The Holy Trinity Complex of Venosa contains the stratification of traces inherited by the Romans, Lombards and Normans. The structure is composed of the ancient church (or the old church), which gives access to the main entrance and the Church Unfinished (or New Church), the construction of which was never completed. The Abbey (which initially consisted only of the ancient Church) was raised by the Benedictines before the coming of the Normans. The original nucleus consists of a Paleochristian Basilica sort between the V and the VI century, where previously there was a pagan temple dedicated to the hymen. In 1059, was consecrated by Pope Nicholas II. In the same year Roberto il Guiscardo wanted to make the Church the memorial of Altavilla and brought inside the mortal remains of his brothers Guglielmo “Popeye” Umfredo and Drogo.
The Ancient Church
the romanesque input exhibits on the left side two sculptures of stone lions and four projections, which correspond to as many-sided overlapping one another in the course of the centuries. From right to left: the first protrusion is of the norman period between the XI and the XII century; the second is the Lombards, dated back to the X century; the third is the VIII-IX century and the fourth is the entry side of the Paleochristian Basilica, currently closed. When passing through the doorway you can admire various sculptures of civilization as diverse as the so-called column of friendship, Opera Romana surmounted by a Byzantine capitals. The column was thus called because tradition says that girarvi around keeping for hand is an omen of eternal friendship and for the young bride that you compress between column and wall, a wish of fruitfulness. Just before the entrance of the Church, there are two-sided. The first consists of a portal made by Master Palmieri in 1287 and to its left, is seen a great fresco of the XV century depicting San Cristoforo. The second facade is composed by the massive arc of the portico, followed by the other two arches surmounted by a gallery of small blind arches. Near the facade is the staircase that leads to the monastery. The inner part of the Church occupies a surface area of about 1000 square meters while the height of the ceiling to the center of the building, measuring just over 10 meters. The central nave is divided in four other constituted by large arches (8 right and 6 left) wide 10,15 meters, excluding the thickness of the pillars. The apse is placed at the bottom and has a semicircular shape with a radius of 3,95 meters. In the face of the two pillars of the angle of the nave is erect two columns of about 5,40 meters, adorned with capitals romans in Corinthian style.
The unfinished church
building was begun with the use of materials from monuments of various civilizations, including the Roman, Longobard and Jewish. Its design dates back to the XII century, when the ancient Church was judged a place unsuitable to contain a certain number of faithful, then opted to architect a vast extension behind the apse, with the aim of creating a single large basilica. It says that the work funded by the Benedictines, began toward the middle of 1100 but the rhythms went as waning because of the swinging patrimony of the Benedictines and also because these were forced to abandon venous, because the abolition of their monastery at the behest of Pope Boniface VIII in 1297. The Order does not paid attention to the monastic system of the new church and an initial allocation of its headquarters within venous, precisely in the “Palazzo del Balì”. From that moment, the structure was not completed. The entrance, crossed by a semicircular arc, highlights a lunette decorated by a propitiatory inscription that calls for the protection of God on the Temple and the monks, as well as the peace of spirit and body. Above the lunette is the lamb with the cross or the symbol of the Order of the Knights of Malta. Inside of the still unfinished, you can find various works and ornaments which belonged to the Roman Amphitheater, as the epigraph of gladiatoria school of Salvio Capitone, that presents a list of gladiators who fought in the Amphitheater. In addition you can admire various bas-reliefs as the funerary stele of Cinna, family of the Roman Consul Lucius Cornelius Cinna and the Group of three Vipers, Longobard iconography.
The Archeological Park
located close to the Church is unfinished, preserves testimonies comprised between the republican period and the Middle Ages. It is possible to admire the spa complex, articulated in different environments as the “frigidarium”, composed of a mosaic depicting marine animals and the “calidarium”, the hot bath with small pillars in brick. It continues for the episcopal complex of the Most Holy Trinity, containing at the center a baptismal font hexagonal in shape, preceded by three small naves, in one of which there is formed a second tank cruciform baptismal.
pm-bas.museovenosa@benicuturali.it