Saint Mary the Great near Bale: traces of a Benedictine monastery
Saint Mary the Great near Bale stands within an earlier Carolingian basilica. Stone finds from the monastery are kept in the old town’s lapidarium.
The nave of the earlier basilica
The eighth-century church had a nave and two aisles divided by columns, and three apses, semicircular inside and polygonal outside. Columns with pre-Romanesque capitals supported the arches between the nave and aisles. The present Baroque church, built in 1789, occupies the central nave, and stone elements from the earlier building were reused in its construction.
The church also underwent a medieval remodelling between those two building phases. In the eleventh century it was shortened by one bay, a Romanesque bell tower was built in the south-west corner and a new chancel screen was installed. These changes altered both the church’s size and the division of its sanctuary.
The monastery around the church
The complex developed beside an ancient road leading from Porto Colonne into the hinterland of Bale. A smaller memorial chapel stood alongside the large church and received a bell tower on its façade in the eleventh century. The church, chapel and monastic rooms formed a larger complex than the small present-day building, also known as Madonna Alta or Saint Mary of Bale.
Archaeological investigations began in 1995. After examining the church and chapel, archaeologists extended their work to the monastic buildings. In the 2006 campaign they established the southern boundary, the south-west corner and the beginning of the western wall. The excavated ground plan places the large church in the north-east, with the monastic buildings extending south and west.
Stone finds in Bale’s crypt
Some of the stone liturgical furnishings and capitals from Saint Mary the Great are kept in the lapidarium in the crypt of Bale’s parish church. The capitals formed part of the columns, while chancel screens separated the sanctuary from the congregation.
The collection also includes fragments from Saint Mary the Small and San Polo, bringing together finds from several early medieval churches around Bale.
Address: 52211 Bale