Description
The Camposanto Monumentale is the historic cemetery of Pisa, a long enclosure of white marble that closes off the north side of Piazza dei Miracoli. Inside is a Gothic cloister, with 14th-century frescoes and Roman sarcophagi: for centuries it was the "pantheon" of Pisa's most important people, and in the 19th century the city's first museum.
The most famous piece is the Triumph of Death, the fresco by Buonamico Buffalmacco, from around 1336: Death swoops down on a cheerful company of young people, while angels and devils fight over the souls, shown as children. Beside it are the Last Judgment and Hell, with Lucifer biting into the damned.
In the galleries there are also the Old Testament stories by Benozzo Gozzoli, painted between 1468 and 1483, and the Theological Cosmography by Piero di Puccio, made of concentric circles. Beneath the arcades run the Roman sarcophagi, between 28 and 31 of them, reused for the burials of Pisan nobles.
In the Aulla chapel is kept Galileo's lamp: for the Camposanto, it is the one the scientist saw swinging. In one stretch you can also see parts of the chain of the Porto Pisano, broken after the defeat of Meloria and carried off to Genoa.
The outside is a plain wall of white marble with 43 blind arches; the entrance, on the square, has a Gothic tabernacle with the Madonna and four saints. Inside, the pointed arches with their tracery were completed in 1464, in flamboyant Gothic style.
Legend says the Campo Santo was filled with earth brought from Golgotha on Pisan ships. The truth is more prosaic: tombs had multiplied around the Cathedral, and the Commune wanted them out of the way. Only on June 19, 1277 did Archbishop Federico Visconti give up the land.
Then came July 27, 1944: a shell from Allied artillery set the roof on fire, and the molten lead ran down over the frescoes and the marble floor, leaving traces still visible. The frescoes were hastily detached, and a very long restoration began.
That disaster revealed a surprise: under the plaster were the sinopias, the painters' preparatory drawings, very well preserved. They are on display in the Museo delle Sinopie, on the south side of the square.
Don't miss
• The Triumph of Death.
• Benozzo Gozzoli's frescoes.
• The Roman sarcophagi.
• Galileo's lamp.
Did you know?
• The enclosure is a little crooked compared with the axis between the Cathedral and the Baptistery: a trick of perspective that makes the square look bigger.
• The name "Campo Santo" appears in documents from 1287, and until at least 1406 it was unknown outside Pisa.
The most famous piece is the Triumph of Death, the fresco by Buonamico Buffalmacco, from around 1336: Death swoops down on a cheerful company of young people, while angels and devils fight over the souls, shown as children. Beside it are the Last Judgment and Hell, with Lucifer biting into the damned.
In the galleries there are also the Old Testament stories by Benozzo Gozzoli, painted between 1468 and 1483, and the Theological Cosmography by Piero di Puccio, made of concentric circles. Beneath the arcades run the Roman sarcophagi, between 28 and 31 of them, reused for the burials of Pisan nobles.
In the Aulla chapel is kept Galileo's lamp: for the Camposanto, it is the one the scientist saw swinging. In one stretch you can also see parts of the chain of the Porto Pisano, broken after the defeat of Meloria and carried off to Genoa.
The outside is a plain wall of white marble with 43 blind arches; the entrance, on the square, has a Gothic tabernacle with the Madonna and four saints. Inside, the pointed arches with their tracery were completed in 1464, in flamboyant Gothic style.
Legend says the Campo Santo was filled with earth brought from Golgotha on Pisan ships. The truth is more prosaic: tombs had multiplied around the Cathedral, and the Commune wanted them out of the way. Only on June 19, 1277 did Archbishop Federico Visconti give up the land.
Then came July 27, 1944: a shell from Allied artillery set the roof on fire, and the molten lead ran down over the frescoes and the marble floor, leaving traces still visible. The frescoes were hastily detached, and a very long restoration began.
That disaster revealed a surprise: under the plaster were the sinopias, the painters' preparatory drawings, very well preserved. They are on display in the Museo delle Sinopie, on the south side of the square.
Don't miss
• The Triumph of Death.
• Benozzo Gozzoli's frescoes.
• The Roman sarcophagi.
• Galileo's lamp.
Did you know?
• The enclosure is a little crooked compared with the axis between the Cathedral and the Baptistery: a trick of perspective that makes the square look bigger.
• The name "Campo Santo" appears in documents from 1287, and until at least 1406 it was unknown outside Pisa.