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Rossano
Holy Saint Achiropita [ XII secolo ]
Story of the church
Rossano's Cathedral had already been built when in 1193 King Tancredi visited it. The present building is built on two previous ones : the former dates back to the VI c. and the latter to the centuries VIII IX.. The building consists of three naves plus a fourth made of four chapels and an apsidiole.The Church is the real visual evidence of the history of the diocese: in it we find works and artifacts of every age. In the years they were commissioned by the various bishops of the district : from the Byzantine mosaics on the floor of the altar, to the wall paintings of the first years of the XX c, painted by Capobianco, . Then there are the wonderful marbles commissioned in the first years of the XVIII c. by Moss. Adeodati. Among them there is the altar with the old and worshipped icon of Our lady of Achiropita.
According to the tradition, this icon dating back to the VIII c., is not the work of an artist, but of the Mother of God, hence the name of Achiropita which in Greek means "not made by the hand of a man" (a ( alpha: privative, xei/r cheir , hand, poiue / w do , make)