Tag: monopoli

THE FLOWER OF LIFE

THE FLOWER OF LIFE.

Prehistoric contaminations become ceramic. The Flower of Life symbol has been found in: Massada (Israel), Mount Sinai (Egypt), Japan, China, India, Spain, Italy and Germany.

it is a news by www.giuinlab.com

A few years ago, while experiencing a walking around the Valle d’Itria, we reached San Marco one of the several Locorotondo’s neighbors. Since the past, here the countryside was been not too much occupied by men and it was been farmed in each one of its tiny plots. While visiting the medieval origin church San Marco, from this church the neighbor took the name, we spotted a extraordinary stone which was almost like a rose window. This stone still is in the between of the small entrance portal and the bell tower of that San Marco church. This stone was carved in order to obtain several flowers, several flowers so as to have the form of six circles converging in one point. Our curiosity pushed forward us to search for its origin and meaning.

We already knew the Flower of Life symbol has been found in: Massada (Israel), Mount Sinai (Egypt), Japan, China, India, Spain, Italy and Germany.

The Flower of Life – Bottle coasters – Crystal on red clay – GiùinLabCeramiche

The worldwide diffusion of that symbol is due to the internationalization of the symbols came to us from prehistory. This Flower of Life symbols was adopted by the Church also, during medieval times, as a wish for resurrection.

We can list several interpretations and meanings abut the Flower of Life symbol:

– by the ancient Celts, as the Sun, it was a symbol for moving forward and regeneration, it was connected to the property of ‘giving new life’ both physical and spiritual; it was used to wish “good luck” to newborns, also used for women looking for a pregnancy;

– also it was a symbol for wishing high energy protection against the negative stuffs, the negative stuffs each one of us find during its daily journey;

– also it was a symbol for spiritual raising, particularly indicated for those who are walking a personal path into spiritual growth; it was supposed this symbol helps in understanding the Self of each one of us;

– also it was a symbol linked to the number six (the flower is composed of six petals) represents the Creation,that is the wheel of life represents the human life flow.

– also it is the most perfect mathematical symbol, with the presence within it of the “golden number“, this number is considered sacred.

– also, using this symbol we obtain the Metatron Cube, made up of five Platonic solids representing the earth, fire, air, water and the fifth essence elements.

The Flower of Life is perfectly represented into the ancient Temple of Osiris in Abydos, represented by Leonardo da Vinci also.

Leonardo da Vinci studied the figure of the Flower of Life and its mathematical properties. He drew geometric figures which can be linked to the Flower of Life

Da Vinci Code (www.youtube.com)

The word “Vesica Piscis” refers to a symbolic figure geometrically composed by the intersection of two circles (with the same radius and whose centers lie one on the circumference of the other). The Latin name, which literally means “fish bladder”, came from the shape of this figure. The symbol was already known in India, in ancient Mesopotamia, in Africa and in Asian civilizations, but it spread widely especially in the Christian context, through the association of the figure to Christ. Subsequently, in the iconographic elaborations that followed, especially in the frescoes and medieval miniated codes, the ‘vesica’ is associated with the image of Christ and the Virgin in majesty, in the iconography also known as “mystical almond“

Flower of Life and Vesica Piscis. Clay prototype (G. Giannoccaro)

We get inspired by the symbolism of the Flower of Life, it also is a recurring sign in the Apulian tradition (all our projects are been inspired by Puglia). We represented it on our clays design furniture. We created plates and bottle coasters in addition to other objects, using three clays variety (red, white and black) in order to obtain over thirty different shades of colors. That colors are the main identifying feature of Giù in Lab’s ceramics.

San Leonardo Church in Monopoli.

Flower of Life – Plate – GiùinLabCeramiche.

Flower of Life – Plates – GiùinLabCeramiche.

Written by Giambattista Giannoccaro (research, photos and writing) for Giú in Lab
(link: www.giuinlab.com)

Giú in lab. The territory. Inspired by the context.

