Troia. Masseria Canestrello, Apulia

Troia

Troia, situated high on the Tavoliere, contains many treasures including, set within the superb façade of its Romanesque cathedral, the bronze doors that were made at the beginning of the 12th century by the sculptor Oderisio da Benevento, who signed them.

On the doors, the outstanding elements are the eight lions heads with doorknockers held between their teeth and the two dragons who seem to want to fly away.

“Bronze doors are the pride and splendor of those churches that have them,” writes Vincenzo Velati in his book
"Le Cattedrali romaniche pugliesi" (published by Laterza).
Many have been lost, but Apulia, the richest and most fortunate of the regions of Southern Italy, has five that with their oxidized hues stand against the white façades of stone. The oldest, which were created in Constantinople, are those of the sanctuary of the Monte San Angelo sul Gargano, followed by those of the mausoleum of Boemondo at Canosa, the two masterly doors of the cathedral of Trani, and the two of the cathedral of Troia.

The Exultet (from the exhortation: "Exultet iam angelica turba coelorum", “Esulti ormai l’angelica turba dei cieli”), are illustrated scrolls made of parchment completed in the 11th century and used in Southern Italy.Apulia still has seven of the 32 surviving examples, and three are here in Troia. The other four are preserved and exhibited in museum of the cathedral of Bari. The others are dispersed among various cities in Italy and elsewhere.

The type of script and the style of the decoration achieved by the scriptoriums of Southern Italy, testifies to a capacity to create a vital synthesis of Eastern, Western, Byzantine, Muslim and Lombard cultures.
Fortunately, thanks to a CD-rom created by the Department of Philology and History at the University of Canosa, it is still possible to study or simply admire them together.

“Exhalt the choir of angels, exhalt the heavenly host, with a hymn of glory praise the triumph of the Risen Christ…"

“Exultet”, is the word that begins the prayer of benediction of the Easter candle; it is written on the parchment and read on the night before Easter. This parchment, in the form of a scroll, long and narrow, were made in order to lend the greatest solemnity to the celebration of Easter services. They were carefully decorated with musical annotations, heads and numerous miniatures. The images serve to illustrate the prayers that were recited by the deacon from the pulpit: liturgical scenes, episodes from the Old and anew Testament, and genre scenes of contemporary life.

The images were placed upside down with respect to the text so that as the deacon read and unrolled the scroll over the front of the pulpit the faithful would see the pictures right side up, with suggestive and theatrical effect in the dim light of the nocturnal celebrations. This allowed them to follow the hymns and understand the meaning of the sermons by following the sequence of images: Christ Pantokrator surrounded by angels; the earth, symbolized by the figure of a woman richly dressed in the manner of the east and crowned with flowers and leaves, exulting at the resurrection of Christ; the deacon himself who from the pulpit unrolls the scroll and sings; Christ enthroned; Christ in Limbo; and the eulogy of the bees, which are the emblems of Mary’s virginity. Very likely, these scrolls were left hanging even after the ceremony almost like posters, and as a means of religious education and—through the presence of portraits of the popes, emperors, bishops, and local aristocrats—public information.

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