| The crypt dedicated to Madonna dell’Assunta is underneath the church of the same name in the historical centre of Sanarica. Access to the crypt is down some stairs on the east side of the building above. The crypt, which is completely carved out of the rock, is built on a complex plan despite its small dimensions. The four central pillars mark out the shape of a Greek cross inside a square, in a pattern typical of Byzantine ecclesiastical architecture. The liturgical space, what is called the bema, faces east, and is made up of three cells of equal dimensions. Originally the walls of the crypt were completely covered in frescoes. Unfortunately little is left of that pictorial decoration, and what is there has been badly conserved. The best conserved of these frescoes, the ones in which you can recognise the larger figures of saints, are on the first two pillars situated opposite the original entrance. |