San Gregorio fuori le mura in Rimini (Ariminum) - Notes about its iconography
In the early half of the XVIIIth cent., abbot Gervasoni still could note some mosaics in the apse of San Gregorio where he saw: "… the figure of Christ shepherd, with lambs around him and other pictures that can be hardly distinguished because of the damages of the old age." (Gervasoni – Letter) . These mosaics had already disappeared when, in the following century, Pietro Santi made his drawings.
http://spazioinwind.libero.it/iconografia/gregorioanteprima.htm
In the first ten years of the XIXth cent. Cav. Seraux D’Agincourt visited the palaeo – Christian buildings of Rimini to gather documentary evidence for his "Histoire del l’art par les monuments" (1); in one of its pages, actually, we can find the picutures of some capitals of San Gregorio .
Other capitals where drawn by Pietro Santi, so we can get a quite clear idea of their form.
Thanks to these pictures, we can guess that , during the Middle age, the internal of San Gregorio fuori le mura could have this aspect:
http://spazioinwind.libero.it/iconografia/gregXVIbuno.jpg - 3D reconstruction
As far as the iconography is concerned, we can only say that the reference to the Christ shepherd once again recalls the age of Galla Placidia and the mosaics of her mausoleum in Ravenna.
http://rubens.anu.edu.au/htdocs/surveys/charlotte/0002/000213.JPG
We can that add that the presence of the laurel wreath at the top of the dome and the picture of the empty throne in the apse (above the shepherd) seems particularly interesting.
In the opinion of the author, this kind of images, that, together with the palm trees, are certainly references to the glorious dimension of the Resurrected Christ, can also point out the possible presence of an important relic in the building.
The same twelve festoons in the dome are an allusion to the Church (12 apostles) and they, with their leafs and fruits, are symbol of fertility.
We must not forget that the christian world "…is fertilized richly with the blood of the martyrs" (2).
Carlo Valdameri
(1)See http://spazioinwind.libero.it/iconografia/Michelino.htm
(2) St. Augustine of Hippo – The City of God –XXII ,7
Pagina iniziale - Index page
Novità - News
Ricostruzioni in 3D - 3d Reconstructions (with other pages about the church of San Gregorio)
