In 1296, a devastating fire started by civic dissenters irreversibly damaged the cathedral of San Lorenzo in Genoa. Shortly afterwards, in the years 1307–12, two sets of monumental inscriptions were set up along the central nave of the church, marking the completion of the works of repair on this part of the building. These epigraphs, elegantly written in the most accessible space of the church, form the subject of this chapter, which addresses the interactions between the textual and visual functioning of the inscriptions and explores the ways in which their appearance contributed to give their contents meaning and increased their significance and efficacy at a time of acute political and social tensions in Genoa. The epigraphs in San Lorenzo were primarily intended to celebrate the officers who supervised the building enterprise following the fire of 1296, as well as to praise the Genoese state and civic community, which had financed the reconstruction. However, between 1307 and 1312 the city witnessed fierce conflicts and frequent turnovers in its government, until its political representatives, exhausted by the unending civil tensions, spontaneously consigned the city to the emperorelect Henry VII in 1311. This chapter proposes that the inscriptions in San Lorenzo contributed to the normalization of these dramatic political events and fostered civic cohesion by advertising the names of the mythical founders of Genoa, publicizing the illustrious origins of the city-state and celebrating its ancient legacies. Far from being exclusively defined by their textual contents, the ways in which the epigraphs operated and conveyed meaning in medieval Genoa were significantly determined by their specific location, form and visual properties. Written in large-scale, elegant Gothic capital letters and displayed in the most accessible space of the cathedral, these inscriptions were highly visible, clearly legible and undoubtedly intended to be experienced by as wide an audience as possible.

Written in stone: civic memory and monumental writing in the cathedral of San Lorenzo in Genoa

Gerevini, Stefania
2015

Abstract

In 1296, a devastating fire started by civic dissenters irreversibly damaged the cathedral of San Lorenzo in Genoa. Shortly afterwards, in the years 1307–12, two sets of monumental inscriptions were set up along the central nave of the church, marking the completion of the works of repair on this part of the building. These epigraphs, elegantly written in the most accessible space of the church, form the subject of this chapter, which addresses the interactions between the textual and visual functioning of the inscriptions and explores the ways in which their appearance contributed to give their contents meaning and increased their significance and efficacy at a time of acute political and social tensions in Genoa. The epigraphs in San Lorenzo were primarily intended to celebrate the officers who supervised the building enterprise following the fire of 1296, as well as to praise the Genoese state and civic community, which had financed the reconstruction. However, between 1307 and 1312 the city witnessed fierce conflicts and frequent turnovers in its government, until its political representatives, exhausted by the unending civil tensions, spontaneously consigned the city to the emperorelect Henry VII in 1311. This chapter proposes that the inscriptions in San Lorenzo contributed to the normalization of these dramatic political events and fostered civic cohesion by advertising the names of the mythical founders of Genoa, publicizing the illustrious origins of the city-state and celebrating its ancient legacies. Far from being exclusively defined by their textual contents, the ways in which the epigraphs operated and conveyed meaning in medieval Genoa were significantly determined by their specific location, form and visual properties. Written in large-scale, elegant Gothic capital letters and displayed in the most accessible space of the cathedral, these inscriptions were highly visible, clearly legible and undoubtedly intended to be experienced by as wide an audience as possible.
2015
9781107092419
Eastmond, Antony
Viewing Inscriptions in the late antique and medieval world
Gerevini, Stefania
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11565/3986371
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