THE CROSS TO THE CRYPT UGENTO Ugento Leaving from the town and along the route to the altitude of release Casarano Melissa find a rock church recently reopened to the public after a long period of restoration.
The crypt below the church with the call of the Cross (the Crucifix) is one of many rock-hewn churches of Salento.
Monks Basilian Rite greek, arrived in Salento since the year 726 AD when Emperor Leo III Isaurico promulgated the edict against the worship of sacred images (iconoclasm), the Eastern Roman Empire;
The churches stood mostly rock or along the old lines of communication (eg via sallentina Trajan), or from old rural settlements of the late Roman era escaped the ravages of wars Byzantine Gothic.
The hermit monks settled in the ancient underground caves and Greeks who celebrated the rites persisted in our area, with ups and downs, until the XV-XVI century.
During monachesimoi Italian greek spread, especially in the eleventh-twelfth century, the use of paint the walls of caves turned into places of worship, sacred images of saints and inscriptions with features Byzantine greek.
The crypt of the cross is then near an ancient settlement late Roman rural living in an area like that of Ugento that has its origins far from the archaic Messapi.
Let's see some 'more closely at what gives us the interesting crypt
say first that it contains evidence dating from different historical eras: the current main entrance it can be traced back to 1500, much elegant and classic architectural profiles. To his left at about one meter from the ground a pietraforse from different locations, has an inscription engraved in Greek letters (ΣΙΟςΑζΑΤΤΑ ) That still divides the researchers, for some, the phrase would mean "SIOS AVAPA" literally would mean "GOD DOES NOT BURIED" for other much more simply as "IOSAFATTE. We enter a steep staircase with vaulted us down into the crypt. At the entrance hypogeum above a lunette shows a Holy Family dated XVI century, the crypt has a trapezoidal shape, the original entrance, situated below, is on the right rvolto west, typical of Italo-greek, apse with the altar placed at the east where the sun rises, the light and then God
We also see two circular columns placed almost to bear the time, if ever proof were needed, also dated in the sixteenth century.
The decorations on the walls are really beautiful and still evoke strong emotions in visitors, we note, inter alia, on the left of the Annunciation, a Crucifixion, which encrypts the dedication of the altar and the image of the left San Nicola. Over a pillar is a beautiful image of Christ Pantocrator (Blessing) and also on the wall opposite the entrance to two Virgin and Child unfortunately deteriorated.
Of great interest are the decorations of the time: there are pictures of fish and seagulls, small rosettes and badges crusaders, clover, ferns and eight-pointed star, also golden lilies and sometimes ill-defined shapes of animals like a monstrous dog-headed hydra maybe monkey and a bull.
All frescoes date back to two or three hundred, the arms would suggest the presence of Crusader Knights Templar Order, and the lilies would be of the Angevin period.
Climb to visit, crossed the road to Melissa, the old farm crucifix that some scholars would partez of an ancient monastery in Brazil. Currently, the farm consists of several small rooms, with the nearby church dedicated to Our Lady of Constantinople.
This church is painted with original paintings the late Byzantine era renovated several times with the underlying image even more ancient.
The place, as already mentioned, has been recently restored and is open with a little 'luck on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays from 10.00 to 12.00.
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