Das Doppelkreuz am Campanile von Santa Croce in Gerusalemme.
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Since its founding in the fourth century, the Roman church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme – simply called »Jerusalem« in the early sources – contained a cross relic, reportedly deposited there by Emperor Constantine the Great himself. This article focuses on the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when, against the backdrop of the Crusades, cardinal priest Gerardo Caccianemici ›re-invented‹ a relic of the title of the cross (titulus) and deposited it in the triumphal arch of Santa Croce. Around the same time, the church was adorned with a high bell tower. The large marble-encrusted double cross in the lower of the two aedicules at the front of the campanile is now hidden by a late Baroque portico but was clearly visible until the middle of the eighteenth century. The sign of the double or patriarchal cross (☨) underscored the church’s claim to own one of the oldest and indisputably authentic parts of the cross of Christ by referencing the ›True Cross‹ and the historical site of the crucifixion in Jerusalem. It also presented the basilica as an architectural reliquary in an urban space defined by routes, landmarks, and acoustical signals. The article examines the strategies of staging the cross relic with particular attention paid to the function of the bell tower and the reciprocity of sight and hearing. In the campanile, architecture, image, and sound have coalesced to modify the skyline and soundscape of medieval Rome as well as its sacral topography.
Source: University Library Heidelberg
Author: Bremenkamp, Adrian
Language: German
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7214344729