The collegiate basilica of the Holy Sepulchre is one of the main churches of Barletta and since its foundation has kept a close link with the Holy Land and the sepulchre of Christ.
What to see
In a tempered Gothic style, the basilica has a plan of three aisles marked by seven bays, with a transept and one apse per aisle; the three apses face corso Garibaldi, while the main entrance is on the west, on a pedestrian forecourt that still keeps a portion of the old portico, and one must go down a few steps to enter. At the entrance is the narthex, a space lower than the aisles and surmounted by other rooms; the bays are marked by pointed arches, with ribbed vaults, and at the upper level run the galleries. A wooden crucifix looms over the high altar, and to the left of the main portal a plaque commemorates the consecration of the church and of the high altar, which took place on 24 February 1726 at the hands of Nicola de Queralt, a native of Barletta. In the chapel above the narthex, decorated with thirteenth-century icons and fourteenth-century frescoes, the Treasure of the Holy Sepulchre can be visited, according to the sources: a double patriarchal cross, a tabernacle with Christ in Majesty in a mandorla, a Eucharistic dove in gilded copper, a twelfth-century monstrance and a breviary-ritual of Jerusalem origin, also of the twelfth century.
The first document that attests with certainty to the existence of the church dates from 1130, the same year in which Pope Innocent II recognised the Order of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre; in 1144 mention is made of the foundation of the temple by the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre who, returning from Palestine, are said to have built it along with other buildings across Apulia. The church stands in a strategic position between the Adriatic via Francigena and the road to Canosa, and was a stopping place for the pilgrims and crusaders bound for the Holy Land from the port of Barletta; the Hospital of the Pilgrims was built against it, dating from the period between the end of the eleventh and the beginning of the twelfth century. In 1291, after the fall of Acre, the Patriarch of Jerusalem Randulphus took refuge in Barletta and, according to old tradition, brought with him precious relics, among them a staurotheca with a fragment of the wood of the Cross, particularly venerated in the church ever since. In 1456 an earthquake damaged the bell tower; over its history three have followed one another, and the last, a Baroque one, was demolished in 1903. In 1489 Pope Innocent VIII merged the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre with the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, later of Malta; the church was raised to collegiate status in 1852, to a parish in 1908 and to a minor basilica in 1951. Between 1968 and 1972 a complex restoration brought to light finds from the medieval basilica and gave the roof back its original form.
Visiting
The basilica has its long front on corso Vittorio Emanuele, to the north, and its three apses on corso Garibaldi, to the east. The sources consulted give neither hours nor conditions of entry, for the basilica or for the Treasure: these should be checked with the parish.
Our editors' tip
Two evening processions linked to the Holy Wood of the Cross set out from the basilica: the one on Good Friday, which goes back to the thirteenth century, and the one on 14 September, which recalls the vow made during the plague of 1656 and was held for the first time on 3 May 1657.
