[expand title=”The Cathedral. Lanfranco, a God-inspired architect”]
The first stone of the Cathedral of Modena, a magnificent example of Romanesque art that impressed its contemporaries and still does, with its outstanding beauty and uniqueness, was laid on June 9th 1099. A contemporary chronicle, Relatio de innovazione ecclesiae Sancti Geminiani, tells us that God inspired the architect to make that choice. The city’s clergy and residents commissioned the Cathedral to Lanfranco, known as an admirable artist and a magnificent sculptor, who created a new, daring architecture that left its mark on Romanesque art. The Cathedral was consecrated in 1106. The facings were made with recycled material from the Roman Mutina – as Modena was called in ancient times – as proven by scientific surveys recently conducted for the 2006 restoration.[/expand]
[expand title=”Wiligelmo’s sculptures and the spiritual universe of the Middle Ages”]
Wiligelmo’s sculptures admirably fitted in with the backbone designed by Lanfranco. He and his school are the authors of the beautiful decorations that filled with plant motifs and fantastic creatures every capital of the gallery, the pilasters and every corbel arch, architectural features dotted like a rhythmic counterpoint all around the Cathedral. Wiligelmo’s school must also be credited for the sacred and lay, heavenly and monstrous sculptures on the façade, which sum up the spiritual world of the Medieval man, his faith, his hopes, his fears, his certainties and his doubts. But Wiligelmo’s great talent came into its own in the decoration of the Main Door, where, with primeval but powerful impact, he summed up the typical views of the men of his time. All sorts of monstrous creatures, images of sin that constantly threaten man’s spiritual path, live amidst the intricate vegetable tangles that resemble a wood, a place viewed as frightening and deceitful, the symbol of human life. Hence the fight that opposes the believer to a wild crowd of lions, dragons, centaurs: monsters borrowed from ancient repertoires and medieval bestiaries. But, while the journey of life is a tough road, the aim is Salvation: happy scenes of a harvest hint at “the Lord’s vineyard”. The doorjambs are decorated with figures of Patriarchs and Prophets, announcing Christ’s return, emphasising the symbolic meaning of the church ‘Door’ as a bridge between two states: the state of the faithful, gathered inside, safe, and the state of the people outside, who could fall prey to the devil. Still extremely touching after nine centuries, the façade shows impactful scenes from the Book of Genesis, sculpted by Wiligelmo on four big stone plates. The story of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah’s Ark still retain, untouched, that deep intensity, an unusual depth of expression, and an extraordinary narrative ability.[/expand]
[expand title=”Other subjects in the iconography of the Cathedral: the life of St Geminiano, the twelve Months, the Matter of Britain, and the many fantastic creatures”]
Wiligelmo and his pupils also worked at the other two doors opened by Lanfranco in the Cathedral. The beautiful Porta dei Principi, overlooking Piazza Grande, welcomes the congregation by telling them the story of the patron saint, St Geminiano, turned into an illustrated story. On the north side, near the Ghirlandina Tower, the Porta della Pescheria, which stands out for the human look on the two Telamones who speak to whoever crosses the threshold, asking to be helped to carry the huge burden that hangs over them. Man and his efforts are the subject of the sculptures on the inner doorjambs of this door, on which the twelve Months working in the fields are portrayed in the guise of men. The sphere of fantasy and storytelling is the one that inspired the unusual archivolt, in which the Matter of Britain is painted, and the jambs and the architrave, where animals from ancient fairy tales peep out of a thick tangle of plants. Lastly, a special mention goes to the Metopes, embossed on the highest tips of the roof with a lively repertoire of fantastic, monstrous creatures: those we see on the Cathedral now are in fact replicas, since the original ones were taken to the Cathedral’s Museo Lapidario.[/expand]
[expand title=”The Maestri Campionesi finish the masterpiece that is the Cathedral”]
From the late XII century to the early XIV century, Lanfranco and Wiligelmo were replaced by the Maestri Campionesi, stonecutters from Campione, a town on Lake Lugano, organised into veritable family-run studios. It was them who opened the big rose window and the two side doors on the façade as well as the beautiful Porta Regia on Piazza Grande, its precious rosy marble standing out on the snow-white wall of the Cathedral. The Maestri Campionesi are also the artists who sculpted the ambo and the screen with scenes from the Passion, which lead to the Crypt with the tomb of St Geminiano.[/expand]
