Pisa - Camposanto Monumentale

A legend tells, that Ubaldo Lanfranchi, archbishop of Pisa, returning home from the cruisade in 1203, brought home a shipload of sacred soil from Golgotha.

This was the start of this cemetery. The construction of the oblong cloister began in 1278, stopped after the Battle of Meloria (1284) and was finally completed in 1464.

The chains hanging on the wall are parst of the chain, that in medieval times closed the entrance to Pisa´s harbour. Following Pisa’s defeat at the Meloria, the chain was broken and in 1342 shipped to Genoa. The parts seen here were returned to Pisa in 1860, after the Unification of Italy.