The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta

"Crypt"

The so-called ‘crypt’ is one of the most surprising and mysterious areas of the cathedral complex. First of all, the existence of this space was only hypothesized until its discovery by chance in 1999; secondly, the oblivion into which these rooms fell enabled them to remain in a perfect state of conservation. One can only be astounded at the sight of the columns covered with painted decorations of extraordinary vivacity, and our wonder and excitement grow in front of the brilliant colors of the wall paintings that dispel forever the idea of the Middle Ages as a “dark” time. The narrow door bears witness to the tormented history of this space, perhaps originally built as a secondary entrance to the cathedral, facing in the direction of what had become the pulsating center of the city. Probably as a result of the collapse of the ancient baptistery, which was traditionally located in front of the main entrance to the cathedral, the decision was made to extend the nave further outwards at the apse end, taking advantage of the space created underneath it because of the slope of the hill to build the new baptistery there. Therefore this room had to be sacrificed, filling it in up to a certain level with dirt and rubble and cutting across the vaults of the ceiling so the floor of the nave above it could rest on the supporting columns. It was just this rubble and fill that kept the colors so fresh by protecting them from the action of sunlight and atmospheric agents. Thus we are now able to admire what remains of a vast cycle of paintings in tempera on dry plaster, arranged in two bands. The top one, almost completely lost because of the demolition of the vaults, illustrated Stories from the Old Testament, while the lower band presented Episodes from the New Testament, as well as a scene taken from the apocryphal Gospels, the Rest on the Flight into Egypt. The scenes, datable around 1280, are a fundamental document for the study and knowledge of the Sienese school of painting before Duccio, in which the names of Dietisalvi di Speme, Guido di Graziano, and Rinaldo da Siena emerge, a school that evidently already had its distinctive trait in the sense of color. The final episodes of the Passion of Christ: the Crucifixion, Deposition from the Cross, and Deposition in the Tomb dominate the room. The pathos of the men and women watching the Divine Drama unfold is deeply moving, from the surprise of those who look at Christ on the cross and begin to intuit the divine nature of Jesus right at the moment of his death, to the unspeakable suffering of Mary who cannot stand up on her own and has to be supported by one of the pious women, or the very gentle gesture of the Mother embracing the lifeless body of her Son as he is taken down from the cross and laid in the tomb, placing her face next to his. The women take part in Our Lady’s grief, caressing Christ’s wounded hands with their own faces and weeping desperately over the tomb. In the sepulcher can be noted also the grief of John, the young and beloved apostle, as well as that of Peter, perhaps even more heartbroken by his awareness of having abandoned the Master right at the crucial moment, denying him. Anyone entering the cathedral through this space could not help putting himself and his own life in the crucial drama of history: the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, the salvation of mankind.