Description of the attraction
The Cathedral of San Matteo is the main Roman Catholic church in the resort town of Salerno and one of the popular tourist attractions. The cathedral is dedicated to Saint Matthew, one of the four evangelists, whose remains are buried in the crypt inside.
The building of the church was built on the site of an ancient Roman temple in the very center of the city, when Salerno was the capital of the Principality of Salerno, which stretched from the Gulf of Naples to the Ionian Sea. Work on its construction began in 1076 at the initiative of the Norman ruler Robert Guiscard. And the cathedral was consecrated in 1085 by Pope Gregory VII.
For several centuries of its history, San Matteo has been rebuilt more than once. In 1688, the architect Ferdinando Sanfelice redesigned the interior of the cathedral in the style of the Neapolitan Baroque and Rococo. The original appearance of the building was returned only in the 1930s after a large-scale restoration. And in 1943, the cathedral was seriously damaged during the landing of allied troops in Italy.
The most striking feature of San Matteo is its 56-meter bell tower with small arcades and vaulted windows, erected in the mid-12th century in the Arab-Norman style. The Romanesque facade of the cathedral itself is notable for the bronze Byzantine doors made in Constantinople in 1099 - they are decorated with 56 panels depicting figures, crosses and scenes from the life of Christ. The portico, with its 28 inlaid columns, clearly shows the influence of Arab art. It also contains several Roman sarcophagi.
Inside, the cathedral consists of a central nave, two side chapels, separated from each other by columns, and three apses. The interior is decorated with works of art - two pulpits with mosaic patterns, paintings by Francesco Solimena, a Gothic statue of the Madonna and Child from the 14th century and the tombs of the Neapolitan queen Margherita Durazzo, Roger Borsa, Archbishop Bartolomeo d'Arpano and Pope Gregory VII.
In the crypt of the cathedral, according to legend, is the tomb of St. Matthew. The crypt itself is a hall with a grooved vault and columns, restored according to the project of Domenico Fontana in 1606-08. In the 18th century, marble decorations were added here.
