Here lies Bona, the queen of ... Bari

Published on: 2014-05-15

Bari, like many Italian towns, has a lot of monuments. One of them is a huge Romanesque building with a characteristic austere form - the Basilica of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of the city. And there, in addition to the relics of the saint, is the tomb of Queen Bona.

The impulse to erect this building at the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries was the transfer from Myra (today's Turkey) to Bari of the relics of the patron saint of the basilica. His body was buried here in 1087. The building served as a defensive fortress many times in the old days. Currently, the custodians of the basilica are Dominicans.

Queen Bona was the ruler of Bari and it was here in the basilica that she prayed both at the tomb of St. Nicholas and in the chapel of the castle in Bariski. According to one of the numerous versions, many years later she ended her colorful life in it, poisoned by her trusted advisor, Jan Pappacoda. The icon with the image of the saint also hung in Bona's bedroom at the Wawel castle.

The monarch's tombstone is located in the basilica and was made in the mannerist style. The order for its creation was accepted by Santi Gucci in 1593 from Anna Jagiellon, daughter of Queen Bona. The mausoleum was placed behind the main altar of the temple. The sarcophagus is decorated with a sculpture depicting Bona kneeling in the declining years of her life. Next to the Polish queen, there are patrons of Poland and Bari - St. Stanisław and St. Santa Claus.

At the end of the 16th century, a relief depicting the Resurrection of Christ was built above the tomb. In the following years, the walls were covered with frescoes depicting Polish saints and kings. There are images of, among others. st. Jadwiga Śląska, St. Stanisław Kostka and St. Ludwik Gonzaga, as well as Anna Jagiellonian, Zygmunt III Vasa, Jan Kazimierz and Maria Ludwika Gonzaga. In the first half of the 20th century, most of the Polish accents were removed from here, regardless of the historical and artistic value of the compositions. It was argued that their shoulder character did not match the image of the entire temple. The paintings have been destroyed.