Abbey of Sant’Elena sull’Esino

Short description of the capitals of the church ( see plan ) : All the capitals are of white stone (travertine? limestone?), almost all surmounted by a dosseret of grey stone, sometimes decorated, which, because of its larger size, as well as the different material and technical execution, does not seem to belong to the capitals or to be contemporary with them (or perhaps, as explained further on, it is the capitals that do not belong with the dosserets): 1) In the lower part, large palm leaves and in the upper part fine volutes. 2) Below: 5 empty small arcades, separated by fine colonnettes, some of them even spiral, all with base and capital; above, large volutes and geometric designs. 3) Two long-haired mermaids with a hieratic expression holding their legs with their hands. In place of feet there are parallel strokes, perhaps indicating fins. Fins also emerge from the back of the thighs. The breasts are very prominent and below them there are more parallel strokes, perhaps indicating ribs (or gills?) (see photo capital 3) . 4) The right part of the capital is almost entirely missing because of breakage or chiselling (see photo capital 4) . In the visible part there is an angel (perhaps an archangel, maybe St. Michael?) with large outspread wings, rising behind his back and then falling vertically along his sides. The angel wears a richly decorated colobium (tunic) and perhaps also a crown or an elaborate headdress. He also has a nimbus. In his two arms, spread wide in the shape of a cross, he holds a long processional cross. The foot of the cross in his right hand is thrust into the mouth of a monster that the angel holds beneath his feet, while it cannot be seen where the cross in his right hand ends, but it can be guessed that it must be in the jaws of a mirror-image monster (as can indeed be seen very clearly on capital no. 15, identical to this one and complete) (see photo capital 15) . 5) Like capital 2, except that under the small arcades there are tiny leaves. The dosseret is decorated with interlace carving. 6) Like the previous one, but instead of the small arcades there are “bow-shaped” motifs. 7) Large curled leaves and volutes. The dosseret is badly deteriorated. 8) Identical to the previous one except for one detail: one of the leaves is decorated with an incision. A fine plait motif below the capital. Here too, the dosseret is badly deteriorated. 9) Badly deteriorated capital with acanthus leaves, surmounted by a fine decorated band. 10) More than a capital, it resembles a long decorated corbel divided into two registers: above, plant motifs, below, a triple plait. 11) Plant motifs and large volutes. Here too the dosseret is badly deteriorated. 12) Remarkable dosseret, identical to that of capital no. 5. The capital is divided into two bands: below, plant motifs (three small superimposed heart-shaped leaves, decreasing in size towards the top), above, large volutes. 13) Only the dosseret remains, identical to that of capital 5. 14) Capital with small arcades, similar to no. 6, with more refined plant motifs inside the arcades. 15) Capital identical to no. 4, but complete with the part that is missing in that one. The monster depicted at the angel’s feet is clearly visible. It has two large gaping jaws (perhaps for a single body), one for each of the two crosses that the angel holds in his hands. The dosseret is also remarkable (see photo capital 15) . 17) Two griffins (?) facing each other. Dosseret rather deteriorated (see photo capital 17) . 18) Palmette and volute motifs of almost “Roman” taste. The dosseret is almost smooth. The first building phase of the vaults could be related to the traces of a round arch visible in the masonry between the large supporting arch that divides the nave into bays and the present covering of pointed vaults. This first building may have followed the plan of the building that has come down to us, but it must have had a triple-apsed east end (the inner east end wall of the south aisle in fact shows signs of a probable semicircle, perhaps the springing of the hemicycle of an apse) and vaults lower than those now in place. The monolithic cornice set on the pillars supporting the vaults of the side aisles is positioned higher than the same cornices used as corbels supporting the present vaults facing the nave and the arch of the longitudinal bay. The half-columns ending in capitals, the only ones in this area with figurative decoration, set against the pillars and facing the nave, seem to be a separate addition, perhaps linked to the 12th-century rebuilding. CRYPT Completely rebuilt in the 20th century. Only 4 capitals seem to be of the Romanesque period. Two of them are in the semicircle of the apse and one on each side, on the north and south walls: they are decorated with floral motifs. The crypt too, in its reconstruction, shows anomalies that suggest a hypothetical triple-apsed east end (the rebuilding of the vaults towards the east end breaks off halfway along the arch).