San Domenico Vecchio (1235)
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Detail from a fresco (late 15th century) by | Remains of San Domenico Vecchio in the main cloister of the ex-Convento di San Domenico |
The Dominicans arrived in Perugia in 1234, almost immediately after the canonisation of St Dominic. The Commune donated a tract of land behind San Stefano del Castellare in a solemn ceremony at which the Podestà presided and which the bishop and the archpriest of the Duomo attended. This became the site of the Convento di San Domenico.
The friars soon embarked on the construction of a new church, which was the first to be dedicated to St Dominic (later known as San Domenico Vecchio). Pope Gregory IX consecrated it in 1235, in a service in which he also canonised St Elizabeth of Hungary. In 1253, the church witnessed a similar spectacle when Pope Innocent IV canonised St Peter Martyr there. Pope Benedict XI, the first Dominican pope, was buried in the church in 1304 (see below).
The church seems to have remained in use even after the completion of the present San Domenico in 1482. (Giorgio Vasari saw an altarpiece (probably in the late 1460s) by Filippo Lippi on its high altar in the 16th century, but this has since been lost - see below). It may have been reserved for the friars' own use: a dormitory was built in its loft with stairs down to the choir, an arrangement that must have
been particularly convenient in winter.
The church, which was used as a dining room when the convent became a barracks in 1860. The dormitory that was build above it now forms the Salone dei Bronzi of the Museo Archeologico.
Remains of San Domenico Vecchio
Remains of the façade of San Domenico Vecchio survive in the cloister that leads to the Museo Archeologico, on both the ground floor and the enclosed floor above (inside the museum).
The church had a nave and two aisles, a roof supported by wooden beams and a rectangular apse, with a campanile to the left.
The red and white marble façade had a double portal, clustered pillars and a rose window above.
Works Removed from the Church
Gilded silver chalice and paten (ca. 1304)
It seems that Pope Benedict XI had these precious items with him when he died at Perugia. He had probably intended to give them to the friars of San Domenico, Vecchio since the enamels of saints around the base of the chalice include SS Herculanus and Lawrence, two of the patron saints of Perugia.
Both the chalice and the paten, which has an enamel of the Ascension at its centre, are mentioned in the two oldest inventories from San Domenico, respectively dated 1417 and 1430. The chalice continued to be recorded there until 1863, when it was moved to the Galleria Nazionale. The paten was among a cache of precious objects that was discovered under the floor of the choir in 1954, at which point it was reunited with the chalice in the Galleria Nazionale (Room 17).
The design of the chalice is similar to the chalice (ca. 1290) by the Sienese Guccio di Mannaia that Pope Nicholas IV gave to the Franciscans at San Francesco, Assisi (which is now in the Treasury there). The artist responsible for the San Domenico chalice and patens seems to have been a follower of another Sienese, Pace di Valentino.
Triptych (ca. 1315)
This triptych by Meo di Guido da Siena survives in its original frame. It was probably commissioned for San Domenico Vecchio using donations received following the grant of the San Stefano indulgence by Pope Benedict XI - see the page on San Stefano del Castellare. It is now in the Museo Capitolare (Room 15).
Monument to Pope Benedict XI (ca. 1324)
As noted above, Pope Benedict XI died in Perugia in 1304 and was buried in San Domenico Vecchio. His monument was moved to San Domenico in 1700, and is described in the page on the interior of that church.Madonna and Child with saints (late 1460s)
Giorgio Vasari saw an altarpiece by Filippo Lippi on its high altar in the 16th century, but this has since been lost. He recorded it as depicting the madonna with SS Peter, Paul, Louis and Antony Abbot. If Vasari's attribution is correct, Lippi probably painted this in the period 1467-9, immediately before his death, while he was working on the frescoes in the apse of the Duomo, Spoleto.
Return to San Domenico.
Return to Walk IV.