Description
The Cathedral is a wonderful synthesis of Byzantine, Early Christian, and Romanesque elements. The floor mosaic is particularly noteworthy.
The Cathedral, dedicated to Santa Maria Annunziata, was built in the 12th century on the site of previous settlements dating back to the Messapian, Roman, and Early Christian periods.
Consecrated on August 1, 1088, by Papal Legate Roffredo, under the papacy of Urban II, it is the largest cathedral in Salento. The façade, with two gabled sides and two single-lancet windows, features a Renaissance rose window in the center, rebuilt by Archbishop Serafino da Squillace after the city's liberation from Turkish rule, which lasted 300 days from 1480 to 1481, a period during which the Cathedral was transformed into a mosque.
Basilica-shaped with a Latin cross plan (53 meters long and 25 meters wide), it is divided into three naves by 14 marble columns with capitals, abacuses, and echinuses, upon which arches rise. It has a large bema and three semicircular apses. In 1482, the right apse was enlarged to create the Chapel of the Martyrs of Otranto.
The roof is trussed and covered by a gilded coffered ceiling, commissioned by Archbishop Francesco Maria De Aste, along with a triumphal Baroque arch and the display of the remains of the Holy Martyrs of Otranto in seven marble shrines.
The Mosaic
The mosaic floor, created between 1163 and 1165, during the reign of William the Bad, was commissioned by Archbishop Gionata and bears the signature of the priest Pantaleone. It is the only intact Norman mosaic floor in Italy and depicts a gigantic arbor vitae, a veritable medieval summa translated into images.
Inside, one can observe allegorical figures such as the Ascension of Alexander the Great or King Arthur, Old Testament themes such as the Tower of Babel, the Great Flood, Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, a medieval calendar, Hell, and Paradise.
The mosaic, commissioned in 1163 by the Archbishop of Otranto, Gionata, was executed by the monk Pantaleone.
"His intention was to reproduce in images what his brothers taught and studied in his monastery," writes Don Grazio Gianfreda. "It reveals that East and West are a distinction required by time and history; that they do not represent the clash of two cultures, but rather the compendium of a single culture that can preserve its identity even through the changes imposed by events." Pantaleone represents the historical moment in Otranto during those years, when two religions, Christianity and Judaism, coexisted, and where different cultures coexisted.
The mosaic in Otranto Cathedral was created with polychrome tesserae made from very hard local limestone. The style is Romanesque, with some Byzantine elements.
The mosaic extends along the central nave, the side aisles, the apse, and the presbytery. Pantaleone intended to symbolize the drama of humanity in the struggle between good and evil, between virtue and vice. "The mosaic must be read, or rather leafed through, page after page, carefully," Don Grazio tells us, as if it were a great stone book. A towering "tree of life" stands in the central nave, its branches adorned with characters of all kinds: biblical, mythological, historical, animals, angels, devils, and monstrous creatures. In the Old Testament, this tree symbolized the immortality of God. "Everything originates from the tree," Don Grazio writes; "the tree is the root, the source of every manifestation of life." Here you can clearly see King Arthur, Cain and Abel, the months and the zodiac, the Tower of Babel, Diana and the wounded deer, the Chessboard of Being, Alexander the Great on two winged griffins, the two great elephants supporting the tree, and so on. Presbytery Pantaleone has enclosed the entire history of humanity here.
To begin with, one can notice the temptation of Adam and Eve in Eden. It continues with the depiction of ten wheels containing a bestiary, and finally, four medallions depicting the Queen of Sheba, King Solomon, the Siren, the Leopard, and the Ram. In the Apse, the artist retraces, through his art, the story of the prophet Jonah.
Along the upper section, then, are portrayed the boar hunt, likely representing the struggle between Christians and Satan, and Samson, symbolizing the victorious Christ.
Right aisle
Another tree of life, called the "Tree of Redemption," is depicted. In the upper section, five figures, known as the "Giants," can be seen. Solomon can then be recognized, holding a document. Further along, one notices "the rite of the goat for the great day of atonement" (Leviticus 16:5-25). Immediately afterward, animals embodying virtues and vices appear: the winged sphinx, the enigma; the harpies, voracity; the Minotaur, vulgarity; the boar, Satan; the wolf, heresy. Pantaleone places the two-headed lion with its head turned upward as the guardian of the tree.
Left aisle
Another tree, called the "Last Judgment" tree, stands out, representing Christ the Judge. Here, the mosaic is divided into two parts: on the right, Heaven; on the left, Hell.
The Crypt (11th century) has three semicircular apses and forty-eight bays punctuated by over seventy columns, semi-columns, and pilasters that support the Cathedral's transept. Its distinctive feature is the diversity of the supporting elements, originating from ancient and early medieval buildings, with a varied figurative repertoire.
To the right of the altar is the fresco of the Black Madonna Hodegetria.
Credits: Municipality of Otranto