Santa Lucia alle Malve rock church

The Lauriotian complex of Santa Lucia alle Malve is located in the Sasso Caveoso, on the edge of the Gravina stream and consists of the church, divided into three naves with respective apses, subdivided by pillars, and a series of caves to the left of the crypt, reused and adapted in various ways.

The foundation-constitution date of the religious community is uncertain and debatable: some local historians, such as Nelli, report the date 870; Tommaselli believes the monastery was founded in the 8th century. More recent studies, supported by archival sources, such as Lupo Protospata’s Breve Cronicon “de anno 1093 inditione prima obiit Eugenia Abbatissa Sancti Benedicti monasteri matherensis”, report the presence of a female monastery and the death of Abbess Eugenia, thus the foundation of the monastery would date back to the 9th-10th century. Another document dated 1208, concerns the donation to the monastery of a site in the countryside of Spinazzola (Ba named Castellum Novum reports the original dedication of the monastery, monasterio ecclesie S. Agathes de Matera.

Only later, as shown by some notarial deeds, does the monastery appear with the title of S. Lucia e Agata. This would lead one to think of the existence of two original churches, a hypothesis supported by some architectural inconsistencies detectable inside the present church: the presence of traces of iconostasis inside the central and left aisles, while in the right aisle, the hall is divided from the presbytery by an original lowered arch, now walled up, on which the altar rests; the difference in height between the right and central aisles.

The first church (nave and left aisle) had a two-nave plan divided into a hall and presbytery divided by pillars, traces of which can be seen on the ceiling. A greater articulation presented the presbytery area of the left nave, divided into two bays, separated by pillars and with the presence of the apse.

The second church, which can be identified with the current right nave, had a much simpler plan, with a hall, a raised presbytery divided by an arch, and the altar plinth, later reused as a burial place. This hypothesis is supported by a deed of gift reported by Volpe in 1310: Archbishop Robert “donated to the nuns, houses, gardens, and other appurtenances, a joint church of St. Augustine adjoining their Monastery in Sasso Caveoso”.

Nelli recalls that in 1204, nuns who adhered to the rule of St. Augustine arrived in Matera from Accon (in Palestine) and received the Church of S. Maria la Nova (today S. Giovanni Battista) from Bishop Andrea. In this regard, it could be assumed that the church of St Augustine would be identified with the current right aisle of the church of St Lucia and Agatha alle Malve, and that the nuns from Accon were housed in the pre-existing Benedictine monastery, which used the left and central aisles instead. Later, in 1283, the nuns moved to a new monastery built at the foot of the Civita, as reported by Volpe, so work began on transforming the two churches, making them communicating.

From a decorative point of view, we find a series of Byzantine-style frescoes in the left aisle, Our Lady of Milk, Archangel Michael, St. Gregory, dating back to the 13th century, contrasting with 14th-century frescoes of Benedictine origin, St. Benedict, St. Scholastica (intrados of the arch separating the nave from the right aisle), St. John the Baptist, the Crucifixion and the Coronation of the Virgin in the right aisle.

The latest restoration of the decorative component brought to light a St. Scholastica in the intrados of the Crucifixion and a St. Leonard in the counter façade dating back to the 14th century. It was also during this period that the new entrance was built, on which the iconographic symbol of St. Lucy, a chalice with eyes, is depicted. Although to this day it remains in doubt how such a large community could have lived in these small rooms in the Sassi of Matera.