Portals of the Church of Saint Nicholas in Bari

The Church of Saint Nicolas in Bari, in southern Italy, is known as a church of great renown and importance, in view of the fact that it was built to receive the remains of Saint Nicholas, which are still kept in the church’s crypt, in the part of the building from where its construction began, at the end of the XI century. This church played a highly significant role in the creation of the specific, Romanic style of architecture in this region, so several important buildings were constructed using the basic typological and stylistic characteristics of the Church of Saint Nicholas. It was built as a triple-naved basilica with a transept and a dome designed at the intersection of the main nave and the transept, and the specific rendition of the altar section, with side towers and a flat facade wall that encloses the inner apse was applied in a similar manner on several churches in Apulia. Its great renown in the Christian world is well-known, reflected both in the strong connection between the churches in Bari and Kotor, and through the donations by the medieval Serbian rulers, among which is the large icon of Saint Nicholas, a gift from Stefan Dečanski, which is still preserved in the church’s crypt. The importance of this and the other churches in Apulia was undoubtedly one of the factors that have led to discussion in literature about the question of their possible influence on architectonic creation in related artistic fields, including the monuments of the Raška stylistic group, particularly in connection with the architectural and sculptural plastics on portals because of the similarity of some of the shapes and motives in the stonemasonry..