Monte Sant'Angelo
Monte Sant'Angelo is a town with 12,990 inhabitants (as of 31 December 2012) in the Italian region of Puglia ( Foggia ). Monte Sant'Angelo is located about 15 km north of Manfredonia on the southern slopes of the Gargano.
The city's attractions include the Sanctuary of San Michele, the remains of the church of San Pietro and a Norman castle.
At the site of today's Monte Sant'Angelo to the legend appeared after the year 492 the Archangel Michael the shepherds.
History
Monte Sant'Angelo was founded around the year 1000. From 1086 to 1105 Monte Sant'Angelo was the capital of a sprawling possession of the Normans, which had at the beginning of the 11th century spread to Puglia and get a fief (for more details on the meaning of the Normans for the region: history of Puglia: The Norman kingdom in southern Italy ).
In the 17th century Monte Sant'Angelo was part of the Kingdom of Naples, to which it belonged until the unification of Italy in the 19th century.
Economy
The economy of Monte Sant'Angelo is based largely on agriculture and livestock. In addition, tourism plays a modest role.
San Michele
San Michele - the main church of Monte Sant'Angelo - is a cave church - a church form which especially favored the Normans in the newly conquered territories since the 7th century. What to see at the top of the mountain peak, is only the octagonal bell tower of the Church ( 1273/74 ) and the two-part entrance hall ( 1395 ). The church itself is located inside the mountain. San Michele is a dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel Sanctuary.
The Archivolts inscription of receipt stating that the person who enters the cave, all sins will be forgiven. Front of the hall there is a portal with a bronze door of 1076 - the oldest of its kind in Puglia. Characteristic of these early bronze doors are the finely carved scenes that should be collected to relief later.
In the underground cave is hewn out of the rock cave with Adoration cell in which a statue of the Archangel Michael is revered.
San Michele is one of the oldest places of pilgrimage in the West. The Western cult of the Archangel, which was taken from Ostrom from the 6th century, is said to have had his base here in the appearance of the Archangel Michael on May 8, 492 - so only shortly after the final fall of the Roman Empire in the year 476 after the model of this first Michael sanctuary was - according to legend - founded in 708 in northern France in Normandy the local Michael cult and built on the Mont Saint -Michel, a new place of worship.
San Michele was visited by numerous popes, including John Paul II on May 24, 1987.
Since June 2011, the church belongs to a group of building ensembles ( 568-774 AD) was included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites under the title The Longobards in Italy, Places of Power.
Tomba di Rotari, San Pietro and Santa Maria Maggiore
Of interest is the Tomba di Rotari, a building from the 11th and later centuries, with some architectural and art-historical peculiarities. Legislation of the portal is the apse of collapsed in the 19th century parish church of San Pietro from the 12th century.
In addition, in immediate connection, the church of Santa Maria Maggiore is from the 12th century.
Twinning
- Italy San Michele Salentino, Italy, since 2007
- Italy Valle Corsa, Italy, since 2009
- France Saint -Michel, France, since 2010
- Italy San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, since 2013
- Italy Bari, Italy, since 2013
- Italy Assisi, Italy, since 2013
- Italy Andria, Italy, since 2013
- Italy Alberobello, Italy, since 2013