Architecture in Sardinia from the 5th to the 16th Centuries 479
The proportions of the latter are slimmer (the module is a square and a half ),
while those of the others are distinguished by their massiveness (the module
is square). At San Saturnino, columns with ridged corners and the placement
of the dome directly on the square base help to alleviate this impression. On
the other hand, Sant’Antioco’s dome rests on a true octagonal drum, which was
formed by adapting the squinch in such a way as to increase the surface of the
hemisphere’s overlap. Thereby, the drum also determined the dome’s eleva-
tion. For this reason, the four windows in San Saturnino pierce the curve of
the dome, while at Sant’Antioco they are straight, since they are located on the
drum. In both cases, a drum contains the rear of the dome, which was probably
meant to be concealed by a pitched, pyramidal roof on the exterior.
All three churches were modified in the following centuries. San Giovanni
di Sinis was partly reconstructed and expanded before the end of the eleventh
century. Its plan was reoriented from central to longitudinal, its internal space
broken up into a nave and two aisles, and its original transverse arm assigned
the function of transept. A similar solution was implemented at Sant’Antioco,
possibly even earlier, or when it was donated to the Benedictine abbey of San
Vittore di Marsiglia, shortly before 1089. In these same years, the giudici of
Cagliari granted San Saturnino in Cagliari to the monks of San Vittore, who
oversaw its reconstruction in the Romanesque style (Fig. 18.4). In this case, the
central body was retained, the dome restored, and the arms rebuilt again, with
aisles; barrel vaults and intrados were also installed in the central vessel, and
groin vaults in the aisles.
Little survives of the original Early Byzantine liturgical furnishings of the three
churches. The oldest sculptural fragment is preserved in Sant’Antioco, where it
was reused on the interior at the north end of the transept. It is a pluteus, deco-
rated with a fish-scale pattern of a type often found in both Latin and Byzantine
churches of the fifth and sixth centuries. At San Saturnino, a base with a cross
and lambs is also extant (Fig. 18.5). The church of San Giovanni in Sinis has not
revealed any sculpture, although the most recent restoration did bring forth a
fragment of painted plaster: a remnant of a frescoed velarium in the apse. This
fragment is a reminder that at least the apses of these churches were plastered
and painted with images that served as iconic complements to the architecture.
Sardinia’s political and formal dependence on Constantinople, from the
sixth to the tenth centuries, caused the history of the island to diverge from
that of the rest of Italy. Building activity no doubt continued in this period,
though it was of lower quality and quantity with respect to earlier centuries.
For complex reasons, this phenomenon was not limited to the island, but af-
fected the entire Mediterranean basin. In fact, these later churches are both