Professional Documents
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Carlo Tosco
The essay is dedicated to the development of the cross-in-square plan (quincunx) in 9th century architecture and to the relationships
between the Byzantine empire and the West. The elaboration of the model presents different variants which prove the vitality
of the research carried out by architects during the period. Following a historical path, the examples certified in the West are
examined: Santa Maria delle Cinque Torri in Cassino, S. Miquel at Terrassa in Catalua, the chapel of Germigny-des-Prs built
by Theodulf dOrlans and the chapel of S. Satiro commissioned by archbishop Anspert of Milan. These buildings present archi-
tectural similarities and differences and they stem from designs elaborated in Roman times. The examination of the political and
diplomatic relations between the Byzantine empire and the Carolingian kings at the end of the 9th century helps to understand
the dissemination of the cross-in-square plan during this period of architectural history.
The cross-in-square (quincunx) is an ideal architectural court of Constantinople. Interesting examples are found
model, which presents a considerable variety of solutions in Beozia at the Panaghia of Skripou7, built in 873-874 by
and variants1. In this work, we would like to concentrate Protospatharios Leone, and at St. Andrew of Peristerai8,
attention on the development of this constructive scheme in Thessalonica, which was probably founded in 870-871.
in the West in the 9th century and on the relationships exis- It is important to observe that, also in the West, in the
ting between the Frankish world and the Byzantine Empire. Carolingian period, the quincunx model attracted the inte-
The cross-in-square plan had already been used in Roman
architecture, the most famous example being the Praeto-
rium of Musmiye (fig. 1), in Syria, built in 164-169 AD2. In
the Christian world, an important development phase took
place in Eastern Anatolia and Caucasian regions, where
architects elaborated early plans for quincunx churches.
The region subject to the most in-depth study is still that
of Armenia, where the St. Hovhanns in Bagaran (fig. 2) and
the patriarchal church of Emiacin were built in 7th century3.
It is hard to establish exactly how Armenian architecture
can have influenced architecture in the West but, undoub-
tedly, the Byzantine Empire strengthened its relations with
the Caucasian regions and took on an important role in
cultural mediation4. The use of the quincunx in Christian
architecture began to be successful from the 9th century
and spread beyond the Byzantine Empire, developing on
a broad geographic scale between East and West.
In Constantinople, the most famous reference is still
the Nea Ekklesia, built by Basil I in the imperial palace and
consecrated by the patriarch Photius on the 1st of May 8805.
The complete destruction of the monument after the area
was conquered by the Turks make it difficult to reconstruct
its original layout on the basis of documentary sources and
many doubts remain. Descriptions mainly focus on the
richness of the church and the splendour of the decora-
tions but do not allow excessively detailed interpretations
in relation to architecture6. However, it seems evident that
the church of Basil I was a structure with a central plan,
crowned by five domes. The Nea Ekklesia however was
only the most famous of the family based on this model,
and in the same period in which it was built, we know that
the quincunx was also developed in other churches in the
provinces, promoted by high-ranking people close to the Fig. 1. Musmiye (Syria), Praetorium, drawing by de Vog.
490
Fig. 5. Terrassa, S. Miquel, archaeological plan (from M. G. GARCIA I LLINARES, A. MORO GARCA, F. TUSET BERTRN, 2009).
lost entirely, but documents describe it as a lavish building,
befitting to the political and social rank of its owner, full
of decorations and paintings15. Archaeological researches
carried out in the 19th century revealed the presence of a
hypocaust in the palace area, testifying to the level of the
facilities that completed the residence of Theodulf16. The
church of Germigny is largely the result of restoration work
begun in 1845 and directed, from 1867, by the architect Juste
Lisch, the aim of which was to restore the building its pres-
umed original appearance. The most altered part is in the
upper structures and the roofing system, while there is more
certainty in relation to the plan, thanks to the archaeological
investigations (fig. 7) carried out in 1929-3017.
