Description
The Portico of the Knights Templar is a medieval loggia in Piazza Duomo, Brindisi, next to the cathedral: two Gothic arches of carparo that now serve as the entrance to the Ribezzo Archaeological Museum. It's worth a look even just passing through the square.
The two pointed arches are separated by a Greek marble column with a capital decorated with a wickerwork pattern. Above, the two cross vaults have two-tone ribs, white stone and golden carparo.
Under the vaults medieval finds are on display, including a large stone sarcophagus. One section of the loggia is a modern completion, from the 1950s.
In reality, it has nothing to do with the Templars: the name came from a theory of 18th-century scholars. It probably dates from the 12th or 13th century and may have been part of the first archbishop's palace. In the 16th century it was the ground floor of the De Cateniano family's palace, and Lucio De Cateniano, the city's mayor, donated it to the town hospital.
The two pointed arches are separated by a Greek marble column with a capital decorated with a wickerwork pattern. Above, the two cross vaults have two-tone ribs, white stone and golden carparo.
Under the vaults medieval finds are on display, including a large stone sarcophagus. One section of the loggia is a modern completion, from the 1950s.
In reality, it has nothing to do with the Templars: the name came from a theory of 18th-century scholars. It probably dates from the 12th or 13th century and may have been part of the first archbishop's palace. In the 16th century it was the ground floor of the De Cateniano family's palace, and Lucio De Cateniano, the city's mayor, donated it to the town hospital.