Mother church of the archdiocese of Matera-Irsina, the cathedral was built in Apulian-Romanesque style in the 13th century on the highest point of the Civita, above the ancient Benedictine monastery of Sant’Eustachio. The rocky base on which it was built was raised over six meters, so that it could be visible from any point of the city. The works began in 1230, boosted by Andrea, the first Archbishop of Acerenza and Matera, and were completed in 1270.
Initially dedicated to Santa Maria di Matera, later to Santa Maria dell’Episcopio, from 1389 it was dedicated to Santa Maria della Bruna, patron saint of the city. In that year, Pope Urban VI (formerly archbishop of Matera) established the liturgical feast of the Visitation of Mary to Saint Elizabeth, falling on 2 July, the day of the Feast of the Bruna. From 1627, the cathedral was also named after Sant’Eustachio.
The exterior of the cathedral still appears rather faithful to its original thirteenth-century style. Twelve hanging columns descend from the pediment (symbolizing the apostles), supported by Telamons. The sixteen-spoked rose window, surmounted by the Archangel Michael, symbolizes the Wheel of Fortune, an ancient allegory, brought back into vogue in the medieval period. It is supported at the bottom by a Telamon, while on the sides two other Telamons are represented in the act of turning the wheel. The four columns placed on the sides are the symbol of the four evangelists. The entrance, within a round arch, is surmounted by a lunette, which encloses the statue of the Madonna della Bruna. On the sides of the entrance there are the statues of Saints Peter and Paul, in polychrome limestone, while at the ends of the facade there are seventeenth-century sculptures in high relief of Saints Eustachio and Theopista, his wife.
The right side facade, which overlooks Piazza Duomo, has two entrances. On the left there is the Abraham Gate or Piazza Gate, used every day of the year (the main one is used on solemn occasions). In the lunette there is a small bas-relief of Abraham, which refers to the allegorical meaning of Abraham’s bosom, or the place where the righteous dwell awaiting the Kingdom of Heaven. On the right there is the Lion Gate, due to the presence of two column-bearing lions that support the columns at the entrance.
On the rear left side there is the bell tower, coeval with the church. 52 meters high, it has four floors, three of which have mullioned windows and the fourth with single lights, and is surmounted by a pyramid from a later period.
The interior of the temple no longer presents its original Romanesque style, due to the numerous modifications made starting from the sixteenth century. The layout is a Latin cross with three naves, divided between them by round arches, supported by ten columns, surmounted by stone capitals. The double lancet windows in the central nave were transformed into single lancet windows. The original trussed ceiling was hidden in the 18th century by a wooden false ceiling, the work of Giuseppe Porta. On this in the 19th century three canvases painted by Giovanni Battista Santoro were inserted (The Glory of San Giovanni da Matera, The Visit of Mary to Santa Elisabetta, The Conversion of Sant’Eustachio).
Starting from 1627 stucco and decorations were added and in 1776 the coverings of the frames and stucco were covered with a veil of gold.
In the central nave, on the left, there is the beautiful brass crown under which the statue of the Madonna della Bruna is enthroned during the days of her feast.
Among the few medieval decorations still visible are the capitals, which mostly represent vegetal motifs (acanthus leaves, palmettes, pome fruits, pine cones), in continuity with the sculptural decorations of the entrance portals. In the capitals, in addition to the vegetal theme, there is also a zoomorphic (eagles) and anthropomorphic one. In particular, the polychrome semi-capital on the counter-façade, to the left of the entrance, depicts a Saracen with a turban and earrings, an elderly man in the act of tightening his long beard and a representative of the clergy: a small cross-section of the thirteenth-century Matera community which supported the construction of the church.
In the left nave, starting from the entrance, the first chapel is that of the Madonna della Bruna, the main protector of the city, represented in the center in a valuable 13th century fresco, attributed to Rinaldo from Taranto. Above the fresco there is the eighteenth-century canvas of Mary’s Visit to Saint Elizabeth. In the niches above the altar there are marble statues of King David and the Prophet Isaiah holding scrolls with quotes from the Old Testament.
