San Pietro in Vinculis, Pisa facts for kids

This picture shows the front of the church, called the façade.

San Pietro in Vinculis is a beautiful old church in Pisa, Italy. It's a Roman Catholic church built in a style called Romanesque. This style was popular a long, long time ago.

History of San Pietro in Vinculis

This church was built by a group of monks called the Augustinians between the years 1072 and 1118. It was built on top of an even older building. The rectory, which is like the priest's house or office, was added a few years later.

Church Design and Features

The church's design follows a special style from Pisa, known as the Pisan Romanesque style. A famous architect named Buscheto helped create this look. The church has a main area called a nave and two side areas called aisles. At the end of these areas are rounded sections called apses.

The front of the church, or the façade, has many interesting details. You can see flat, narrow strips called pilaster strips. There are also blind arches, which look like arches but are filled in. Small round windows, called oculi, let in light. You might also spot diamond shapes called lozenges and windows divided by stone bars, known as mullioned windows.

Inside the Church

Inside, the floor has a special design made from different colored materials, called intarsia. Underneath this floor is a crypt, which is an underground room. This crypt has arched ceilings called groin vaults and old Roman columns with special tops, known as capitals. Some people think this area might have been an ancient market before it became a church!

The church also holds a Roman sarcophagus, which is a stone coffin. You can still see parts of old wall paintings, called frescoes, and a wooden cross from the 13th century. In the rectory, there are more frescoes from the 13th and 15th centuries. There are also fancy decorations made of stucco from the 18th century. The church's bell tower was actually a regular building first, built in the late 11th or early 12th century.

The Famous Manuscript

For many years, the church kept a very important old book. This book was a summary of the Corpus Juris Civilis, which was a collection of laws from the Roman Emperor Justinian I. This special document came to Pisa after the city of Amalfi was captured in 1137. However, when Pisa was taken over by Florence in 1406, the document was moved to Florence.