PISA - The Cathedral - PISA ----------------------------- LEANING TOWER CATHEDRAL BAPTISTERY

The Cathedral

The Cathedral of Pisa is an inseparable part of marvelous four-piece ensemble of masterpieces of architecture and art which makes the Piazza dei Miracoli what it is. The group of buildings so scenographically set in the piazza del Duomo of Pisa leave the visitor with an impression in part real and in part unreal, like a fairy tale, due first and foremost to the striking contrast of the white marble with the green lawn and blue sky. In Roman times the Palatium of Emperor Hadrian stood here and subsequently a place of worship dedicated to Santa Reparata was built on top.

In 1063, after the victory of the Pisan fleet in Palermo, Buscheto di Giovanni Giudice was entrusted with the task of building the cathedral, which was to be the perennial glorification of the splendor of the Maritime Republic. Pope Gelasius II was present at its consacration (26.09.1118), and the subsequent enlargement was terminated around the middle of the 1120s. At the turn of the century Rainaldo, a native of Pisa, finished the luminous façade. In the first two decades of the 17^th century restorations were carried out after a fire had gravely damaged the building (25.10.1595).