Qualla: Lucca Cathedral

Lucca Cathedral: Introduction

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mongolo1984, edited by MenkinAlRire, CC BY-SA 4.0. Look carefully at the facade of Lucca Cathedral and you will notice something odd: every column is different. According to local legend, the citizens announced a contest for the best column, then took them all without paying the artists. Whether the tale is true hardly matters -- it captures something essential about this cathedral, where the unexpected keeps appearing around every corner. A labyrinth carved into the portico references the Minotaur's Crete. A wooden crucifix inside supposedly dates to the time of Christ. And the bishop who began the current building in 1060 later became Pope. Lucca Cathedral is a building that collects improbable stories the way some buildings collect dust.

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Image: Mongolo1984, edited by MenkinAlRire | CC BY-SA 4.0

Lucca Cathedral: From Bishop's Chair to Pope's Throne

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gianni Careddu, CC BY-SA 4.0. A church has stood on this site since the 6th century, when the bishop's seat transferred here from the church of San Reparto. But the building that stands today owes its existence to Bishop Anselm, who began construction in 1060 -- four years before Pisa Cathedral, Lucca's great...

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Image: Gianni Careddu | CC BY-SA 4.0

Lucca Cathedral: The Holy Face

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sailko, edited by MenkinAlRire, CC BY-SA 4.0. The most precious object in Lucca arrived, according to legend, through a series of miraculous events in 782. The Volto Santo -- the Holy Face -- is a wooden crucifix that tradition claims was carved by Nicodemus, a contemporary of Jesus, capturing Christ's actual likeness. Art h...

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Image: Sailko, edited by MenkinAlRire | CC BY-SA 4.0

Lucca Cathedral: Romanesque Bones, Gothic Flesh

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sailko, CC BY 3.0. The architectural history of the building is written in its stones. The great apse with its tall columnar arcades and the campanile survive from the original Romanesque construction. But the nave and transepts are 14th-century Gothic, creating a dialogue between two centuries of ...

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Image: Sailko | CC BY 3.0

Lucca Cathedral: The Labyrinth at the Door

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Wilhelm Lübke, Public domain. Carved into the right pier of the portico is a labyrinth believed to date from the 12th or 13th century. It follows the Chartres pattern -- the same design that would become standard for church labyrinths across Europe -- and may actually predate the famous labyrinth at Chartres ...

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Image: Wilhelm Lübke | Public domain