Church Santa Maria della Spina in Pisa

CHURCH SANTA MARIA DELLA SPINA IN PISA

Santa Maria della Spina is a small Gothic church located in Pisa.
The temple, built in 1230 by the Gualandi family, originally called Santa Maria di Pontenovo, because of the bridge that connected via Sant'Antonio in via Santa Maria, then collapsed in the fifteenth century. Spina The name comes from the fact that he kept a plug that would be part of the crown worn by Jesus at his crucifixion and brought here in 1333, but kept the nineteenth century in the church of Santa Chiara.

Originally the church was to consist of a single loggia and covered with a gable roof. In 1322 the City Council decided to extend the work begun in 1323 and finished in 1376, probably under the direction of Francesco Lupo and its size, which succeeded that of Andrea and Nino Pisano.

The church was subject to numerous restoration projects due to land subsidence and the proximity of the Arno river on whose banks it was built. Finally, after the unification of Italy, a commission formed by members of the Academy of Fine Arts decided the dismantling and reconstruction which was more stable and secure. The work, led by the architect Vincenzo Micheli, began in 1871 and ended in 1875. This intervention moved a few meters to the east, and further up the temple. However, there were major changes to the original structure: were inserted some steps, the statues were badly restored or replaced, and the sacristy of 1613 was never rebuilt. A special feature is that the church of Santa Maria della Spina has always been administered by the city, except for some brackets in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in which the administration fell under the hospital.

Esternodella Church - Santa Maria della Spina
The church is one of the finest examples of Gothic in Europe: it has a rectangular plan and is completely covered with colored marble. The exterior is characterized by the cusps of the roof, gables and tabernacles, with complex sculptural structures such as marquetry, medallions and statues of the fourteenth century Pisan masters including Francis Wolf, Andrea Pisano with his sons Nino and Tommaso, and Giovanni Balducci.

The façade has two inputs with architravati arches between which is located the tabernacle with the statues of the Madonna and Child with two Angels attributed to Giovanni Pisano. Two niches open in the top of the facade to contain the statue of Christ among four angels.

Even the left side presents numerous decorations with cusps and thirteen statues of the Apostles and Christ from the Wolf laboratory. The small sculptures of saints and angels on the eardrums are the result of Nino Pisano laboratory work, while the niches in the right column presents a Madonna and Child by Giovanni Balducci.

The back has three arches with simple windows; eardrums are decorated with symbols of the Evangelists, interspersed with niches with statues of St. Peter, Paul and Giovanni Battista. The high spiral culminates with a Madonna and Child by Nino Pisano.

Compared with the outside rich, the interior looks pretty simple. It consists of a single room with a ceiling decorated during the nineteenth century reconstruction. At the center of the presbytery is one of the masterpieces of Gothic sculpture, the Madonna of the Rose of Andrea and Nino Pisano; on the north wall is the dwelling of Stagio Stagi (1534) in which was the relic of the Crown of Thorns. Another statue of Pisano, the Madonna del Latte, there was a time in this church, but was later transferred to the National Museum of San Matteo.

APT Pisa