The Church
The Romanesque church dedicated to San Nicola is located in the centre of Ottana, today marked by an industrial settlement. The church has got a single hall covered with a wooden roof, with a groin-vaulted transept. The apse faces east. The edifice was built in two phases during the same building works in the 12th century. The interior guards the Ottana polyptych, a painting on wood on a gold background made between 1339 and 1344, commissioned by Silvestro, a Franciscan bishop of Ottana, and by Mariano IV, the future sovereign of the Giudicato of Arborea.
Description »
The church has got a single hall covered with a wooden roof, with a groin-vaulted transept. The apse faces east. The edifice was completed in two phases in the same building works. The earliest phase include the construction of the apse, the transept and the northern side, while the façade and the southern side refer to a later period. Externally, the masonry shows some differences leading to theorize two different building steps; in contrast, the interior masonry is homogeneous and plain. Interestingly, different shades of volcanic stones were used in order to obtain ever-changing colour effects, along with the insertion of ceramic bowls. The façade is marked in three courses by horizontal frames. Arcades springing from pilasters give a movement effect to each order. The lower one hosts the portal, surmounted by a moulded lozenge repeated on either sides and in the upper course, still at its sides. Aligned with the entrance is a two-light opening, while the façade gable is decorated by small ceramic bowls. Pilasters and arcadings of different size follow the sides and the apse. The interior guards the Ottana polyptych, a painting on wood on a gold background.
History »
Already a cathedral of Ottana diocese, the San Nicola was consecrated in 1160, as reported in a small parchment found inside the altar, during renovation works involving the latter. More documents report an ‘Othana diocese’ in 1112 and 1116-39, with see in Orotelli and in 1160, with see in Ottana.
Works »
A fundamental work of art in Sardinian medieval painting, the Ottana Polyptych was made between 1339 and 1344. Such an accurate date is provided by the identification of two clients by means of a painted inscription. This work, depicting the Saints Francesco and Nicola with episodes of their lives, was committed by Silvestro, a Franciscan bishop of Ottana, and by the future sovereign of the Kingdom of Arborea, Mariano IV, who was still a crown prince at the time. The work was attributed to the Maestro delle Tempere Francescane, a painter of Lorenzetti brothers’ school working in the mid-14th century. The church treasure also guards items of medieval liturgical fittings: in particular, a brass plate of the 13th century and a gilded silver cross of the 14th century.
Restorations »
Between 1973 and 1976, restoration works brought to light the foundations of a campanile that was never built, in addition to some hardly readable archaeological evidence. Among others, two tombs are worth mentioning, set against the northern side of a pre-existing building that left a wide portion of flooring.
Bibliography »
Roberto Coroneo, Architettura romanica dalla metà del mille al primo ‘300, Nuoro, 1993. Roberto Coroneo, Renata Serra, Sardegna preromanica e romanica, collana “Patrimonio artistico italiano”, Milano, 2004.Roberto Coroneo, Chiese romaniche della Sardegna. Itinerari turistico-culturali, Cagliari, 2005.
Location