With Easter having passed quite recently, the idea of resurrection is perhaps on many people’s minds. Nowhere is this more true than Puglia, Italy, where one can now visit a “resurrected” early Christian basilica made of wire mesh that serves as an ethereal reminder of the area’s rich architectural history.
The creator of this apparitional structure is the Italian sculptor Edoardo Tresoldi, who has previously found fame with his monumental, figurative sculptures, constructed using the same material. He has now brought his ghostly aesthetic to a project that is as educational as it is artistic.
“The work of Edoardo Tresoldi appears as a majestic architectural sculpture able to tell the volumes of existing early Christian Church and at the same time able to vivify, updating it, the relationship between the ancient and the contemporary,” explains curator Simone Pallotta.
Tresoldi’s installation is located in the Archeological Park of Siponto, on the outskirts of the town of Puglia. Siponto was once the site of a vibrant port town, but it was abandoned in the 13th century following a massive earthquake. During the early centuries of Christianity, Siponto was the seat of a highly important diocese, and legend has it that both Saint Peter and Saint Mark preached at this site.
Tresoldi’s structure is, of course, only an approximation of the long-vanished church, but it was constructed with the help of experts at MiBACT (the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities) and the Archaeological Superintendence of Puglia. The finished product is truly striking and a must-see for visitors to Southern Italy. The inhabitable installation, which includes Romanesque arches along with sculptures of ancient priests, gives new meaning to the phrase “living history.”