The “Sistine Chapel of the rock churches” lies a few kilometres outside the city – and holds the oldest and most important wall paintings in the region.
Where it is
The crypt was cut into a rock face above a valley outside Matera, off the road and with no building anywhere near. From outside it is barely recognisable as a structure – an opening in the rock, no more. That is exactly what protected it for centuries.
The pictures
Depicted are scenes from the creation – among them the creation of man and the Fall, from which the crypt takes its name – alongside rows of saints: apostles, archangels, images of the Virgin. The paintings date from the early Middle Ages and are considered the most significant of their kind in southern Italy.
Striking are the bold red flowers that separate the panels. They earned the unknown painter the working name “Master of the Flowers of Matera” – the sort of stand-in name art history gives when a hand is recognisable but no name survives.
Why visits are regulated
The crypt is not freely accessible. Visits take place only by appointment and with a guide, in small groups and for a limited time. The reasons are conservational: the paintings react to damp, breath and light. Every extra person in the room changes the climate measurably.
Turn up on the off chance and you will stand in front of a locked door. The appointment belongs in your travel planning, not in your daily schedule.
Getting there
Without a car the crypt is hard to reach; there is effectively no public transport. Many operators in Matera include it in guided tours, sometimes combined with other rock churches in the surrounding countryside – for most people that is the simplest way.
Read on
- Rock churches in and around Matera – an overview of the type
- Parco della Murgia Materana – the landscape around it
- Madonna delle Tre Porte – another rock church with important frescoes
