Colombainglesepagina
We know from Vitruvius -De Architectura-
that, already in roman age, they used to build temples with
oriented windows to allow the sunbeams to enlighten a precise
point of the building in a fixed moment. This moment usually was
the sunrise in the holiday of the god titular of the temple.
Its widely known from the
ancient texts and from studies about the Medieval architecture-
that the habits of erecting sacred buildings calculating the
direction of the sunbeams in precise days was inherited by the
Christian architecture.
The reason of all this can be found in
the thematic of the Heavens gates that, in this case, will
be just evokated.
As sample of the importance of the
orientation in the churches, we can point out the case of the
destroyed riminese cathedral of Santa Colomba.
Rimini actually was -and is- the only
Italian town whose cathedral has the evocative dedication to
Santa Colomba
(1)
of Sens (Central France) , martyr of the Senon
people.
The precise reason of the dedication to
this saint- venerated in Rimini almost since the VIth cent.- had
already been forgotten in XIth cent..
In fact, in one document of the XIth
cent. -and, later, in 1155 a. C., when the ancient
palaeochristian cathedral
(2)
was restored mainly in the apsidal zone-, Santa
Colomba (colomba=dove) was quoted as symbol of the Holy Spirit.
Nevertheless this attempt to
"direct" the devotion to a more usual
"subject" clashed with many aspects of the ancient
religious tradition, so, a legend, that datable to the same XIIth
cent., tells of the miraculous arrival -after a travel by sea- in
the town, of a relic belonging to Colomba of Sens. This relic
still existed in the XVIth. cent. when other relics of the
martyr, coming from Sens, were added to it.
The reasons of the dedication to Santa
Colomba of Sens are anyway unknown still today.
A confirmation of the ancient dedication
to Santa Colomba of Sens can be deduced from the orientation of
the old cathedral, witnessed by the still existing bell-tower and
by some drawings belonging to the XVIIth cent.
So, we can note that the axis of the
building was oriented to around 33° AZ thats -more
or less-
(3)
in that point of the horizon where the sun rises
in Rimini the day of the feast of Santa Colomba (December, 31st).
So, probably, the (only?) apse of the
ancient palaeocristian building had a window just in the centre
and it was enlightened just in that moment.
We can add that, once that the apsidal
zone was rebuilt in the XIIth cent. when the reason of the
dedication had been forgotten the apse didnt show any
central window anymore, while the apse on the right "leans
forward" (?) making a clear asymmetry in the plan. This
certainly depends on the need to allow the sunshine to enlighten
the window on the right, that was probably an oriented window.
Picture (left) a plan of the XVIIth
cent. ; (centre) hypothetical palaeo-christian plan; (right)
hypothetical plan in the XIIIth. cent.
(1)
As far as the
knowledge of the author is, other italian churches and almost one
cathedral are dedicated to Santa Colomba, but they usually are
references to the Holy Spirit or to santa Colomba of Aquileia.
A little church (pieve)
dedicated to Santa Colomba of Sens can be found in Onferno, a
little village around Rimini. The dedication to Santa Colomba of
Sens is anyway quite diffused in other european contries.
(2)
The old writers
point out its origins in IVth cent.
(3)
The ancient
drawings have a degree of precision that, of course, doesnt
fit with todays standards.
The liturgical christian year
-with reference to the julian calendar- was stated in 325 a. C..
We know that the mistakes of
the julian calendar brought , in 1582, when it was reformed, to a
difference of 11 days between the solar year and the year of the
calendar.
So, the quite precise
orientation of S. Colomba witnesses its ancient origin.
A quite recent study
(1960-1970) about Santa Colomba reports a wrong orientation of
the church; the mistake can be identified in around 33° (!)
Pagina iniziale
- Index page
Appunti
- Notes
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