Tempio di San Giovanni al Sepolcro
- Type
- Historic sites
- Area
- Centro
- Time
- about 25 min
- When
- during the day
San Giovanni al Sepolcro is one of Brindisi's most unusual monuments: a round Romanesque church built by the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre and first mentioned before 1128. Mass is no longer held here, but it can be visited.
Its round shape recalls the Rotunda of the Anastasis, the building that encloses the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and it is a sign of the link between Brindisi and the Holy Land in the age of the Crusades. Tradition credits it to Bohemond; the idea that the Templars built it, however, has no support in the documents.
Look at the columns: the earthquake of 1761 brought down the roof and shifted their axis, which has stayed crooked. And look down, where an opening in the floor shows the remains of a Roman domus.
Nearby
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- Church of Sant'AnnaSmall and unassuming, the church of Sant'Anna is one of the oldest in Brindisi.
- Former Scuole Pie ConventThe former Scuole Pie convent includes the church of Saint Michael the Archangel, recognisable by its dome covered in coloured majolica…
- Palazzo de MarzoPalazzo De Marzo takes its name from the family that bought it as their home in the first half of the eighteenth century.