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San Galgano Abbey – the ruins in splendour
by Richard Zahra
I walked along large fields covered in giant sunflowers. Such scenes were quite common in the Tuscan countryside but some of the sunflowers I saw there were very special indeed. Little fingers had carved expressions on their big, round, yellow faces. They gazed at the passer-by with various expressions of happiness, sadness or wonder. They kept me company until the trail took me far up and around the gentle hill of Montesiepi, on which the original hermitage of San Galgano was built. There it stood; its crude elegance enhanced by a backdrop of breathtaking natural beauty. I gazed at the surrounding countryside, a generous blend of wild, wooded hills and cultivated land. Far down, soaring majestically out of the green countryside, stood the proud and splendid remains of the great abbey.
The hermitage of San Galgano was a collage of buildings built successively through the ages. The elegant rotunda was originally built to house the remains of San Galgano, the knight who renounced war to live in spiritual hermitage. It was said that Galgano slid his sword in a rock and thereafter venerated it as the symbol of the cross. The sword in the rock was still housed in the temple. The rotunda was accompanied by an atrium, a slender belfry, an austere fourteenth century square chapel, and the original monastery. It was here that the original Cistercian community lived, until they commissioned the building of the great abbey in the fertile valley below the hill of Montesiepi. These buildings, added at later dates, looked almost clumsy in the presence of the elegant Romanesque rotunda, decorated in polychrome marble bricks.
The hermitage of San Galgano was a collage of buildings built successively through the ages. The elegant rotunda was originally built to house the remains of San Galgano, the knight who renounced war to live in spiritual hermitage. It was said that Galgano slid his sword in a rock and thereafter venerated it as the symbol of the cross. The sword in the rock was still housed in the temple. The rotunda was accompanied by an atrium, a slender belfry, an austere fourteenth century square chapel, and the original monastery. It was here that the original Cistercian community lived, until they commissioned the building of the great abbey in the fertile valley below the hill of Montesiepi. These buildings, added at later dates, looked almost clumsy in the presence of the elegant Romanesque rotunda, decorated in polychrome marble bricks.
I went through the atrium under the watchful gaze of three human faces and a cow, sculpted upon the cornice. As I found myself inside the rotunda I was engulfed by a sense of infinity. The semicircular apse, facing east, housed a small altar. The sword in the stone lay in a hollow, facing the altar. Three windows, set geometrically at the points of an imaginary triangle, concentrated light on the sword, illuminating it to the point mythical splendour. It made me recall King Arthur’s sword in the stone.
As I looked up towards the cupola, alternate circles of white and terracotta-coloured circles made me feel as if I was soaring up towards the heavens. A pleasant feeling of peace and serenity drew over me like a veil. It was as if the troubles of the world outside could not penetrate into this oasis of tranquillity.
After spending a few moments of meditation, deep in my own thoughts, I walked through the door that led to the Gothic chapel. Its vaulted ceiling and walls were decorated with frescoes attributed to the Sienese artist Ambrogio Lorenzetti. The time-ravaged frescoes depicted religious allegorical scenes. One of them pictured a young, golden-tressed Galgano presenting the sword in the stone to the Archangel Michael. Two venerable bishops, dressed in their episcopal finery supervised the event. The theme of San Galgano and his renunciation of war and worldly matters must have been a cult to the medieval inhabitants of the region.
I left the Gothic chapel with a heavy heart, the fading colours of the decaying frescoes still in my mind. I pondered how easily we take the beautiful things around us for granted only to weep after they have been lost forever through our negligence and passivity.
The vivid colours of the sky, painted by the setting sun, greeted me as I walked out of the building. The brilliant hues washed away my worries. I ran down the path towards the car-park feeling very light-hearted, remembering my childhood sprints along the downhill path from Hagar Qim to Mnajdra. I had journeyed far and wide that day, so I was longing for the delicious Tuscan supper, that the skilful farmhouse cook, Fabrizio, was certainly preparing. The thought of good food sent my senses reeling and I almost stumbled upon a loose rock, to the amusement of two senior, local citizens walking by. They surely thought I had a loose nut!
I drove back with a feeling of satisfaction at the day’s achievement. The majestic ruins of San Galgano Abbey and the romantic hermitage of San Galgano had left a long lasting mark upon me that would always be a treasured part of my memories.
As I looked up towards the cupola, alternate circles of white and terracotta-coloured circles made me feel as if I was soaring up towards the heavens. A pleasant feeling of peace and serenity drew over me like a veil. It was as if the troubles of the world outside could not penetrate into this oasis of tranquillity.
After spending a few moments of meditation, deep in my own thoughts, I walked through the door that led to the Gothic chapel. Its vaulted ceiling and walls were decorated with frescoes attributed to the Sienese artist Ambrogio Lorenzetti. The time-ravaged frescoes depicted religious allegorical scenes. One of them pictured a young, golden-tressed Galgano presenting the sword in the stone to the Archangel Michael. Two venerable bishops, dressed in their episcopal finery supervised the event. The theme of San Galgano and his renunciation of war and worldly matters must have been a cult to the medieval inhabitants of the region.
I left the Gothic chapel with a heavy heart, the fading colours of the decaying frescoes still in my mind. I pondered how easily we take the beautiful things around us for granted only to weep after they have been lost forever through our negligence and passivity.
The vivid colours of the sky, painted by the setting sun, greeted me as I walked out of the building. The brilliant hues washed away my worries. I ran down the path towards the car-park feeling very light-hearted, remembering my childhood sprints along the downhill path from Hagar Qim to Mnajdra. I had journeyed far and wide that day, so I was longing for the delicious Tuscan supper, that the skilful farmhouse cook, Fabrizio, was certainly preparing. The thought of good food sent my senses reeling and I almost stumbled upon a loose rock, to the amusement of two senior, local citizens walking by. They surely thought I had a loose nut!
I drove back with a feeling of satisfaction at the day’s achievement. The majestic ruins of San Galgano Abbey and the romantic hermitage of San Galgano had left a long lasting mark upon me that would always be a treasured part of my memories.