Original Duomo

Detail of a panel (ca. 1330) by the Maestro dei Dossali di Montelabate depicting St Herculanus holding a model of the Duomo Galleria Nazionale, exhibit 26

The illustration above, which is the only surviving image of the old Duomo, shows it between a tower of the Palazzo del Podestà and the old campanile. 

According to tradition, Bishop Onesto built a church dedicated to San Lorenzo here in 965, possibly on the site of a temple to Vulcan.  In the following year, he translated the relics of St Herculanus from San Pietro (or perhaps from San Stefano del Castellare) to an altar dedicated to the saint that was probably in the crypt.

Perugia supported the Emperor Frederick I in his war with Pope Alexander III in the 1170s, and for this reason it was the anti-pope Callistus III who first consecrated the church.  This uncanonical situation was corrected when Pope Innocent III re-consecrated it during his stay in Perugia in 1198.

The building to the right of the campanile in the panel above, which is faced in red and white stone, was probably a chapel dedicated to St John the Baptist.  This was begun in 1310, after a Perugian victory against Todi.  Some of the facing  was probably re-used early in the 15th century for the facing of the side wall of the new Duomo.

In 1300, the leading citizens of Perugia took the momentous decision to build a new Duomo and Bishop Francesco Graziani laid the foundation stone in 1345.   In 1373-5, the papal legate Girardo di Puy, the Abbot of Monmaggiore raided the construction site for building material for the Fortezza di Porta Sole.  He also demolished the campanile and perhaps also the chapel dedicated to St John the Baptist in order to build a corridor linking his new Fortress to the Palazzo dei Priori.  After he had been driven out of the city in the rebellion of 1375, his fortress was demolished and the material used in the renewed attempt to rebuild the Duomo.  The original church was incorporated as the bay of the nave nearest the presbytery of its successor, and its facade was incorporated into the new left wall. 

Papal Monuments in the Old Duomo

The old Duomo contained the tombs of three 13th century popes:

• Pope Innocent III died in Perugia in 1216 and was buried near the altar dedicated to St Herculanus.  Nothing is known about his monument.

• Pope Urban IV died in Perugia in 1264.  Giorgio Vasari attributed his monument to the young Giovanni Pisano, although this is usually discounted.  The city statutes of 1279 imposed fines on those damaging the monument during clashes between the Guelfs and Ghibellines of the city. 

• Pope Martin IV died in Perugia in 1285.  He had wished to be buried at San Francesco, Assisi but the Perugian authorities ignored this.  They commissioned Fra. Bevignate to oversee the construction of his monument in 1287, and his remains were placed in it in 1295.  In the following year, the newly elected Pope Boniface VIII objected to the monument's location and the canons duly moved it to a more prestigious position (presumably near the high altar).

All of these monuments were subsequently destroyed, although Giorgio Vasari reported that a few fragments from them were scattered throughout the later church.  Possible fragments from the monument to Pope Urban IV by a follower of Arnolfo di Cambio are exhibited in the Museo Capitolare  (Rooms 12 and 13).

Altare della Madonna del Verde

This altar, which was on a pilaster of the old Duomo, contained a fresco of the Madonna and Child (14th century) that was venerated by new mothers.  This fresco was transferred to canvas in 1466 and moved to the new Altare della Madonna del Verde (1477) in the right aisle of the new Duomo.  It was moved to Sant' Angelo in 1849 and moved again to the Museo Capitolare (Room 14) in 1979.

The altar existed long before the fresco above was executed.  A relief (12th century) depicting the Creation of Eve and the Original Sin, which was part of a frieze on the altar that depicted scenes from Genesis, is now in the Museo Capitolare (Room 12-13).

Return to the Duomo.

Return to Walk I.