In a church in Italy, a fresco featuring an unusual Islamic element was discovered.
Christian churches in the Middle Ages may have utilized Islamic textiles to cover their main altars. This is supported by a 13th-century fresco recently uncovered in Ferrara, Italy.
Reported by UNN with references to 30science and The Burlington Magazine.
A team of archaeological experts led by Federica Gigante analyzed the 13th-century fresco found in the Benedictine monastery of San Antonio in Polesine, Italy. It turns out that the fresco depicts an altar draped with an Islamic curtain—an astonishing discovery that, according to specialists, places Islamic art at the heart of medieval Christianity.
The authors suggest that this 700-year-old fresco is unique, providing valuable evidence of a little-known Christian practice.
Gigante's study, published today in The Burlington Magazine, also indicates that Pope Innocent IV, who donated several precious fabrics to the church of the Benedictine monastery of San Antonio in Polesine, Ferrara, where the fresco was created, may have gifted such a canopy.