Rock complex of Madonna delle Virtù and San Nicola dei Greci

The rupestrian churches of the Matera area, founded mainly in the early Middle Ages, are buildings carved into the rock. Initially born as religious structures, over time they have undergone various transformations of use, becoming homes or shelters for animals.

The rock church dedicated to the Madonna delle Virtù was built around the year 1000 together with the adjoining monastery which was to house the first settlement of the nuns from Accon. It constitutes an example of “negative” architecture having been entirely obtained by digging inside the limestone rock.

The church has a three naves separated by columns, at the bottom of each of them there is an apse on whose domed vault a cross is engraved. The ceiling is humpbacked decorated with bas-relief arches. The apse of the central nave is embellished by an eighteenth-century pictorial complex of considerable artistic value which depicts the Crucifixion with the Madonna and San Giovanni. The major structural change undergone by the church dates back to 1934 due to the construction of the road network of the Sassi, which led to the rearrangement of a side aisle.

Above it is the monastic settlement of San Nicola dei Greci; built around the 10th century, it is one of the oldest crypts in the city of Matera. During its history it has undergone substantial changes that make it difficult to grasp the original architectural elements.
The crypt consists of two naves with as many apses, but the element that characterizes it is the pictorial complex that decorates the walls: the apsidal basin houses a fresco made in the fourteenth century representing the Crucifixion with the Madonna and San Giovanni Battista on the sides; in the left aisle there is instead a triptych of saints made between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

Currently both the church of the Madonna delle Virtù and the crypt of San Nicola dei Greci are used as exhibition spaces for prestigious contemporary art exhibitions.

They are an important testimony of the presence of communities of Benedictine, Lombard and Byzantine monks. Some churches, moreover, even in the substantial Latin setting, have Byzantine elements, or vice versa, architecturally Greek churches have liturgical spaces of the Latin type. Rock churches often contain frescoes and sculptural elements, which, in addition to the decorative function, induced contemplation and prayer.

In the Middle Ages, small communities of lay people and monks who immigrated from the areas of Cappadocia, Armenia, Syria and Asia Minor, after losing the possibility of worship, took refuge in these caves which became places of prayer decorated with Byzantine frescoes, enriching oriental art and culture. the entire area.

Map: Rock complex of Madonna delle Virtù and San Nicola dei Greci

vCard Info:

Address: Via Madonna delle Virtù, 75100
Matera (MT) Basilicata
Latitude: 40.668399962792876
Longitude: 16.611247658729553
Site: http://www.caveheritage.it...

vCard created by: Art in the World
Currently owned by: Art in the World

Type: Manufactured
Function: Church
Creation date: 03-04-2019 08:38
Last update: 28/08/2022