S. Miniato del Monte
| Department | Archive |
|---|---|
| Collection | Byzantine Research Fund |
| Reference No. | BRF/01/05/02/007 |
| Level | Item |
| Place |
Florence |
| Dates | 14/09/1888 |
| Donor/Creator |
Weir Schultz, Mr Robert Barnsley, Mr Sidney Howard |
| Scope and Content | Elevation (interior). This is a preliminary drawing. It is dated in pencil in the lower right-hand corner. |
| Further information | The church of S. Miniato, built on a hill above the town of Florence, displays influences from the early Christian, the Byzantine and to a much lesser degree Romanesque architecture. This, in many aspects ordinary, three-aisled wooden-roofed basilica was never intended to be vaulted, however, transverse diaphragm arches divide the church into different parts that could have been covered by vaults. The crypt beneath the floor is large with the chancel raised higher. Coloured marble revetments; the coloured wooden roof, visible to its interior from inside the church; as well as the building’s elaborate façade constructed in lavish coloured marble, seem to reproduce the classical ancient forms that were to become predominant in Italian architecture of the Renaissance. The monument, which is dated to c. 1013, does not manifest any obvious strong relation to eleventh/twelfth-century Romanesque architecture in the West. |