The 2015-2016 Jubilee Year instituted by Pope Francis has passed, but its legacy lives on in a new exhibition at the Pisa Cathedral complex, In Peter’s Scars: Pisa Cathedral and the Vatican Basilica.
Running until July 23, the exhibition chronicles Pisa Cathedral’s relationship with Rome over nearly two millennia, through objects and artworks dating from the age of Saint Peter up until the 19th century.
The apostle Saint Peter is deeply associated with Pisan territory: while on a missionary journey from Antioch to Rome, he is believed to have landed near the ancient port of Pisa in 44 C.E., where he erected a stone altar that later became the focal point of the Basilica di San Piero a Grado. Peter is also an apt lens through which to view Rome’s longstanding influence on Pisa: elements of Pisa Cathedral echo the Old St. Peter’s Basilica, which was constructed atop his tomb under Constantine’s reign. The first section of the exhibition focuses on this rapport.
Additional sections highlight Peter’s connection to Pisa’s medieval maritime culture; Petrine primacy; Rome’s influence on Pisa in the modern age; the concept of the ecclesiastical vestry; and daily life and practices among Christian believers through the years.
The exhibition takes place across Palazzo dell’Opera and the frescoed room connected to Pisa’s Camposanto Monumentale (piazza del Duomo 17). For more information, see Opera della Primaziale Pisana’s website.
