Unfortunately, I don't know as much about this impressive church as I would like. Our tour there was kind of odd and rushed. A large percentage of the floor was blocked off so that all the tourists had to squeeze by each other, making for a difficult time and making guided tours nearly impossible. Plus, we were pressed for time. So, while we were lectured at a little bit, we were mostly free to roam around to try to see everything before we had to leave. Here's what I know:
The church was finished in 1263. There were any subsequent additions, including one that was never finished. The facade is in a Tuscan Gothic style, and even has some gargoyles to go with all of the other sculptures.
It's hard to pick them out from the facade behind, but there are two sculptures that I was told about. The one in the foreground (on the column) is of two little children being suckled by a she-wolf. But it does not refer to Romulus and Remus. Or so I was told (more on that in a minute). The other sculpture is the lion on the left. It signifies that Siena was subjugated by the Florentine Republic.
I am pretty sure that I heard that the suckling pair (seen here on the marble mosaic floor inside) are actually supposed to be the founders of Siena, Senius and Aschius. Their's being a story suspiciously similar to that of Rome's Romulus and Remus. However, I have seen in a few sources since that they are actually Romulus and Remus. Apparently the legend says that Senius and Aschius were the sons of Remus and that when they left Rome to found Siena they took a statue of their father and uncle from a temple. One source didn't even mention Aschius, but just talked about Senius founding Siena. So, I'm not sure. Let me know if you find out.
Some works of art behind the altar about which I can tell you nothing. Sorry.
The black and white stripes all over the place are due to black and white being Siena's colors. A lot of the marble, including that used for the huge pulpit (not shown), came from Carrara.
This is the entrance to the Piccolomini Library. Stephanie was lecturing the students about it, but was unfortunately told to keep it short due to time constraints. Hopefully I'll get another chance to go in and look around because it has illuminated choir books and impressive frescoes.
Here you can see that, although the church is quite big, much of the floor was blocked off making it difficult to get around.
The floors are not usually sectioned off like that. It is usually covered and you can walk all over it. We happened to arrive during the six to ten weeks a year that they are uncovered. The inlaid marble mosaic floor is extremely ornate and covers the entire floor.
Here are some mementos of miracles, including some bike helmets.
It is really is a quite large church, but it could have been absolutely enormous...
Plans were under way in 1339 to more than double its size. The current nave was going to become the transepts while an entirely new (and enormous) nave would be built perpendicular to it, centered on the altar. Then the construction was halted in 1348 due to the Black Death and was never resumed. Apparently there may have been some flaws in the plans.
This shot gives an idea of how big the church would have been. The (black and white striped) nave is in the background. The arches on the right would have been one side of the new nave and would have extended all the way to the wall I was standing on. It's really impressive when you're standing there looking down on it.
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