This huge Pisan Romanesque cathedral, with its carved pulpit by Giovanni Pisano, is artistically more important than its more famous bell tower.
The Duomo is the centerpiece of the Field of Miracles’ complex of religious buildings. Begun in 1063, it was financed by a galley-load of booty ransacked that year from the Muslim-held capital of Palermo, Sicily.
The architect Buschetto created the frilly Pisan Romanesque style that set the tone for the Baptistery and Tower that followed. In the 1150s, the architect Rainaldo added the impressive main-entrance façade.
Exterior – The lower half of the church is simple Romanesque, with blind arches. The upper half has four rows of column that form arcades. Stripes of black-and-white marble, mosaics, stone inlay, and even recycled Roman tombstones complete the decoration.
Nave – The 320-foot nave was designed to be the longest in Christendom when it was built. It’s modeled on a traditional Roman basilica, with 68 Corinthian columns of granite (most shipped form Elba and Corsica in 1063) dividing the space into five aisles. But the striped marble and arches-on-columns gave the nave an exotic, almost mosque-like feeling.
Galileo’s Lamp – The bronze incense burner is said to the one (actually, this is a replacement of the original) that caught the teenage Galileo’s attention one day in church. According to legend, someone left a church door open, and a gust of wind set the lamp swinging.
Galileo timed the swings and realized that the burner swung back and forth in the same amount of time regardless of the width of the arc. This pendulum motion was a constant that allowed Galileo to measure our ever-changing universe.
Apse Mosaic – The mosaic (c. 1300, partly done by the great artist Cimabue) shows Christ Pantocrator (“All Powerful”) between mary and St. John the Evangelist. Pantocrator image of Christ is standard fare among Eastern Orthodox Christians – that is, the “Byzantine” people who were Pisa’s partners in trade.
Dome – Look up into the dome. Because this church is dedicated to Mary – the patron and protector of the city – you’ll see the Assumption of Mary. As the heavens open, and rings of saints and angels spiral upward, a hazy God greets Mary (in red.) Beneath the dome is an inlaid-marble, Cosmati-style mosaic floor. The modern (and therefore controversial) marble altar and pulpit were carved by a Florentine artist in 2002.
Giovanni Pisano’s Pulpit – (1301-1311) The 15-foot-tall, octagonal pulpit by Giovanni Pisano (c.1240-1319) is the last, biggest, and most complex of the four pulpits created by the Pisano father-and-son team. Four hundred intricately sculpted figures smother the pulpit.
The creamy-white Carrara marble has the look and feel of carved French Ivories, which the Pisanos loved. At the base, lions roar and crouch over their prey, symbolizing how Christ (the lion) triumphs over Satan (the horse, as in the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse).
Four of the pulpit’s support “columns” are statues. The Central “column” features three graceful ladies representing Faith, Hope, and Charity. Around the top of the pulpit, Christ’s life unfolds in a series of panels. Since the panels are curved and unframed, you “read” Christ’s life in a continuous scroll.
St. Ranieri’s Body – In a glass-lined casket on the altar, the skeleton of Pisa’s patron saint lies, encased in silver at his head with his hair shirt covering his body.
Bronze Doors of St. Ranieri – (Porta San Ranieri) Designed by Bonanno Pisano (c. 1186) who is thought by some historians to have been the Tower’s first architect – the doors have 24 different panels that show Christ’s story using the same simple, skinny figures found in Byzantine icons. (The originals are housed in the Duomo Museum).