The building was famous for the wealth of its decorative
elements and may have taken on the value of a model to
imitate in the Carolingian world. One particular source
celebrates it as ecclesiam () tam mirifici operis ut nullam
in tota Neustria inveniri potest18. The presence of archi-
tectural elements deriving from the Visigoth architectural
culture, like the horseshoe arches, suggests relations with
the Iberian peninsula, due to the geographic origin of
Fig. 6. Germigny-des-Prs, chapel, axonometric reconstruction Theodulf19. The ornamental elements on the other hand
(from C. B. MCCLENDON, 2005). seem to indicate a link with Italy. The stucco decoration
can be likened to the works created in the Lombardy area The church of S. Satiro24 is a monument which is well
during the Longobard and Carolingian periods, although documented. The testament drawn up by archbishop Ans-
it is hard to identify precise models of reference20. In Rome, pert on the 10th of September 879 states that, upon his death,
the mosaic had been revived during the days of Leo III and his home in the city of Milan be turned into xenodochio (a
Theodulf had followed the court to Italy, attending the house for the care of the poor) entrusted to the monastery
coronation of Charles in 80021. of S. Ambrogio, which was to provide shelter the citys poor
After Theodulf was arrested in 818 and lost all his assets, and pilgrims. The house was a family palace consisting
the villa in Germigny was confiscated by the Carolingian of several buildings built of wood and brick, including
kings and became part of the estate of Charles the Bald as a basilica, built a fundamentis and devoted to saints
regium palacium22. In 843 the king had chosen the palace Satiro, Sylvester and Ambrose. In this case, the term basi-
of Theodulf to celebrate a synod of the French bishops23. lica does not include a type of architecture but a general
This is interesting because it allows us to establish a pro- building of particular importance. Ansperts funerary stone,
bable contact with the second famous quincunx building in housed in the church of S. Ambrogio25, is reminiscent of the
the Carolingian world: the chapel of S. Satiro, built in Milan construction, together with other buildings commissioned
by archbishop Anspert. Once again, this was a small but by the archbishop:
richly decorated private church, built by a high churchman TU[m] S[an]C[t]O SATURO TE[m]PLU[m]QUE
inside a private building. DOMU[m]Q[ue] DICAVIT
492
Fig. 8. Milan, S. Satiro, view of interior, looking east.
In this epitaph, the chapel is mentioned solely with the
dedication to S. Satiro, evidently considered to be most
representative, and this dedication was to remain in the
centuries that followed. The building was therefore built
in the decade between Ansperts election (868) and his
death (879).
The structure conserved today represents just part of
the original monumental complex, which was demolished
to make way for the church of S. Maria, built with the in-
tervention of Donato Bramante from 1477. At that time the
outer walls were covered entirely with a new coat of bricks
and stucco decorations, the roofs were reconstructed and
almost all the interior capitals were replaced. Modern res-
toration work has brought to the light the medieval struc-
tures that were still conserved, earlier by Enrico Strada in
1888-1889, and, later, with the decisive intevention carried
out by Gino Chierici in 1939-194226. The restoration work
directed by Chierici was very attentive, recuperating what
was left of the medieval building, eliminating renaissance
and baroque additions where possible.
The chapel was originally a structure with four semi-
circular apses and four isolated major columns which
formed a central square (fig. 8). There were originally
twelve minor columns applied in the corner spaces, three
on each side. The roof of the central area has been replaced
entirely in modern times and we have no idea of the way
the original roof looked. The bays of the cross arm are barrel
vaulted, like Theodulfs chapel. In the corners however, the
restoration work carried out by Chierici brought connect-
ing flying quadrant vaults (fig. 9). Nowadays, only two col-
umns remain with the original capitals, offering important
evidence of 9th century Lombard sculpture. In one of the
capitals it is still possible to see the hole for insertion of the
beam that supported the pergula in the original liturgical
setting (fig. 10). Fig. 9. Milan, S. Satiro, original vault in the corner compartment, photographed
by G. Chierici in 1940.
Chiericis restoration works ascertained that the outer
perimeter, hidden by renaissance intervention, was curved. ner apses, and four smaller lobes, corresponding to the
The plan developed externally as a multi-lobed cylinder, corner segments. This design is important as there are no
with three slightly larger lobes corresponding to the in- significant comparisons in the Carolingian architecture of
494
Fig. 13. Comparative plans of Germigny-des-Prs (left) and S. Satiro (right), at the same scale.
496
22
M. BOUQUET, Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de France, VIII, Paris, 1870, Diplomata, doc. CXXV (a. 854), p. 535, Actum Germiniaco palatio, and
doc. CXXXI (a. 855), p. 539, Actum in Germiniaco palatio regio.
