Thursday 30 July 2009

Tell Intarsia About Arabs?

On these 2 photos you see the 2 sides of the portico of the cathedral of Salerno.

If you listen to a guide or to anybody who can tell you some words about this building you will surely hear this sentence that I copied from Wikipedia:
"The entrance has a portico with 28 antique columns whose pointed arches, with lava rock intarsia, show influence of Arab art,"

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I was sure it's the truth and told it to the persons too. Till I visited Pompei a month ago. There I made this photo:

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The cathedral of Salerno was built in about 1080-1084 by Norman conqueror of the town Robert Guiscard. Normans could be perfectly influenced by Arabs called Saracens in Italy because those had the use to plundert coasts of Italy at least from V-VI centuries.

The Romans could not avoid contacts with Arabs in all their history, it's clear. Even if the first documented contacts go back to the II-III centuries. Pompei was burried in 79, I century.

Now I think about it: could it be really Arabic influence?

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