Castel del Monte is a 13th-century fortress built by the Emperor of the Kingdom of Sicily Federico II in the plateau of western Murge in Puglia, in the actual hamlet of the same name in the municipality of Andria, 18 km from the city, near the town of Santa Maria del Monte, in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, on the top of a hill, 540 meters above sea level
The attribution to a specific architect is uncertain: some refer the work to Riccardo da Lentini but many argue that it was Federico II himself who designed the building.
The origin of the building dates back to January 29, 1240, when Frederick II Hohenstaufen ordered Riccardo da Montefuscolo, Giustiziere of Capitanata, to prepare materials and everything necessary for the construction of a castle at the church of Sancta Maria de Monte (now disappeared). This date, however, is not accepted by all scholars: according to some, in fact, the construction of the castle on that date had already reached the roofs.
It was included in the list of Italian national monuments in 1936 and in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1996.
The enigmatic sacredness of Castel del Monte is its deepest figure. Not for nothing has it been associated with the wisdom tradition: home of the Grail, indeed.
Its location on the street of the East, its ancient name associated with that of Mary and by extension to the female figure of Sophia, the Philosophical Woman of the Fedeli d'Amore, the presence in the pavement of traces of mosaic with the seal of Solomon and of a Bafometto on the lintel of an interior room: these are all signs that bring this castrum closer to the Templar culture.
So much so that some scholars have hypothesized that experiments in alchemical magic were performed within those walls, given that there are chimneys too small to function as heating, but just to serve as an infusion basin. Its geographical location, then, would have direct astral responses and its entire dislocation would reveal a numerosophical conception, based on the magic of numbers.
We are dealing with a clearly sacred architecture. An octagonal gem, in which the number eight - symbol of man and infinity, to indicate the correspondence between the sky (circle) and the earth (square) - is repeated with obsessive punctuality in the number of the sides of the castle, in the number of the towers, the rooms of the lower floor and the upper, in the sides of the inner courtyard and in those of the basin at its center, up to the most minute ornamental details, the petals, the leaves, all repeated eight times.
The enigmatic sacredness of Castel del Monte is its deepest figure. Not for nothing has it been associated with the wisdom tradition: home of the Grail, indeed.
Its location on the street of the East, its ancient name associated with that of Mary and by extension to the female figure of Sophia, the Philosophical Woman of the Fedeli d'Amore, the presence in the pavement of traces of mosaic with the seal of Solomon and of a Bafometto on the lintel of an interior room: these are all signs that bring this castrum closer to the Templar culture.
Castel del Monte
Address: Castel del Monte, 76123
Phone: 0883.569997
Site:
http://www.casteldelmonte.beniculturali.itLocation inserted by
Paola Bonometti