Cripta del Duomo di Siena

The Cripta del Duomo di Siena lies in the bowels of Siena’s Cathedral. This secret chamber was hidden for nearly 700 years before a routine excavation under the Cathedral chancel astounded the world of archaeology in 1999. The Cripta of the Siena Cathedral is considered one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the past 20 years.

The absolute novelty and superb quality of the frescoes rediscovered after so many centuries extends our knowledge of 13th-century wall painting immeasurably, providing us with crucial evidence of the birth and early development of the Sienese school of painting. Nor was the discovery confined solely to figurative art.

The archaeological and architectural finds, in perfect harmony with the paintings, are also of immense interest, and indeed many of the structural elements are still abundantly decorated, offering us a new and unusual image of painted architecture. Together with the discovery of the foundations of the church’s apsidal section, this has shed valuable light on the phases of the Cathedral’s construction and the numerous still unresolved problems surrounding it.

Painted by artists working in Siena in the second half of the 13th century – men such as Guido da Siena, Dietisalvi di Speme, Guido di Graziano and Rinaldo da Siena – the cycle of paintings is remarkable for the brightness of the colors covering the frescoed walls, the columns, pilasters, capitals, and corbels with geometric or phytomorphic embellishments.

The scenes are arranged on two registers with stories from the Old Testament in the upper register and stories from the New Testament in the lower register. The mesmerizing solemn depiction of the Passion of Christ captures the three great moments of the Crucifixion, the Descent of Christ from the Cross, and the Entombment.

Visitors go on to explore several areas housing parts of the Cathedral structure dating back to the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries. Stonewalling from what must have been the chancel and north transept of the 12th-century Cathedral can still be made out. The entire area was overhauled in the 14th century. Following the construction of the Baptistry and the extension of the Cathedral into Piazza San Giovanni, it was incorporated into the new brick structures with their large Gothic lancets. Description by operaduomo.siena.it