Pistoia - San Bartolomeo in Pantano

A short distance east of the Palazzo del Comune stands the Church of San Bartolomeo in Pantano (St Bartholomew in the Marsh), so called because the site of the church (built in 1159) was an area of drained marshland. The beautiful facade, with five arcades borne on columns, has remained unchanged throughout the centuries. On the lintel of the central doorway is a relief (1167; attributed to Gruamonte), "Christ sending out the Apostles", its formal pattern based on the reliefs on Roman sarcophagi. The most notable feature of the narrow interior is the pulpit by Guido da Compo (c. 1250). Its beautifully carved but restrained figures from the New Testament reflect the transition from the simple Romanesque style to the rich and dramatic compositions of a sculptor such as Andrea Pisano (pulpit in Sant'Andrea).