Description
San Michele in Borgo is a Romanesque church on Borgo Stretto, the street of arcades in the center of Pisa. It has a facade of loggias, an interior of three aisles and, under the altar, a crypt with frescoes of fantastic animals: a small stop, but full of surprises.
Among the marbles of the facade you can still read inscriptions from the 17th century. They are neither prayers nor dedications: they concern the election of the university's rector.
The lower part is 13th century, the upper loggia part 14th century, in Pisan Romanesque style with Gothic influences. The tabernacle with the Madonna and Child, by Lupo di Francesco, is a copy: the original is in the Museo di San Matteo.
Inside are three aisles and eight bays, with a marble Crucifix attributed to Nino Pisano at the left altar. The 18th-century high altar has a Madonna and Child with saints painted by Baccio Lomi between 1572 and 1574. On the inner facade, a 13th-century fresco of St. Michael.
The loveliest surprise lies under the altar: an 11th-12th-century crypt, with cross vaults and Roman capitals, and frescoes of fantastic animals, including a hippogriff, a lion, an eagle and a winged sea horse. Too bad it has been flooded for years. It was first described, in 1791, by the Pisan historian Alessandro da Morrona.
The church was founded around 1016, with a Benedictine monastery, later passed to the Camaldolese. The facade survived the bombings of the Second World War; the cloister and monastery did not, and in their place the Mattonaia complex was built.
The face of the church has changed several times: the medieval bell tower was transformed in 1676, and the postwar reconstruction ended in 1963.
In the choir, meanwhile, the first sessions of the Conciliabulum of Pisa were held, before it moved to the Cathedral. The five Roman sarcophagi that were inside are now in the Camposanto, and the fragments of the 14th-century pulpit in the Museo di San Matteo.
Among the marbles of the facade you can still read inscriptions from the 17th century. They are neither prayers nor dedications: they concern the election of the university's rector.
The lower part is 13th century, the upper loggia part 14th century, in Pisan Romanesque style with Gothic influences. The tabernacle with the Madonna and Child, by Lupo di Francesco, is a copy: the original is in the Museo di San Matteo.
Inside are three aisles and eight bays, with a marble Crucifix attributed to Nino Pisano at the left altar. The 18th-century high altar has a Madonna and Child with saints painted by Baccio Lomi between 1572 and 1574. On the inner facade, a 13th-century fresco of St. Michael.
The loveliest surprise lies under the altar: an 11th-12th-century crypt, with cross vaults and Roman capitals, and frescoes of fantastic animals, including a hippogriff, a lion, an eagle and a winged sea horse. Too bad it has been flooded for years. It was first described, in 1791, by the Pisan historian Alessandro da Morrona.
The church was founded around 1016, with a Benedictine monastery, later passed to the Camaldolese. The facade survived the bombings of the Second World War; the cloister and monastery did not, and in their place the Mattonaia complex was built.
The face of the church has changed several times: the medieval bell tower was transformed in 1676, and the postwar reconstruction ended in 1963.
In the choir, meanwhile, the first sessions of the Conciliabulum of Pisa were held, before it moved to the Cathedral. The five Roman sarcophagi that were inside are now in the Camposanto, and the fragments of the 14th-century pulpit in the Museo di San Matteo.