CASTELLO NORMANNO SVEVO
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Castle built by the Norman king Roger II, housing the salon of the Gipsoteca in Bari.
This Norman-Swabian-Anjou-Aragonese castle was built in different phases between the 12th and 16th centuries. The original core, built by the Norman king Roger II in 1131, included corner towers. Its role was not to defend the city but to help the Norman occupants to quell the revolts of the inhabitants of Bari who did not accept their domination. Destroyed on several occasions, notably by the Norman William I the Evil in 1156, it was saved from abandonment by the Emperor Frederick II of Swabia, who undertook some restoration work such as the ogival portal or the capitals of Minerrus of Canosa. Between 1501 and 1549, two women, Isabella of Aragon and then her daughter Bona Sforza (Duchess of Bari who later became Queen of Poland), established a Renaissance court here. It was at this time that the castle was fortified and separated from the town by a slope and ramparts. Later forgotten, it became a prison and later a barracks, and today the castle is the seat of the Monuments Directorate of the region. It also houses the Gipsoteca Hall, the collection of plaster reproductions of the finest examples of Romanesque sculpture in Puglia. Although nothing has survived from the original interior of the castle, some elements are particularly noteworthy. In the archaeological area are visible the remains of the Byzantine constructions that preceded the construction of the castle. The building also houses temporary exhibitions.
Entrée à 8€ et non 3€.