San Sisto, Viterbo
San Sisto is a Romanesque-style Roman Catholic church in the town of Viterbo in the Region of Lazio. The church was once known as San Sisto fuori la Porta Romana.
Description[]
The church was erected in the 11th-century, likely on the site of a prior chapel or aedicule. It once had an adjacent palace and monastery, and served as a hostel for pilgrims en route to Rome. The church has undergone a number of reconstructions along the centuries, most notably after much damage from bombing during World War II.
A 19th-century description of the church bemoaned the state of the church:[1]
Later transformations embellished even more brutally, the primitive style of this temple. The vaults were designed to conceal the old skeletal roofs of the aisles: many altars ripped through the majestic nakedness of the walls and insolent masons covered them with mortar giving in to those who can care not a whit how many paintings, inscriptions and other precious memories existed in that place.
The simple facade was reconstructed after the war. The lower of two belltower dates to the 13th-century. The taller belltower, with 19th-century clock, was originally a defensive tower in the city walls. The latest reconstruction removed much of the post-Romanesque additions, including an adjacent nave. The basilica layout has a series of rounded arches, perched on medieval Corinthian columns, flanking the linear central nave, that leads to a series of staircases rising to the altar and apse. The apse once abutted the medieval walls of Viterbo.
The interior contains both a font and an altar derived from Roman spolia. The sole internal altarpiece is a Madonna, Child, and Saints (1457) by Neri di Bicci.[2][3]
Notes[]
- ^ Posteriori trasformazioni sofisticarono, anche più barbaramente, il tipo primigenio di questo tempio. Le volte vennero a celare i vecchi tetti a scheletro delle navate: molteplici altari squarciarono la maestosa nudità delle pareti: ed insolenti scialbatori di calce avranno dato di frego a chi sa quante pitture, iscrizioni e altre preziose memorie di quel luogo.Gli ospizi medioevali e l'Ospedal-grande di Viterbo: memorie storiche, by Cesare Pinzi (1893), page 173.
- ^ Viterbo Città d'Arte – Chiesa di San Sisto, Associazione Culturale no-profit Benclaro website, entry curated by Dr. Fulvio Ricci.
- ^ Temporo Libero website, entry on church.
External links[]
Media related to San Sisto (Viterbo) at Wikimedia Commons
- Roman Catholic churches in Viterbo
- Romanesque architecture in Lazio
- 12th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy