San Frediano, Romanesque church in Pisa, Italy.
San Frediano is a Romanesque church in Pisa, with an interior divided into three naves carried by marble columns with carved capitals. The plain stone facade contrasts with the care given to the interior layout, where the columns draw your eye steadily toward the altar end.
Documented from 1061, the church was founded by the Buzzaccherini-Sismondi family and first dedicated to Saint Martin, with a hospital for pilgrims and the poor. Camaldolese monks held it from 1076 to 1561 and rebuilt it in Pisan Romanesque style. The Knights of Santo Stefano followed until 1594, then the Barnabites until 1783; a 1675 fire led to Baroque vaults and apse. It became a parish church in 1784 and the university church in 1999.
The wooden crucifix in the Chapel of the Holy Cross shows Christ as a triumphant king rather than a suffering figure, upright and with open eyes. This type of image, known as Christus Triumphans, was common in Romanesque art and differs clearly from the suffering Christ that became more common in later centuries.
The church stands on Piazza San Frediano in central Pisa, a short walk from the Arno and the city's main sights. The facade faces the square, while the brick bell tower is set back behind it. The interior is entered from the square through the main portal.
Greek inscriptions carved at eye level near the entrance portal match markings found on two other buildings in Pisa. Their origin has not been fully explained, which suggests ties to Mediterranean trading networks of earlier centuries that are no longer easy to trace.
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