Santa Maria Arabona

Cistercian Abbey of Santa Maria Arabona

Abbey church of Santa Maria Arabona
Location within Italy
Monastery information
Order	Cistercian
Established	1209
Disestablished	1587
Mother house	Tre Fontane Abbey
Diocese	Chieti-Vasto
Site
Location	Manoppello, Italy
Coordinates	42.302298°N 14.062206°E / 42.302298; 14.062206
Public access	yes

Santa Maria Arabona is a Cistercian abbey in Abruzzo, in central Italy. It is located at Manoppello in the frazione also called Santa Maria Arabona. In Roman times the area was sacred to the goddess of fertility and virginity Bona Dea.

Architecture

The Gothic tabernacle

The most important of the abbey buildings still extant is its church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, whose construction began in 1208 with the transept and the apse. The edifice remained partly unfinished, due to financial and political troubles within the order.

The church is built on the Latin Cross plan, with the nave ending in an apse housing the high altar. The aisles support the ceiling. The interior is very sober, apart from the richly decorated tabernacle and Paschal candle in Gothic style. The choir contains frescoes by Antonio Martini di Atri dated 1377.

The church, which was restored in the 1950s, is surrounded by a park from which the rest of the abbey is accessed.

See also

• List of Cistercian monasteries

Bibliography

• Mammarella, Luigi (1995). "Santa Maria d'Arabona di Manoppello". Abbazie e monasteri cistercensi in Abruzzo (in Italian). Cerchio (AQ): Adelmo Polla Editore. p. 57-90. ISBN 8874070276.

External links

• Janauschek, Leopold (1877). Originum Cisterciensium - in quo, praemissis congregationum domiciliis adjectisque tabulis chronologico-genealogicis, veterum abbatiarum a monachis habitatarum fundationes ad fidem antiquissimorum fontium primus descripsit (in Latin). Vol. I. Vienna: Puthod. p. 308. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
• "Chiesa di Santa Maria Arabona" (in Italian). Regione Abruzzo. Archived from the original on October 21, 2014. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
• "Abbazia di Santa Maria Arabona" (in Italian). Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo. Retrieved December 29, 2014.