Main Sights
The historical center of the town is dominated by Piazza del Duomo, which is where the National Archeological Museum is located. Close by is the Palazzo dei Provveditori Veneti, constructed in 1565 and designed by Andrea Palladio. The town is split in two by the Natisone River, which is spanned by the impressive Devil's Bridge (15th century, rebuilt in 1918). Also notable is the Celtic Hypogeum, a subterranean series of halls carved in the rock in ancient times, whose destination remains unclear: uses as either Celtic funerary monument or a Roman (Lombard) jail has been proposed.
The Cathedral (Duomo) was built in the 15th century over a pre-existing construction built in the 8th century. It is a Venetian Gothic building, finished in the 16th century by architect Pietro Lombardo, featuring interventions from the 18th century also. The interior houses a notable altar dedicated to the Madonna, in the right aisle, and the altarpiece of patriarch Pellegrinus II (1195−1204), a silver retable which had been inscribed in Latin by the means of individual letter punches, 250 years before the invention of modern movable type printing by Johannes Gutenberg.
The Christian Museum annexed to the Duomo houses outstanding examples of Lombard sculpture. It contains some interesting relics of the art of the 8th century. The cathedral contains an octagonal marble canopy with sculptures in relief, with a font below it belonging to the 8th century, but altered later. The high altar has a fine silver altar front of 1185. The museum contains various Roman and Lombard antiquities, and works of art in gold, silver and ivory formerly belonging to the cathedral chapter. The fine 15th-century Ponte del Diavolo leads to the church of S. Martino, which contains an altar of the 8th century with reliefs executed by order of the Lombard king Ratchis.
The small church of Oratorio di Santa Maria in Valle (also known as Lombard Temple), next to the Natisone river, is a notable example of High Middle Ages art sometimes attributed to the 8th century, but probably later. Included in the old Lombard quarter, it was probably used as Palatine Chapel by the Lombard dukes and king's functionaries. The fine decorations, statues and stuccoes (11th or 12th century) housed in the interior, show a strong Byzantine influence.
Read more about this topic: Cividale Del Friuli
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