Basilica Santuario Maria SS. della Coltura - Parabita

DESCRIPTION OF THE BASILICA

The temple, built in 1913 by architect Napoleone Pagliarulo in a successful marriage of styles, such as the Romanesque-Byzantine and Gothic, with a different conception of the Apulian Romanesque, stands on the site of a chapel dedicated to Our Lady also the culture, demolished at the time because of the precarious circumstances, to make way for the current Basilica.La salient façade lets imagine the three-nave internal structure. The porch, the fine decorations in "Lecce stone", is surmounted by a beautiful mosaic representing Christ the King, made by Prof. Grassi in Rome; Add to this the rosette also made of local stone. To the side of the whole structure rises majestically the newly built bell tower.

Entering the sanctuary's attention is immediately drawn to the monolith with the fresco of the Virgin enthroned on the high altar. The fresco is of exquisite workmanship, dating from the twelfth century or so, clearly Byzantine style, that Barrella in his book of 1913 describes as "The Virgin is standing, standing. A blue mantle covers her head and back down gracefully from his shoulders, goes to lap the edges of the white robe.

The head is smooth and gently inclined to the right. The face has eyebrows arched and rigid, almond-shaped eyes [...] The look is sweet, but quietly melancholy is lost on watching, almost revealing a premonition that the mother of future trials [...]. He argues with his right arm the Divine Babe, while the left, with ineffable grace, the holding up the small foot. That child she lovingly holds is his son! He is telling the sweetness, the confidence, the tenderness with which he indulges on Her chest [...].

Before this figure shouts spontaneously: "This is Mary!". We can not be that thrilled by the delicate beauty that is released inside the temple, the perfection of the lines, the accuracy of the decorations, the quiet of luogo.Gli frescoes that decorate the interior were carried out within one year, in 1942, by the master Mario Prayer French school, but at that time residing in Bari.Il Prayer has made eighteen frescoes covering the walls of the aisles, formed by four bays each with a cross vault; It also painted the two inner walls of the main facade, narrating the life of Mary, the promise of the earthly Paradise redemption, the glorification of the humble daughter of Sion.

The subjects are a real catechesis. From the first episode, which is the expulsion of our first parents from Eden and the promise of redemption, the last represented from Coronation, by the hand of Christ the King, is a succession of images of intense and mystical significance charges. In this series of frescoes are added also those of the apse painted with Eucharistic motifs, the images of the Apostles and the insignia of the Evangelists. The two arches of the presbytery are frescoed with garlands of flowers, among which clings an inscription on which shows the "Responsorio the culture of Madonna."

On the back wall you can admire the magnificent rose window Stained representative of Christ the King in the center and from which branch off twelve spokes where the twelve apostles are depicted. The Prayer was made on the same wall the great fresco of the Triumph of Our Lady of Culture, divided into four scenes, ranging from the discovery of the monolith to the new sanctuary, to which are brought processionalmente.Nel November 1999, His Holiness John Paul II elevated the Shrine of Our Lady of Culture at Minor Basilica.