{"id":840,"date":"2025-07-20T17:32:03","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T15:32:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblioteca.montesantangelo.it\/bene-culturale\/the-tomb-of-rotari\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T15:08:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T13:08:11","slug":"the-tomb-of-rotari","status":"publish","type":"bene-culturale","link":"https:\/\/biblioteca.montesantangelo.it\/en\/cultural-heritage\/the-tomb-of-rotari\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tomb of Rotari"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/biblioteca.montesantangelo.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/04_Baptistery-Saint-John-in-Tumba-_eng.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The baptistery of St. John, built by Paganus, magister of Sipontum and Rodelgrim according to a parchment dated 1087, recalls a complex symbolism, linked not only to the rite of baptism but also to the representation of the Holy Sepulcher. Known as Rotari&#8217;s Tomb, due to the incorrect interpretation of the term <em>tumba<\/em>, which appears in an epigraph inside the building, the edifice was probably intended for the baptism of the faithful from the nearby church of St. Peter, which has now disappeared. It was erected in the unusual form of a cubic room apsidal to the east, with the walls framed by strong concentric pointed arches, on which were grafted, one on top of the other, a series of irregular geometric shapes tapering upward: an octagonal prism, two cylinders with an ellipsoidal cross-section, and finally a dome interwoven with concentric rings. Two rows of windows and three cornices punctuate its ascending planes, until they give it the appearance of a massive bell tower.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The portal, capitals and cornices, are carved with episodes from the life of Christ, with scenes related to the angelic presence and with allegories of the Vices and Virtues. To a later age, perhaps Angevin, would belong instead the theory of corbels of the upper cornice, with protomes and plant motifs characterized by fleshy carving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The entrance is surmounted by a lunette, which bears an inscription, taken from the Bible, alluding to the redemption inherent in baptism. The upper slab, made of limestone, presents two episodes from the Passion of Christ: the Dropping from the Cross and the Resurrection; the marble lintel shows the scene of the Capture of Jesus in the Garden of Olives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The capitals, on the inside, arranged in two bands, show the scenes of the Sacrifice of Isaac, Balaam and the Donkey, and the Announcement to the Shepherds; the harsh and hard figures reveal a cultured iconographic program and lead back to Aquitanic experiences. On the second frame of the dome, demonic-looking female figures are depicted: the figure in a standing position, identified with the woman of the Apocalypse, is linked for its symbolic value, to the themes of the fall and redemption, a common thread in the narrative fabric of the Tumba. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Bibliography<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Parchment dated 1087 (Chapter Archives of Monte Sant&#8217;Angelo)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Paul Deacon, <em>Historia Langobardorum<\/em>, Liber IV, Ch. 47 (787-789)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Documents from the Diocesan Archives of Manfredonia-Vieste-San Giovanni Rotondo.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Medieval notarial acts of the Gargano (11th-13th centuries).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Bertaux, \u00c9mile, <em>L&#8217;art dans l&#8217;Italie m\u00e9ridionale<\/em>, Paris, 1904<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Venditti, Amedeo, <em>Byzantine Architecture in Southern Italy<\/em>, 2 vols., Naples, 1967<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Prandi, Adriano, <em>Il complesso monumentale della Tomba di Rotari a Monte Sant&#8217;Angelo<\/em>, Rome, 1978<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Belli D&#8217;Elia, Pina, <em>Romanesque Apulia<\/em>, Milan, 1979<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Russo, Eugenio, <em>The architecture of medieval Siponto<\/em>, Bari, 1984<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mola, Stefania, &#8220;The baptistery of San Giovanni in Tumba: architecture and symbolism,&#8221; in <em>Medieval Art<\/em>, n.s. IV, 1 (2005), pp. 51-70<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gentile, Alberto, &#8220;Byzantine and Longobard workers in the medieval Gargano,&#8221; in <em>Archivio storico pugliese<\/em>, XLII (1989), pp. 23-45<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Carletti, Carlo, &#8220;Medieval Epigraphs of the Gargano,&#8221; in <em>Vetera Christianorum<\/em>, 28 (1991), pp. 156-182<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fonseca, Cosimo Damiano, &#8220;Religious Architecture in the Norman South,&#8221; in <em>Cahiers de civilisation m\u00e9di\u00e9vale<\/em>, 35 (1992), pp. 115-131<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Khatchatrian, Armen, <em>Les baptist\u00e8res pal\u00e9ochr\u00e9tiens<\/em>, Paris, 1962<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ristow, Sebastian, <em>Fr\u00fchchristliche Baptisterien<\/em>, M\u00fcnster, 1998<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Piva, Paolo, &#8220;Baptisteries and Baptismal Liturgy in Medieval Italy,&#8221; in <em>Hortus Artium Medievalium<\/em>, 8 (2002), pp. 45-62<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":714,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-840","bene-culturale","type-bene-culturale","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblioteca.montesantangelo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bene-culturale\/840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblioteca.montesantangelo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bene-culturale"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblioteca.montesantangelo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bene-culturale"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/biblioteca.montesantangelo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bene-culturale\/840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":930,"href":"https:\/\/biblioteca.montesantangelo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bene-culturale\/840\/revisions\/930"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblioteca.montesantangelo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblioteca.montesantangelo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}