It was truly a surprise for me when the lady at the desk in the Monastery of Santa Maria in Valle asked me to proceed to a non-descript door. This door turns out to lead to the Lombard Temple which I have been meaning to see the whole time. The temple is also the oratory of the monastery. The Lombard Temple is the best example of Lombard art and architecture. So much that it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage site list. While there are seven of these Lombard sites in the listing, the one here is considered to be the best and I think I can see why. There are parts of the temple which are beautifully preserved or restored whichever the case may be. There are still frescoes on the walls which visitors can make out and obviously they would be depicting religious figures or events.

However, one of the more impressive features of the the temple is the ceiling frescoes which are somehow very well preserved. I don’t know how much of this was restored but it looks great. It was rather high up the ceiling so it was a difficult to tell exactly what is being depicted. The central figure is definitely Jesus Christ and around him are who I would assume are his apostles. There are some remnants of frescoes nearby but none are as well preserved as this one. There is a large horizontal beam in the rear of the temple. It looked a little out of place but on also needs to remember that this oratory has been in existence for more than a thousand years. It was inevitable that changes were made to the place. This horizontal beam was one of them.

I spent quite some time here in the temple just admiring the place. Incredibly, I was the only one there the whole time. So I could take however many photos as I wanted. I’m not sure how popular this place actually is but it seems like I was the only visitor in the monastery the whole time.

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