Love – Haiku 2022 #ThursdayDoors

Posted bySuzette BenjaminPosted inPoetry
San Zeno Maggiore Basilica Verona Italy “bronze doors” – Image credit: Jorje Tutor | Alamy

love immortalized

out of the rubble bards crypts

resurrect legends

****

Famous for its grand bronze-looking doors (more accurately, brass doors); and immortalized for its role as the real-life setting/inspiration for The Bard (William Shakespeare)’s marriage scene between Romeo and Juliet in its crypt is—San Zeno Maggiore Basílica, Verona, Italy.

A church in one form or another in the Romanesque architectural style has graced this spot since the 9th Century AD.

On these doors, forty-eight panels are nailed to two heavy spruce wing/valve backings 4.98 meters (16 feet) high each approximately 1.9 meters (6 feet) wide. Side note: Restorers believe that the original panels were embellished with color!

The doors are protected from the elements by massive cedar doors on the basilica’s western facade.

The left panel depicts selected New Testament narratives encouraging passersby to consider their segway through these doors, as a type of baptism. The right door/valve panels depict well-known Old Testament themes including the expulsion from Eden, Noah’s ark, and King Nebuchadnezzar II (closeup details below).

These doors are an architectural mashup of styles, periods, and craftwork that modern experts have been hard-pressed to date, despite the copious quills of ink spilled on the topic.

The experts’ best guess has been to suggest that some work on the doors pre-dated the 1117 AD major seismic events that rocked the area resulting in considerable loss/damage to the basilica and to several door panels.

Door closeups are below:

San Zeno Maggiore bronze door details – Image credit: © Joaquin Ossorio Castillo | Dreamstime
San Zeno Maggiore Basilica bronze door details – Image credit: © Vvoevale | Dreamstime

Trivia: In 1911 a young man still at his studies at university took a two-week vacation in Italy.

He recorded in his personal journal (discovered after his passing), in vibrant detail, the first stop in his travels, San Zeno Maggiore Basilica, and his passage through these doors.

His descriptions of his two-week European vacation still stand today as an example of the burgeoning brilliance and style of the poet who much of the world will come to know as T. S. Eliot.

Wider angle, San Zeno Maggiore Basílica below:

San Zeno Basílica, Verona Italy. Image credit: Andrea Bertozzi | Wikimedia CC 3.0

Written for #ThursdayDoors –  hosted by – Dan Antion @ NoFacilities.

Published by Suzette Benjamin

Positive thinker, inspirational, writer, faith

74 thoughts on “Love – Haiku 2022 #ThursdayDoors”

  19. How gorgeous! The poem is wonderful, It reminds me of the possibility of always evoking love from our memories, no matter how fragmented they may be. And, those doors, wow! Happy coming Friday, Suzette.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yes, exactly love does find us in thought sometimes when we least suspect it…sometimes a sliver of it pops into the consciousness.
      Thank you my friend for your always deep dive into meaning in poetry. Much appreciated, truly.
      Happy Friday to you as well. Namaste 🙏

      Liked by 1 person

  24. Wow, thank you Suzette for sharing this very interesting history. I think writers and poets have been drawn to doors for lots of reasons and these are especially amazing. You surprised me at the end and it just gave the story of the doors more reason to think about. I wish we kept things in the US instead of always tearing things down. Wonderful post, big hugs, Joni

    Liked by 1 person

  25. Pingback: Love – Haiku 2022 #ThursdayDoors – ALIEN PROJECT

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