Moscow, in full communion with the other Eastern Orthodox Churches....
as the feast day of the "Translation

Translation (relics)

In Christianity, the translation of relics is the removal of holy objects from one locality to another . This translation took different forms, including all-night vigils, and the carrying of the precious remains in a bier of gold or silver, overshadowed with silken canopy....
of the Relics of Saint Nicholas from Myra to Bari".

Pilgrim

Pilgrim

A pilgrim is one who undertakes a pilgrimage, literally 'far afield'. This is traditionally a visit to a place of some religious or historic significance; often a considerable distance is traveled....
ages to the basilica from Eastern Europe have increased dramatically since the fall of the Iron Curtain, not only for the feast days, but throughout the year.

Basilica di San Nicola (Bari)

History

Architecture

Treasures

Feast days

See also

External links