[expand title=”The Ghirlandina Tower: a symbol of the city’s civic past”]
Next to the apse of the Cathedral, the Ghirlandina Tower, the symbol of Modena, soars tall and elegant in its harmonious proportions. The name by which it is affectionately known by the people of Modena originates from the marble balustrades crowning its spire ‘like graceful garlands’. Although built as the bell Tower, the Ghirlandina has since its beginnings held an important civic function: the sound of the bells marked the rhythms of city life, announced the opening of the city gates and rallied the citizens in situations of alarm or danger. Its mighty walls were custodian to the town hall’s ‘sacristy’: here were stored the strongbox and all public documents, such as the celebrated 12th century ‘stolen pail’ (today a facsimile), the bone of contention between Modena and Bologna in the raging historical battle of Zappolino (1325). The chronology of the Ghirlandina is still uncertain, as primary historical sources for the early period of its construction were destroyed during a fire in the 11th century. The first five floors of the Tower were probably built in the Romanesque period and finished at the end of the 12th century, as shown by an inscription on plant motifs walled into the Tower. This can be seen above the second cornice on the east side of the Tower. The last floor and the octagonal spire, in an exquisite gothic style and decorated by several garlands, were designed and built by Enrico da Campione between 1261 and 1319. The external wall of the Ghirlandina Tower stands out for its wealth of sculptures and a stone facing made of reused materials from the Roman city buried under a thick alluvial layer. Inside the Ghirlandina Tower, on the fifth floor we find the Stanza dei Torresani, once home to the Tower custodians, in which we can admire capitals presumably sculpted by the Maestri Campionesi. The most important ones are the Capitello dei Giudici, the Capitello di David, which looks very much like the sculptures in the corners of the third external cornice of the Tower, and the Capitello dei Leoni.[/expand]
[expand title=”Piazza Grande, the historic place of civic life”]
Opened in the XII century, the Cathedral Square, Piazza del Duomo, came to be known as Grande in the late XVII century. It has always been the centuries-old beating heart of Modena, splendidly framed by the Cathedral, the Ghirlandina Tower and the portico of the Town hall, the historical symbols of the city’s political and religious authorities. For centuries, this place has been the scene of spiritual power, embodied by the Bishop and the Cathedral Chapter. It was also the scene of wordly power: the rules and principles of social life were dictated from the steps of the magnificent Porta Regia or from above the rail of the Town hall. The nuntii, the messengers, left from the square on their horses, wearing a red cap, to announce good and bad news, sometimes warning about an impending danger; it is here that armed men and knights in charge of defending the community from enemy attacks gathered. The Square was also the place in which justice was dispensed: offenders were executed here, exemplary punishments were inflicted here, but such a charming setting was also a place of joy and celebration. The chronicles tell us that, on special occasions, big bonfires were lit up in the Square. In the 16th and 17th centuries, when, after the expulsion of the House of Este from Ferrara in 1598, Modena had become the capital of the state, in the Square the residents could attend for free that sort of ‘ersatz’ plays that were the acrobats’ shows. In addition, the Square became a particularly cheerful place during the Carnival celebrations, which largely surpassed those of any other festive season. Moreover, for centuries and until 1936, Piazza Grande had hosted the market and the economic trades, strictly managed according to laws that had been in force since as early as 1327, which laid down in which places of the Square the goods on sale had to be put during the Saturday market. The ancient measurements that the traders had to adhere to for their trades can still be seen in the apse of the Cathedral: pertica, coppo, mattone and braccio. In the Middle Ages, an “Ufficio della Buona Stima”, assumedly symbolised by the statue of a woman, locally known as Bonissima, which can still be seen in a corner of the Square, made sure all traders behaved honestly.[/expand]