Photos of the Romanesque Pisa Cathedral Architecture & Art

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Photos of the Medieval Beautiful Historic Romanesque Pisa Cathedral Architecture & Art.(Duomo di Pisa). Photos by photographer Paul E Williams.  (TIP – use the icons below the slideshow for thumbnail photos and info)

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Photos of the Medieval Romanesque Pisa Cathedral Architecture & Art.

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Photos of the Romanesque Pisa Duomo Architecture & Art including the Baptistry of Pisa & The Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Pisa Cathedral Consecration

Consecrated in 1118 the Pisa Cathedral is a fine example of Pisan Romanesque architecture. Construction began in 1063 and was completed in 1092. A new facade was addedin the 12th century and the roof was replaced after damage from a fire in 1595.

Originally built using a Greek cross plan with a cupola at the crossing, today the plan of the Pisa Cathedral is a Latin cross with a central nave flanked by two side aisles on each side, with an apse.

Design of Pisa Cathedral

The facade of Pisa Cathedral, built by Master Rainaldo, is of grey and white marble, decorated with coloured marble inserts. The facade has three doorways above which are four levels of loggia divided by cornices with marble intarsia, behind which open single, double, and triple windows.

Pisa Cathedral Christ Pantocrator Fresco

Above the altar in the apse is a Byzantine style depiction of Christ Pantocrator of Christ in majesty. Christ is seated with the bible in his left hand. He is making a blessing with his right hand. His finders are almost making the Chi Rho sign traditional on orthodox blessings in which the thumb touches the third finger. This makes the symbol Chi Rho, the greek letters for “To Christ”. The Pisa Cathedral was built in 1064 30 years after the Great schism between the Orthodox and Catholic Christian churches. The mosaic of the Pisa Duomo seems to indicate that the Catholic Church has stopped using the traditional Chi Rho blessing.

In 1064 it is fair to say that western art had not yet quite broken away from Byzantine art to find its own voice and style. The fingers of Christ in the mosaic of Pisa Duomo still uses the shape of the blessing used in Orthodox Christ Pantocrator depictions but the fingers do not quite form the “Chi Rho” shapes of Eastern Orthodoxy.
The apse mosaic of Pisa Duomo is though unmistakably a Byzantine Roman mosaic.