Sculture medievali dall'area archeologica di Siponto: nuove acquisizioni e alcune riflessioni

ENGLISH
Medieval Sculptures from the Archaeological Area of Siponto: New Acquisitions and some Reflections

In some rooms of the new Diocesan Museum of Manfredonia (FG) different pieces of medieval sculptures from the excavations and the work of reorganization and cleaning of the archaeological area of S. Maria di Siponto have recently been exposed.
The new layout has allowed us to better analyze the pieces, and provide for more accurate classification also based on some new items recently recovered (2011, 2015). It was possible to reconstruct some mobile facilities commissioned by the archbishop Leone (1023-1050) after he had obtained full independence from the diocese of Benevento. Within the early Christian church of S. Maria there should be a little ciborium probably related to a side altar, which is identified in two beams, one of which is signed by David magister; a second ciborium on the central altar, with inscriptions in Latin and Greek; a pulpit-type case on four small columns decorated with a lectern with a big eagle signed by Acceptus, sculptor of the early eleventh century; a presbytery enclosure was then set up of which we have recognized a pillar and a frame into several fragments; a straight chair by two lions, of which only one survives, was realized too. It is a uniform series of sculptures decora­ted with plant motifs and animals that provides insight into the stylistic solutions become famous with the workshop of Acceptus and David in the third and fourth decade of the eleventh century.