Santa Maria Maggiore (Bergamo)

The church of Santa Maria Maggiore is a basilica in Bergamo, Lombardy. Construction began in 1137 and remained unfinished. It has neither a long nor a house west facade and it has its meaning accordingly exclusively by their extensions. The transept facade with the entrance hall was created around 1350.

The plastically very elaborate porch is formed by four pillars, the front rear resting on two lions, with backing figures. A column on a lion is a symbol of overcoming evil, so very often encountered at church entrances.

The church portal as a legal site

However, the lion can even have a different meaning, namely as referring to the place of judgment. It is an ancient tradition that has been held in front of the church portals court. And the lions were often placed with the Throne of Solomon in relationship, which was flanked by two lions. Since Solomon is the vorbildhafteste judges of the Old Testament, the two lions were associated generally with the jurisdiction and symbolized judicial power. There have received several medieval court records, the "inter duos leones " concluded " between two lions ."

How is this idea arose to handle legal transactions before the church door? First and foremost, here the equation of gate and the church door will play a role. And in the Old Testament, the gate served as the legal establishment of the elders, as is evidenced by numerous Bible passages, such as Amos 5:15: " Hate evil, love good, and brings at the city gate, the right to bear. " In the Middle Ages, the church was, especially the main church of a city, equated with the Heavenly Jerusalem and the church door was symbolically to the city gate.

Here was the threshold that distinguished good and evil. The unbaptized had in a separate baptistery only ' to be cleaned before they were allowed to enter the interior of the church. The open door is a symbol of Christ himself, who said: "I am the gate, whoever enters through me will be saved " (John 19:9). Significantly, the weddings were closed before the church door in former times, and only after the blessing the bride and groom to the fair allowed in the church. From this tradition, the not infrequent designation of certain portals as the "Bride gate ", as the great churches in Bamberg, Braunschweig, Mainz and Nuremberg declared.

Also trade agreements concluded before church doors. Therefore, often the market took place right in front of the church. In its external walls, the dimensions were often carved that should apply in the trade. And last but not least is the church door for a separate legislative district. The portal was used in medieval times as a place of asylum. To describe numerous contemporary reports, as fleeing people located at the church door asylum examined, with the touch of the door ring represented the decisive act. Such rings have been preserved medieval door every now and then and are still in original location. And since time immemorial Red is the color of the judges was - still at the Federal Constitutional Court - the relevant input gates of the churches were painted red.

In Bergamo much emphasis was placed on making even the ground and the surrounding area this porch stylish, so especially in the evening hours, a very intimate atmosphere can arise, which spreads to the whole complex of the church around to the Piazza Vecchia.

Equipment

The organ of Santa Maria Maggiore was built in 1915 by organ builder Vegezzi Carlo Bossi, and restored in 1948 and most recently in 1992 by the organ builders Gebr Ruffatti and expanded. Situated is the instrument on the two singer stands in the apse. It can be controlled via a mobile gaming table, which is erected in the church near the altar. The organ has 62 registers on three manuals and pedal. The play and Registertrakturen are electric.

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