A forest of columns in Monte Amiata

 

Already in the sixth century, the warlike Germanic people of the Lombards had conquered a part of Byzantine Italy and had the opportunity to develop their own architectural style based on antique and Byzantine examples.

 

 

  In an eighth-century crypt, sheltered by the 300-years-younger church of the Monastery of San Salvatore, early medieval stonemasonry and modern lighting technology have come together and created a magical space.

 

   
Although not comparable, I cannot help but think of the forest of columns of the mosque in Córdoba.

 

  Here, Lombard artists created 36 monolithic columns with richly varied sculpted capitals. They carry a brick groin vault. During its twentieth-century restauration, twelve columns were newly created.

 

  Translation: Erik Eising (M.A.)