A recent guided tour of the church of Saint Francis of Assisiit was an opportunity to deepen our knowledge on oldest Gothic church in Pavia.
Founded in 1250over the years it underwent several renovations which changed its original appearance.
In the 1739 the interior of the building was plastered and covered with baroque stucco; Thus, a large part of the frescoes were lost, partially recovered thanks to the restorations between the end of the nineteenth century and the mid-twentieth century.
There are different stories and curiosities that the ancient walls of San Francesco guard, but what struck us most is the wooden choir placed on the altar.
Commissioned in 1484 by the then prior Father Francesco de Chavaciis de la Somalia, two Milanese carvers were called to create it, the De Donatis brothers.
The request, filed in the form of a deed by the Pavia notary Marchino Morasco, was clear and foreseeable 34 dossals made of walnut wood with structures of plants and flowers.
What immediately catches the eye is that there are no biblical scenes. On the reredos they are depicted only medical plants: we are faced with an ancient one ‘tacuina sanitatis’ what in the Middle Ages was a pharmaceutical handbook.
Over the years the choir was dismembered. Of the 34 original reredos, 28 remain: four are in the Civic Museums of the Castle of Pavia and two have been lost.
The great restorations of the 18th century also changed it placementfrom a position in front of the altar the reredos were moved to where we see them today.
The ancient location and the large windows allowed the sun’s rays to penetrate at different angles throughout the year and to hit the dosals placed according to the different blooms or monthly accruals.
A calendar therefore which, together with the passage of time, gave pharmacological indications of great precision.
The restorations did not even spare the figures represented. Some characters have been dressed in eighteenth-century clothing and some have even been added scissors it’s a rifle in the hunter’s hand.
We give you one more reason to visit one of the most fascinating churches in Pavia: find the scissors and the rifle!
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