Description
The Tempietto di San Giovanni al Sepolcro is a round Romanesque church in Brindisi's old town, built in Norman times in imitation of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. It's no longer used for worship, but you can visit it: a small, mysterious building with one of the finest portals in the city.
The circular walls are made of large blocks of carparo. The main portal has a pointed porch on two columns resting on lions, with capitals carved with fantastic figures.
The doorjambs of the portal tell a story in stone: vines inhabited by real and mythological animals locked in combat, Old Testament scenes with Samson and Noah, and a Norman warrior recognizable by his long oval shield. At the top left a crowned ruler appears in front of a tent, like the Byzantine emperors in mosaics.
The small south door also has decorated jambs, with panels of animals in very low relief, believed to date from the 10th century.
The interior has a horseshoe-shaped plan. Eight columns of cipollino marble and granite, each with a different capital and some of ancient origin, support the roof that replaced the collapsed dome; an ambulatory runs around them. On the walls remain frescoes from the 13th and 14th centuries: a Deposition, a Madonna and Child, Saint George and other saints.
Through an opening in the floor you can see the floor of a Roman domus, uncovered by excavations carried out inside.
Local tradition says it was built by Bohemond on his return from the crusade: perhaps, but the documents don't say so. What's certain is that the round shape recalls the Anastasis, the rotunda built around the tomb of Jesus, like the church of Santo Sepolcro in Bologna or the Rotonda di San Lorenzo in Mantua.
It belonged to the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre, present in Brindisi as early as 1126: in 1220 Pope Honorius III placed it under his direct protection, along with the order's other churches.
When Pope Innocent VIII dissolved their order in 1489, it passed to the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, and took its present name from them. Some have attributed it to the Templars, without evidence.
The earthquake of 1761 brought down the roof and shifted the columns, which are still out of line: 80% of the frescoes were lost. Restored in the mid-19th century, it housed the Civic Museum from 1850 to 1955.
Don't miss
• The main portal.
• The Norman warrior on the doorjambs.
• The 13th- and 14th-century frescoes.
• The Roman domus beneath the floor.
Did you know?
• For a long time it was wrongly believed to be a baptistery built over an early Christian temple.
The circular walls are made of large blocks of carparo. The main portal has a pointed porch on two columns resting on lions, with capitals carved with fantastic figures.
The doorjambs of the portal tell a story in stone: vines inhabited by real and mythological animals locked in combat, Old Testament scenes with Samson and Noah, and a Norman warrior recognizable by his long oval shield. At the top left a crowned ruler appears in front of a tent, like the Byzantine emperors in mosaics.
The small south door also has decorated jambs, with panels of animals in very low relief, believed to date from the 10th century.
The interior has a horseshoe-shaped plan. Eight columns of cipollino marble and granite, each with a different capital and some of ancient origin, support the roof that replaced the collapsed dome; an ambulatory runs around them. On the walls remain frescoes from the 13th and 14th centuries: a Deposition, a Madonna and Child, Saint George and other saints.
Through an opening in the floor you can see the floor of a Roman domus, uncovered by excavations carried out inside.
Local tradition says it was built by Bohemond on his return from the crusade: perhaps, but the documents don't say so. What's certain is that the round shape recalls the Anastasis, the rotunda built around the tomb of Jesus, like the church of Santo Sepolcro in Bologna or the Rotonda di San Lorenzo in Mantua.
It belonged to the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre, present in Brindisi as early as 1126: in 1220 Pope Honorius III placed it under his direct protection, along with the order's other churches.
When Pope Innocent VIII dissolved their order in 1489, it passed to the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, and took its present name from them. Some have attributed it to the Templars, without evidence.
The earthquake of 1761 brought down the roof and shifted the columns, which are still out of line: 80% of the frescoes were lost. Restored in the mid-19th century, it housed the Civic Museum from 1850 to 1955.
Don't miss
• The main portal.
• The Norman warrior on the doorjambs.
• The 13th- and 14th-century frescoes.
• The Roman domus beneath the floor.
Did you know?
• For a long time it was wrongly believed to be a baptistery built over an early Christian temple.