Chapel of Saint Galgano, Montesiepi, Chiusdino, Siena, Tuscany, Italy, Europe

Описание: The chapel of San Galgano in Montesiepi is a place of Catholic worship located in Montesiepi in the municipality of Chiusdino, in the province of Siena. There is preserved the sword that, according to tradition, Galgano Guidotti would have driven into the rock as a sign of renunciation of worldly life. It was built on the site where the noble knight Galgano Guidotti retired and lived as a hermit until his death in 1181. The original building was already completed in 1185. In the 14th century the chapel was enlarged through the construction of the atrium and side chapel. In the same period the upper external part of the drum and the bell tower formed by two superimposed single lancet windows were also added. In the seventeenth century, the blind lantern was built above the roof and at the end of the 18th century the canonical house and the buildings for agricultural use were built on the right side of the chapel. In 1924 it was restored and in 1974 the restoration extended to adjacent buildings. It has a unique cylindrical shape. The exterior of the chapel has, in the lower part, a wall facing made of travertine blocks arranged in a thread and in the upper part a two-colored masonry with white (travertine) and red (brick) bands, a motif that is also found in the frames of the mullioned windows. The façade of the pronaos is dominated by an opening with a round arch in which the motif of the duotone is repeated; above is a Medici coat of arms and at the top of the facade there is a cornice decorated with anthropomorphic sculptures (3 human heads), zoomorphic (a bovine head) and phytomorphic (a leaf), sculptures related to the first core of the building . A small semicircular apse is also inserted in the plant. The interior has a circular stone base and the coverage was achieved by a hemispherical vault with concentric two-color rings (cotto and travertine). This type of construction is referable to the Pisan-Lucca Romanesque area which shows one of the first manifestations in Sienese territory. The roof is reminiscent of the Etruscan tholos tombs. The circular wall is opened by four asymmetrical double splayed lancet windows. On the opposite side to the entrance opens the semicircular volume of the apse. In the center is the famous boulder in which the sword of St. Galgano is inserted.