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The Cathedral doors |
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The cathedral is basically uniform in design; any contrasting elements date from different periods. In the case of the doorways, for example, it is not difficult to see that only three of the six were originally planned. If we consider the portico and columniferous lions as the unifying design features, then four of today's doorways are similar, but if we look carefully, the great doorway on the south side (the "Porta Regia) does not blend into the building behind; it breaks up the line of the blind arcade with triforium, it is in pink rather than white marble, and its dimensions, as well as the sculpture of its lions and the decorations in the splayed opening of the doorway itself, are different. In fact, it is of more recent date than the main body of the cathedral and is the work of the Maestri Campionesi. 
The two side doorways on the main facade also seem rather out of place. They are not large, but they seem to have forced the first and fourth panels of Wiligelmo's sculptures to move up to make room for them. The addition of the rose window in the facade had a similar effect, as the porch was crushed a little to create space for the imposing glass and marble of the new window. In their different ways, the columniferous lions all express the same ancient message: wild beasts protect the doorway and mark the passage from the profane to the sacred and from outdoors to in. |
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© 1997 - Provincia di Modena - Made by
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