Hidden among the ravines in the heart of the Murgia Materana, there is a place of extraordinary beauty and mystery: the Crypt of Original Sin. Dubbed the Sistine Chapel of rock painting, this cave church contains thousand-year-old frescoes that tell stories of faith, art and spirituality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Discovered in 1963, the crypt dates back to the 8th-9th centuries AD and was the place of worship of a community of Benedictine monks. After centuries of abandonment, the crypt was used as a refuge by the inhabitants of the area, who called it the Cave of the Hundred Saints; the name was also mentioned by the scholar Domenico Ridola. The crypt was saved from oblivion thanks to meticulous restoration by the Z\u00e9tema Foundation, which brought to light the magnificence of the paintings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 41 square metres of the crypt contain wonderful frescoes depicting episodes from Genesis, including the Creation and the Original Sin with Adam and Eve, as well as solemn representations of the Apostles, Virgin Queens and the Archangels, in an atmosphere of rare harmony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The entire pictorial cycle is characterised by a wonderful background of sinuous flowers with red petals, which has led the frescoes to be attributed to a mysterious “Painter of the Flowers of Matera”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To step into the crypt is to take a journey back in time and immerse yourself in a world of colours and symbols that have defied the centuries. Soft lighting enhances the beauty of the frescoes and makes the experience even more evocative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":185,"template":"","scopri_cat":[182],"class_list":["post-31194","scopri","type-scopri","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","scopri_cat-places-to-visit"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n