Description of the attraction
The Church of Santa Maria del Lago is located in the small town of Moscufo near Pescara. Initially, this pretty church was called Santa Maria ad Lukus (onion is a forest sacred to the Latins), and then it was popularly called Santa Maria ad Lacum (lacus is a lake), although there was never any lake or even a pond in the vicinity.
The typically Romanesque façade of pale bricks houses a 12th-century stone portal decorated with symbols of the four Evangelists and Christ. And in the meadow right in front of the church there is a huge font made of white limestone. The interior decoration of the church, made in the style of a basilica, is quite strict, if not austere. Eight columns and two brick pilasters support round arches and divide the space into three aisles, which culminate in the same number of apses. The latter are decorated with fragments of frescoes depicting the Last Judgment (late 13th century), the twelve apostles and Christ. The statue of the Madonna, made in 1490, deserves special attention.
But the real gem of the church of Santa Maria del Lago is the pulpit, which in 1159 the abbot of Montecassino Rainaldo commissioned the master Nicodemus. The lectern is made of plaster, on a square base, and stands on four columns, separated from each other by three arches, one of which is decorated with a trefoil ornament. This impressive ornament shows the influence of Lombard, Arabic, Celtic and Mediterranean art, which is characteristic of the masterpieces of Nicodemus. The bas-reliefs depict symbolic and biblical scenes - Job swallowed by a whale and then thrown under a dimorphan tree, or David fighting a bear and a lion. Also here you can see the symbols of the four Evangelists - an eagle, an angel, a lion and a bull.