23
MGH, Concilia aevi karolini, Hannoverae 1984, t. III, pp. 3-7.
24
P. VERZONE, Larchitettura religiosa dellAlto Medioevo nellItalia Settentrionale, Milano, 1942, pp. 128-129; E. ARSLAN, Larchitettura dal 568 al Mille,
in Storia di Milano, II, Milano, 1954, pp. 587-594; G. LISE, Santa Maria presso San Satiro, Milano, 1975; C. PEROGALLI, Analisi critica dellarchitettura
del sacello di San Satiro, in ID., A. PALESTRA, San Satiro fratello di santAmbrogio e santa Marcellina, Milano, 1980, pp. 157-185; G. B. SANNAZZARO, Il
sacello di San Satiro: larchitettura, in S. Bistoletti Bandera (dir.), Il sacello di S. Satiro. Storia, ritrovamenti, restauri, Cinisello Balsamo, 1990, pp. 7-27;
ID., Il sacello e la torre di S. Satiro nelle incisioni e nella documentazione dellOttocento, in Rassegna di studi e di notizie 16, 1991/1992, pp. 255-320;
ID., Larchitettura di S. Satiro, in Insula Ansperti. Il complesso monumentale di S. Satiro, Milano, 1992, pp. 39-64; C. PEROGALLI, Satiro, sacello di S., in
Dizionario della Chiesa Ambrosiana, V, Milano, 1992, pp. 3227-3231; G. B. SANNAZZARO, Per S. Maria presso S. Satiro e Leonardo: nuovi documenti, in
Raccolta Vinciana 25, 1993, pp. 63-85; ID., Per il sacello e la torre campanaria di S. Satiro a Milano: novit e precisazioni, in G. Colmuto Zanella, F. Conti,
V. Hybsch (dir.), La fabbrica, la critica, la storia. Scritti in onore di Carlo Perogalli, Milano, 1993, pp. 268-280. Per linserimento del San Satiro nel quadro
generale dellarchitettura carolingia: W. JACOBSEN, Die Lombardei und die karolingische Architektur, in Atti del 10 Congresso internazionale di studi
sullalto Medioevo, Milano, 1983, Spoleto, 1986, pp. 436-437; A. PERONI, Ansperto, in Enciclopedia dellarte medievale, II, Roma, 1991, pp. 57-58; C. B.
MCCLENDON, op. cit. (n. 1), p. 132; G. CIOTTA, op. cit. (n. 14), pp. 293-294; M. LUCHTERHANDT, Rinascita a Roma, nellItalia carolingia e meridionale,
in S. de Blaauw (dir.), Storia dellarchitettura italiana. Da Costantino a Carlo Magno, II, Milano, 2010, pp. 345-349.
25
For recent investigations on Ansperts epitaph: M. PETOLETTI, Copiare le epigrafi nel Medioevo: lepitafio di Ansperto in S. Ambrogio a Milano e la sua
fortuna, in Italia medioevale e umanistica 42, 2002, pp. 91-114; see also A. TCHERIKOVER, Atria vicinas struxit et ante fores. The fictitious Carolingian
atrium of SantAmbrogio at Milan, in Arte lombarda n.s., 149, 2007, pp. 5-9.
26
G. CHIERICI, La cappella della Piet in San Satiro, in Atti del IV Convegno Nazionale di Storia dellArchitettura, Milano, 1939, pp. 25-44, and ID., La
chiesa di S. Satiro a Milano e alcune considerazioni sullarchitettura preromanica in Lombardia, Milano, 1942. See also: L. GALLI, Il restauro nellopera
di Gino Chierici (1877-1961), Milano, 1989, and R. AMORE, Il contributo di Gino Chierici al dibattito sul restauro negli anni Quaranta, in Id., Andrea
Pane, Gianluca Vitagliano (dir.), Restauro, monumenti e citt: teorie ed esperienze del Novecento in Italia, Napoli, 2008, pp. 94-143.
27
For urban archaeological researches in the area: A. PALESTRA, Ritrovamenti det romana presso S. Satiro e loro rapporti con la documentazione del
sec.IX, con una nota di M. Mirabella Roberti, Milano, 1964; ID., Ricerca sulle strutture urbane di un isolato al centro di Milano comprendente la basilica
di Santa Maria presso San Satiro, in Arte lombarda n.s. 64, 1983, pp. 29-42; M. L. Gatti Perer (dir.), Milano ritrovata. Lasse di via Torino, Milano, 1986;
Milano capitale dellimpero romano (286-402 d.C.), Milano, 1990; D. CAPORUSSO, M. T. DONATI, S. MASSEROLI, T. TIBILILETTI, Immagini di Medio-
lanum. Archeologia e storia di Milano dal V secolo a.C. al V secolo d.C., Milano, 2007.