The needing in obtain ceramic objects for furniture and for everyday use. It was required by our skills. We are architects recovering and renovating old farmhouses and trulli to use them as summer residences or Ho.Re.Ca. activities. Also we like design and create local and contemporary residences. Those led us to imagine, to draw and to produce objects able to speak contemporary local language which respect traditions. We think ceramics, in addition to representing itself and the intellectual depth of the master who produce them, it must have to evokes a story of the places from which they came, also about the “alive” people who are living that places.

You can discover more about Giú in Lab – Ceramics, Architecture and Design workshop.
(link: www.giuinlab.com)

It is the Anna Dibello and Giambattista Giannoccaro project.
(link: www.giuinlab.com)

photo credits
(link: www.giuinlab.com)

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2020-04-02
The golden triangle – part two

The golden triangle – part two.

it is an article by Città Meridiane – cittameridiane.it

The rock settlements between Monopoli and Fasano.

Returning to Lama d’Antico, it was certainly one of the largest and inhabited settlements where nothing was missing: houses into the rock with chambers and cisterns for collecting rainwater, shelters for animals, mills for the milling of olives, spaces to host work environments and the magnificent church, completely painted with frescoes.

It is a true cathedral with a central dome, one of the largest cave churches all aroung Puglia. Inside you enter through a monumental entrance that leads into a distinct environment in two apsed naves. Originally the church was completely frescoed but today most of the paintings are faded. A Maiestas Domini is still visible on the lunette of the central apse and on the left wall there is the figure of the apostle Giovanni Evangelista who blesses.

Also in the Archeological Park of Lama d’Antico, the church of San Lorenzo is included, in which a particular iconostasis is conserved and strongly linked to the Greek-Orthodox religious services. And it is precisely here that we find the two Holy Fathers: St. Basil of the Orthodox Church and St. Benedict of the Latin Church. Remarkable are the other wall paintings that are painted with pictorial ability and accuracy for the use of colors and the intensely expressive features of the faces that make this church one of the most fascinating examples of Byzantine art in the canyons of Fasano.

Among the most interesting houses there is Sant’Andrea and San Procopio, in the territory of Monopoli, which can be reached from Masseria Rosati. In the Assunta’s canyon there are numerous cave-dwellings, a mill, an oil mill and other rooms for handicraft use, and the crypt church with a sculpted front with great care and skill. Very interesting is the long inscription engraved in Latin above the lunette that dates the church to 1073.

Also the bema of this church is unusual in the area, as it has a double separation in stone 50 cm high with two openings in the direction of the apses. With regard to the wall paintings, a Saint George on horseback, the saint of the Crusades, is still visible. In the paintings of San Procopio one can perceive the passage from the Byzantine tradition to a new pictorial current of western inspiration with Norman-Swabian matrix.

Angevins paintings are present in the depiction of Sant’Eligio painted with bright colors and the symbols attributed to him by tradition as patron of the farriers: two nails, a hammer, a pincer, a horseshoe and a small black mule.

Our tour ends in the canyon near the Masseria Ottava Grande (Provincial Road 10, Contrada Ottava, Montalbano di Fasano – phone +39 320 6844285 – www.masseriaottavagrande.it – info@masseriaottavagrande.it), a ravine with high walls rocky with a system of large caves of which some used as a oil mill consisting of three large rooms and other small rooms and equipped with millstone working until the ’50s. In front of the farm, the oldest example of a fortified tower, the church of San Pietro from the 12th century which – as explained by the archaeologist Roberta Mussardo, who in the meantime has been added to us – is a typical example of a domed building in axis, whose scheme spread widely in Puglia from the 8th to the 13th century.

The church is a small jewel in which the simple exterior architecture does not predict the extent and the internal richness.

Impressing are the pillars that extend upwards and support the arches of the three domes made with cross vaults.

Subsequently, San Pietro was decorated with elegant floral motifs.

It should be noted that the building has returned to being usable thanks to the Indelli family that owns it, after a long period of neglect. Together with the church the rural house has also been recovered, which is located in the canyon next to which stands an ancient style and a fragrant citrus grove closed by high walls covered in cocciopesto and equipped with stone channels to bring the water from the cistern.

read also THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE – PART ONE

+ info about Cittá Meridiane

+ news “signed” Cittá Meridiane

2018-01-06
The golden triangle – part one

The golden triangle – part one.

it is an article by Città Meridiane – cittameridiane.it

The territory between Monopoli, Fasano and Ostuni boasts an unparalleled historical and archaeological richness.

The territory between Monopoli, Fasano and Ostuni, in recent years open to quality tourism thanks to the excellent accommodation facilities of the area, can always be considered a golden triangle for the prerogatives offered. In fact, have been there for centuries: an orderly and fertile campaign in which the main protagonists are the imposing and contorted olive and centenary carob trees, an unparalleled historical and archaeological richness and the added value of impressive and magnificent complexes, which is little flattering define farms, a stone’s throw from the sea.

But even before those who now enjoy the area for vacation, this was chosen as a home to many communities of refined civilization, as evidenced by the rock settlements that have impressive hypogeal churches and rich in interesting paintings.

The populations who settled here chose the canyons, deep furrows dug by the rains in the limestone, as ideal places to realize the cave-houses and the caves-churches in the tuff, in the natural cavities enlarged by subsequent workings.

Another element favorable to the sedentary life in the past centuries was the climate in the area that is particularly mild and ideal for the cultivation of olive, almond, citrus and also cereals and vegetables.

It should not be forgotten that during the period in which these places were inhabited, the coasts were infested by Saracen or Berber predators, for which the canyons, sometimes difficult to reach and hidden by the thick Mediterranean scrub, represented an ideal refuge.

The most important and interesting canyon of the territory, both for the beauty of the landscape and for the complex settlements and a church of considerable size and of great artistic value, is called Lama d’Antico (Provincial Road Fasano-Savelletri, Contrada Sarzano, Fasano –www.lamadantico.it – info@lamadantico.it).

Exploring this fascinating and timeless place, we are accompanied by Giuseppe of Cooperativa ARS Archeology, Restoration and Development (for info and visits tel +39 328 3597517 – +39 338 8175123) and by several of the numerous colony of cats that have now become official guides.

As we enter the bottom of the canyon, enriched by a lot of spontaneous vegetation and centuries-old olive trees, we listen to what Giuseppe tells us that catapults us to Puglia in the time between the VIII and the XIII century AD. contention between the Lombards and the Byzantines.

In the villages gathered in the canyons the frescoes paintings narrate a story of peace and of happy coexistence between the two cultures with a contemporary use of Latin and Greek as well as coexistence of both rites. This does not mean that they did not have relations with the ruling political authorities – Giuseppe explains to us – but their isolation allowed them a peaceful existence and cohabitation.

Therefore, the hypothesis that these places of worship were intended as hermit basilic caves chosen by monks coming from neighboring Greece is now closed. Moreover, our guide adds, San Basilio did not found religious orders nor did he promote hermitism.
An irrefutable proof of the contacts between Greek and Latin monasticism is found in the rocky church of San Lorenzo, in which there is the fresco painting depicting St. Basil and St. Benedict next to each other.

read also THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE – PART TWO

+ info about Cittá Meridiane

+ news “signed” Cittá Meridiane

2018-01-04
The heart of Apulia

The heart of Apulia.

The territory of the south-east of Bari develops between the Adriatic coast and the hill that introduces the Murge.

Fruit, vegetable and crops accompany the journey along the roads that connect the cities on the sea to those inland that develop around the characteristic Puglia historical centers.

Polignano a Mare, Monopoli and Conversano are the true heart of Apulia, but all around there is a heritage of culture, history and food and wine to discover!

2017-11-18