Modena Cathedral and the Ghirlandina
The Romanesque of Wiligelmo
In the centre of Modena, the Cathedral, the Ghirlandina tower and Piazza Grande form one of the masterpieces of European Romanesque, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. The cathedral was begun in 1099 to house the remains of Saint Geminianus, patron saint of the city, by the architect Lanfranco, celebrated in an inscription on the apse as "famous for his genius", and decorated by the sculptor Wiligelmo, one of the great masters of the Middle Ages. On the façade, his four reliefs of the stories of Genesis, from the Creation to the Flood, are among the first great narrative sculptures of Romanesque art in Italy, with powerful, expressive figures. Later masters, the Campionesi, added the large rose window and the pontile inside, with the scenes of the Passion.
The interior, in warm brick, has a raised presbytery above the crypt, a forest of columns where the tomb of Saint Geminianus is kept, displayed to the faithful every 31 January, the feast of the patron saint. Next to the cathedral rises the Ghirlandina, the bell tower, about 86 metres high, which takes its name from the marble "garlands" of its Gothic spire, and which can be climbed. Inside is preserved a copy of the "Secchia rapita", the wooden bucket stolen by the Modenese from the Bolognese in 1325 after a battle, which inspired a famous mock-heroic poem by Alessandro Tassoni; the original is in the Palazzo Comunale, on Piazza Grande.
Tip: the Ghirlandina is open at weekends and on public holidays; the Musei del Duomo display the original sculptures of the façade.
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