[ Apr.2019 ] The cathedral in Lodi, the town in Lombardy in the north of Italy, faces a large square called Piazza della Vittoria.
The outside of the cathedral is rather simple and it is made of bricks.
The deformed lions, which looked very old, are protecting the main entrance.
Apparently, these lions are made in the 12th century.
The inside was unexpectedly very large.
We had been looking down on Lodi as a small local town, but the magnificence of the cathedral showed that it has been an important city.
This is apparently one of the largest cathedrals in Lombardy.
It was founded in 1158.
In those days, there were many city states in Italy and they kept fighting amongst themselves.
Lodi was destroyed by the Milanese in 1111.
After that, it was recovered and they rebuilt the city in 1158, the same year of the founding this cathedral.
So the cathedral and the town are the same age.
The first phase, including the crypt, was completed in 1163 and for the inauguration, Barbarossa (Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick I) attended the ceremony.
After that, many works
for renovations and extensions were done, so some parts are Romanesque and other parts are Gothic and so on.
The bell tower was added in the 16th century.
On the inner wall, some beautiful frescoes remained and they were mainly made in the 15th century.
I wonder if the wall was full of frescoes back then and if so, it would have been spectacular, like some of the Orthodox churches in Georgia and other countries.
The oldest part of the cathedral is the crypt and here there was a magnificent coffin.
The person in it is the patron saint St. Bassianus, who lived in the 4th century.
Also, there was a newer grave with modern coffins attached to the crypt.
They must have been for the bishops of this cathedral.
There was a staircase on the right hand side of the altar, and when we went up there, we found a Sacred Art Museum.
The ceiling there was impressive, more so than the exhibits.