28
S. BARONI, B. SEGRE, Il restauro dei dipinti del sacello di Ansperto, in S. Bistoletti Bandera (dir.), Il sacello di S. Satiro. Storia, ritrovamenti, restauri,
Cinisello Balsamo, 1990, p. 66.
29
The drawing was published by G. B. SANNAZZARO, Larchitettura di S. Satiro, op. cit. (n. 24), p. 41.
30
G. ARNALDI, La tradizione degli atti dellassemblea pavese del febbraio 876, in La critica del testo. Atti del secondo Congresso internazionale della
Societ italiana di storia del diritto, I, Firenze, 1971, pp. 51-68.
31
N. GHIGLIONE, Il libro nel territorio ambrosiano dal VI al IX secolo, in C. Bertelli (dir.), Il millennio ambrosiano. Milano, una capitale da Ambrogio
ai Carolingi, Milano, 1987, p. 147.
32
Relations between S. Satiro and the chapel of Germigny had already been recognised by G. T. RIVOIRA, Le origini dellArchitettura Lombarda, Rome
1901, p. 272; for a critical assessment: ARSLAN, Larchitettura dal 568 al Mille, p. 588, and W. JACOBSEN, op. cit. (n. 24), pp. 436-437.
33
A. DUCELLIER, J. FERLUGA, J.-P. ARRIGNON, A. CARILE, La guerra e la politica estera, in A. Ducellier (dir.), Bisanzio, Torino, 1988, pp. 132-133, e G.
RAVEGNANI, I Bizantini in Italia, Bologna, 2004, pp. 155-157.
34
In the Lombard area, isolated cases in the Romanesque period are the oratory of Paderna (A. SEGAGNI MALACART, Sulla tipologia delle cappelle
castrensi attorno al Mille: la chiesa inedita di S. Maria di Paderna, in Storia dellarte 41, 1981, pp.14-20), and the baptistery of Galliano, probably to be
interpreted as a recovery of the prestigious model of S. Satiro (M. ROSSI, dir., Pittura a Galliano: un orizzonte europeo, Milano, 2010). In the Adriatic area,
there is a recent hypothesis of reconstruction with a quinconce plan of the chapel of the patriarchs of Grado in Rialto: G. ROSSI, G. SITRAN, Linsula
realtina sede dei patriarchi di Grado, Venezia, 2010, pp. 68-75; for S. Claudio al Chienti (11th century): P. PIVA, Marche romaniche, Milano, 2003, pp. 43-
55, and H. SAHLER, San Claudio al Chienti e le chiese romaniche a croce greca iscritta nelle Marche, Ascoli Piceno, 2006; for Croatian examples of 11th
century: T. MARASOVI, Quincunx u ranosrednjovjekovnoj arhitekturi Dalmacije, in Starohrvatska prosvjeta ser. III, 20, 1990, pp. 215-224.
Ovaj rad posveen je razvoju quincunxa u arhitekturi 9. biskup Anspert. Ove graevine predstavljaju arhitektonske
stoljea i vezi izmeu Bizantskog Carstva i Zapada. Elabo- slinosti, ali i razlike te proizlaze iz nacrta razraenih u rim-
racija modela predstavlja varijacije koje dokazuju vitalnost sko doba. Pregled politikih i diplomatskih odnosa Bizanst-
istraivanja koje su proveli tadanji arhitekti. Slijedei kro- kog Carstva i karolinkih vladara na kraju 9. stoljea pomae
nologiju, prouavani su sigurni primjeri sa Zapada: Santa nam shvatiti irenje kvadratnog tlocrtnog plana s upisanim
Maria delle Cinque Torri u Casinu, San Miguel u Terrassi u kriem tijekom ovog perioda arhitekturne povijesti.
Kataloniji, kapela Germigny-des-Prs koju je izgradio Teodulf
Orleanski i kapela San Satiro koju je naruio milanski nad- Prevela: Nada Beni