Tarquinia: MRA-ITA-Tar061
Type Sample Item
Sample ID
- MRA-ITA-Tar061
Sample Material Type
- Mural painting
Sample Sub-type
- fragment
Dimensions (cm)
- Length
- 4.6
- Width
- 2
- Height
- 0.2
Weight
- weight value (g)
- 2.6
Geographic Location
- Country
- Italy
- Place
- Tarquinia
Site/monument
- Italy (ITA)
Tarquinia
Chiesa di San Giovanni
Historical note about the site/monument
- The church of San Giovanni Gerosolimitano is a parish church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, protector of the Knights Hospitallers. The Church has been erected between the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th century and was originally in possession of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a Hospitaller religious order (1182). The adopted architectural style is Gothic-Romanic, with the most significant expression of the Gothic style in some elements of the Church façade. In the exterior, a double pitched roof could be noticed, one corresponding to the central nave and the remaining slope roofs covering the lateral naves. A huge rose window of Gothic inspiration is located on the center of the façade and the church is accessible through three portals topped by pointed arches. The floor plant is rectangular with a semicircular apse and three naves. The central is taller, huger and longer than the side naves. Two huge colonnades divide the central nave from the others and consist of large rectangular pillars reinforced on each side by slightly projecting angled buttresses that support round arches. The side naves end at two polygonal chapels, while the central extends to the chancel, hosting the choir and apsis. On the upper story of the central nave, six single-lancet windows on the left and an equal number on the right allow the light in the building. The apertures on the left side were designed as slightly transverse to force the light to the interior of the church. The apsis is on a slightly higher level than the rest of the church and six cuspidate spurs acting as slim buttresses divide the wall into seven sections, each with a mono-lobate window. The lateral naves are decorated with frescoes, one of the most remarkable of which has been attributed to the workshop of Piermatteo of Amelia (1445-1508). The Church was originally flanked on the right from a small hospital in duty for healthcare and assistance of pilgrims in malady. On the rear of the apsis, there was a cemetery. All structures passed later on the Order of the Holy Sepulcher, that disregarded the hospital till abandoning it.
Chronological period (sample)
- 12th-13th century