Walled Choir Screens as a Side Effect of Church Reform (Eleventh–Thirteenth Centuries)

The contribution examines the choir screen, a liturgical element that in the second half of the eleventh century becomes a walled enclosure to hide visual communication between the nave and the chancel, and thus between the clergy and the laity. Firstly, chancel enclosures from the early Christian age to the Carolingian age will be discussed. Then, we will focus on Ambrosian contexts from the second half of the eleventh century, where the raising of high walls to protect the choir seems to have been a consequence of the Pataria, a radical reform movement intended to regulate the live of the clergy and limit their contact with the laity. By contrast, in Romanesque central-southern Italy patrons continued to prefer marble slabs and lintel on columns, more romano. Having set out these cases, wi will present some context in which walled screens are still preserved. Finally, a starting point for research will be offered about the basilica of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan.