Medieval Mosaics

Salerno, Cathedral of S Matteo

Also known as	Duomo, S Matteo
Era	11AD - 12AD
Location	Piazza Alfano I, 84125 Salerno SA, Italy

The surviving mosaics in the cathedral are fragmentary and shabby in the extreme. Only patches survived the eighteenth-century remodelling of the church: in the east end, a couple of evangelist symbols, Matthew and John, and traces of the others, some scattered clouds on a gold background on the apse arch, some ornament in the form of fragments of a garland border and a medallion above and around the arch. A sixteenth-century description of the cathedral also records a now-lost mosaic inscription that went with the imagery. This attributed the mosaic to ‘Father’ Alfanus, most probably Archbishop Alfanus I (1058-85), who was, with Robert Guiscard, the Norman ruler of Salerno, the founder of the church.

Notes:

What there seems to have been: Main apse: Virgin, angels, donors, bishops. Apse arch: St John and St Matthew symbols, remains of St Mark and St Luke, flora, geometrical pattern. South apse: St Matthew, St Michael, saints, donor. Ambo: The ambo to the north (by Romualdo II Guara) was remade after 1730 with residual mosaics. The one to the south has original mosaics of the 12C . Lunette: St Matthew.