REAL PHOTO: Pisa, ITALY - The Campo Santo

Description: REAL PHOTO: Pisa, ITALY - The Campo Santo - The Conversation: The Campo Santo, also known as Camposanto Monumentale ("monumental cemetery") or Camposanto Vecchio ("old cemetery"), is a historical edifice at the northern edge of the Cathedral Square in Pisa, Italy. "Campo Santo" can be literally translated as "holy field", because it is said to have been built around a shipload of sacred soil from Golgotha, brought back to Pisa from the Third Crusade by Ubaldo Lanfranchi, archbishop of Pisa in the 12th century. A legend claims that bodies buried in that ground will rot in just 24 hours. The burial ground lies over the ruins of the old baptistery of the church of Santa Reparata, the church that once stood where the cathedral now stands. The walls of the vast structure were covered in over 2600 meters squared of frescoes, a greater expanse than the Sistine Chapel. The earliest, attributed to Francesco Traini, were painted 1336/41 in the south-western corner. The Last Judgement, Hell, Triumph of Death, and the Thebaid (stories of the Desert Fathers), usually attributed to Buonamico di Martino da Firenze, detto il Buffalmacco, were painted in the years after the Black Death. The cycle of frescoes continues with the Stories of the Old Testament by Benozzo Gozzoli (15th century) that were situated in the north gallery, while in the south arcade were the Stories of Pisan Saints, by Andrea Bonaiuti, Antonio Veneziano and Spinello Aretino (between 1377 and 1391), and the Stories of Job, by Taddeo Gaddi (end of 14th century). In the same time, in the north gallery were the Stories of the Genesis by Piero di Puccio. The last images date from the early 17th century. On 27 July 1944, a bomb fragment from an Allied raid started a fire in the Camposanto, which burned for three days, causing the timber lead roof to collapse. The destruction of the roof severely damaged everything inside the cemetery, destroying most of the sculptures and sarcophagi and compromising all the frescoes. This Real Photo postcard is in good condition. Grafina. Rome. No. 70512.

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End Time: 2025-02-13T00:35:49.000Z

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