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According
to tradition, the martyr St Miniatus, who was suffered
during the persecution of Decius in the 3rd century,
was buried on the hill where the church bearing his
name now stands. It was the idea of the bishop Hildrebrand
to build the basilica, together with the adjoining
Benedictine monastery, on the site where it was believed
that the relics of the saint (today preserved in the
crypt of the church) were found.
Work was begun in 1018 and was completed about 1207.
The new church which was built on the site of an earlier
church reflects the various stages of its construction
in its different parts, from the crypt to the elaborate
marble floor of the nave. The beautiful façade,
of green and white marble in the Tuscan manner, has
a blind colonnade in the lower register. The mosaic
on the pediment showing Christ in benediction between
the Virgin and St Miniatus dates from the beginnnig
of the 13th century. The polychrome marble decoration
of the facade is also a feature of the interior, dominated
by the raised presbytery.
The church, which is one of the masterpieces of the
Tuscan Romanesque, combines a basilical plan of classical
origin with typically romanesque elements; some of
the capitals are Roman and others are romanesque.
The oldest decoration is the mosaics and the marble
inlay work, of which the most important is the central
part of the pavement. This area, which retains its
original decoration, shows interesting figurative
motifs, enriched with symbolic significance. The beautiful
Zodiac, which is originally a pagan motif, here assumes
a Christian symbolic value, according to some, by
its subdivision into twelve signs which allude to
the twelve Apostles. The area of the apse is also
richly decorated, with superb marble inlays on the
altar, the enclosure and the pulpit, and is dominated
by the beautiful mosaic bearing the date 1297; it
depicts Christ in benediction between the Virgin,
St Miniatus, the symbols of the Evangelists and the
kneeling donor, and it is characterised by a technique
making use of strong chromatic contrast.
The sacristy is decorated by a cycle of frescoes of
Episodes from the life of Saint Benedict by Spinello
Aretino (c. 1387), commissioned by Benedetto degli
Alberti. In the 15th century the church received several
new masterpieces. In 1447 Piero de’ Medici commissioned
Michelozzo (or, according to another theory, Alberti)
to build the chapel of the Crucifix, the little tempietto
at the end of the nave, to house the famous Crucifix
which supposedly inclined its head to St John Gualbert
who had pardoned the murderer of his brother. The
eagles are the emblem of Calimala, the Merchants’
Guild that from the 13th century onwards was responsible
for the maintenance of the church.
The Chapel of the Cardinal of Portugal in the left
aisle constitutes an extraordinary gem of the Renaissance
having preserved a combination of architecture, painting
and sculpture as it was originally conceived: it was
built to contain the tomb of James of Lusitania, Cardinal
of Portugal, who died very young in Florence in 1459.
Several of the major artists of the Renaissance worked
in this chapel, having been selected and commissioned
by the Cardinal’s uncle. Possibly designed by
Antonio Manetti, with the later involvement of Rossellino,
it is a kind of jewellery box adorned with painting,
stone and coloured marble. It required the collaboration
of Luca della Robbia for the ceiling in glazed terracotta
with the Cardinal Virtues (1461), and Antonio Rossellino
for the magnificent Tomb with the effigy of the Cardinal
(1461-66). The painted decoration was entrusted in
part to Alesso Baldovinetti, who painted the Eight
Prophets in the pendentives and the Evangelists and
Doctors of the Church in the lunettes as well as the
Annunciation. He was succeeded by the Pollaiolo brothers,
who painted the two curtain-drawing Angels on either
side of the altarpiece depicting St Vincent, St James
and St Eustace, which is also a work by the same artists
(now replaced by a copy; the original is in the Uffizi). |
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San
Miniato Al Monte
The oldest church of Florence
10th century
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Facade
(Detail)
Christ beetwin Madonna and St.Miniato
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