Description
The Statue of the Immaculate, known to locals as the “Marble Immaculate”, is a Baroque spire about 14 metres high on the north side of Messina Cathedral, behind the bell tower. Carved in white marble in 1757, it is the centrepiece of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception every 8 December.
The monument rises in stages, and it is best looked at from the bottom up. On the massive base, four large volutes frame the inscriptions: one with the dedication to the Virgin by the Senate and people of Messina, another listing the senators who commissioned it.
Higher up, four chubby winged cherubs hold bronze flowers and Marian symbols. At the top, a globe bearing the signs of the zodiac supports the Virgin, who crushes a dragon instead of the usual serpent and rests her foot on a crescent moon.
The statue of the Madonna, with its flowing drapery in full Baroque taste, wears a bronze halo and crown. The sculptor was Giuseppe Buceti from Messina, who may have drawn inspiration from the spire of the Immaculate in Piazza del Gesù Nuovo in Naples.
The spire was born of an act of thanksgiving. During the procession of the Vara on 15 August, some real people playing angels and saints on the great votive float fell from it and came out unharmed. The city credited the miracle to the Virgin, Messina's special patron since 1647.
The monument has had rare good fortune. In 1908 the earthquake brought down the cathedral and its bell tower, but the spire remained intact; in 1943 incendiary bombs struck the cathedral again, and once more the Immaculate was spared. It originally stood in another square and was moved here during the rebuilding.
Every 8 December, after the solemn Mass in the cathedral, firefighters place a crown of flowers on the Virgin's head, the tribute of the city and the diocese.
The monument rises in stages, and it is best looked at from the bottom up. On the massive base, four large volutes frame the inscriptions: one with the dedication to the Virgin by the Senate and people of Messina, another listing the senators who commissioned it.
Higher up, four chubby winged cherubs hold bronze flowers and Marian symbols. At the top, a globe bearing the signs of the zodiac supports the Virgin, who crushes a dragon instead of the usual serpent and rests her foot on a crescent moon.
The statue of the Madonna, with its flowing drapery in full Baroque taste, wears a bronze halo and crown. The sculptor was Giuseppe Buceti from Messina, who may have drawn inspiration from the spire of the Immaculate in Piazza del Gesù Nuovo in Naples.
The spire was born of an act of thanksgiving. During the procession of the Vara on 15 August, some real people playing angels and saints on the great votive float fell from it and came out unharmed. The city credited the miracle to the Virgin, Messina's special patron since 1647.
The monument has had rare good fortune. In 1908 the earthquake brought down the cathedral and its bell tower, but the spire remained intact; in 1943 incendiary bombs struck the cathedral again, and once more the Immaculate was spared. It originally stood in another square and was moved here during the rebuilding.
Every 8 December, after the solemn Mass in the cathedral, firefighters place a crown of flowers on the Virgin's head, the tribute of the city and the diocese.