2-995-675 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Campo Santo, or Cemetery, Pisa, 1860. 'This famous cemetery was founded by Archbishop Ubaldo, at the end of the twelfth century, who, on his expulsion from Palestine by Saladin, took...a quantity of earth from Mount Calvary. This earth was said to have the peculiar property of reducing to dust in twenty-four hours bodies buried therein. He purchased the site of the present building, and there deposited the earth, but the structure was not commenced till 1278...[There is] an arcade or cloister running all round the interior...As will be remarked, the tracery of the arches of the cloister is Gothic. This portion was not completed till the latter part of the fifteenth century...In the floor of the ambulatory are numerous slab tombs of ancient Pisan families: they are in low relief, and in many instances are nearly obliterated by the footsteps of succeeding generations...The Campo Santo is, perhaps, most remarkable for the frescoes with which its walls are covered...[These are] chiefly by Giotto, Orcagna, Benozzo Gozzoli, and Meunni...Neglect, decay, and restorations have done their usual work upon them; but still enough remains that is very valuable and interesting. They are chiefly in two ranges, one above the other'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.