This is followed by the Chapel of Saint John from Matera, with the marble altar from 1930, in which there are the relics of this Benedictine monk from Matera, who lived between the 11th and 12th centuries, founder of the Congregation of the Pulsanesi Hermits or of the Scalzi.
Then, there is the Chapel of Sant’Anna, entirely in gilded wood, which has an Eternal Father in the cymatium, and the seventeenth-century canvas of Sant’Anna with the Madonna and Child by Brother Francesco da Martina Franca.
Afterwards, there is the Chapel of the SS. Sacramento, dating back to the 16th century and originally consisting of two chapels, with an eighteenth-century marble altar.
This is followed by the sixteenth-century Chapel of the Annunziata, built in polychrome stone by Altobello Persio da Montescaglioso. Above the eighteenth-century altar there is the sculptural group of the Annunciation. Laterally, on the left, San Rocco and on the right Santa Caterina from Alessandria. Above, the Pietà. The coffered vault composed of 282 panels in which there is a blessing Eternal Father in a central position is very particular. Along the side walls there are stone seats in niches ending at the top in the shape of a shell.
At the end of the nave, on the left, there are the last two chapels, arranged one behind the other. The front one is the Chapel of San Gaetano Thiene, in polychrome stucco, with the exception of the marble altar. On the left there is the nineteenth-century wooden statue of Sant’Eustachio.
The rear one is the Chapel of San Giuseppe, also known as the Chapel of the Nativity Scene, due to the large sixteenth-century polychrome stone work by Altobello Persio from Montescaglioso and Sinnazaro Panza from Alessano. During the restoration of the cathedral, completed in 2016, two cemetery chapels emerged beneath the floor, destroyed and buried in the 1400s, decorated with frescoes representing a Madonna with Child and other saints.
The nave ends with the sixteenth-century Dossale of San Michele, in polychrome stone, whose statues, created by Altobello Persio from Montescaglioso, represent: the Annunciation, with the Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary at the sides of the Eternal Father, and the Saints Simon, Judas Thaddeus, James and Catherine from Alexandria. In the centre, the Madonna and Child. Below, in bas-relief, there is the Last Supper. On a shelf to the left there is a statue of the Archangel Michael. To the left of the reredos, on the access door to the bell tower, in memory of the completion of the cathedral, there is the writing: IT WAS THE YEAR 1270 WHEN THE HOUSE WITH A WONDERFUL APPEARANCE WAS COMPLETED.
The central nave is the part that has undergone the most changes over time. In the presbytery, the stone elevation and the canvas enclosed within it by the Neapolitan painter Fabrizio Santafede date back to the 16th century, depicting the Madonna in Glory with Saints Peter, Paul, Biagio, Eligio, Giovanni Battista and Giovanni Evangelista. The altar dates back to the eighteenth century, while the latest restoration works, completed in 2016, concerned the ambo, a new altar, currently in use (in which the relics of Saint John from Matera and Sant’Eustachio were placed), and the teacher’s desk, embellished with golden papier-mâché decorations.
The solid walnut choir dates back to the fifteenth century and has sixty stalls, embellished with carved images of saints, animals and allegorical figures.
In the right nave, starting from the entrance, there is a large medieval fresco from the 13th century, attributed to Rinaldo from Taranto, representing a part of the Last Judgment, in particular Hell and Purgatory: it is only a portion of the entire original fresco decoration of the church. It was discovered in the 1980s following the removal of a seventeenth-century canvas. Below there is a sequence of saints frescoed in the 15th century and depicting Saint Peter the Martyr, Saint Julian the Hospitaller, the Madonna and Child, Saint Luke and a Holy Bishop.
This is followed by the Chapel of Sant’Eustachio, with the nineteenth-century marble altar and a canvas by an unknown artist depicting the Conversion of Sant’Eustachio.
Then there is the Chapel of the Crucifix, from the seventeenth century, in polychrome stone, with a seventeenth-century wooden Crucifix and an eighteenth-century marble altar.
Next is the Cappella dello Scannaggio, so called because the slaughter tax was donated there.
In this area you can see the eighteenth-century pulpit made of fir wood, embellished with papier-mâché elements.
The current pipe organ dates back to the 1950s and contains more than two thousand pipes.
