| The choir
Next to the Chapel of the Cross, climbing up six steps we find ourselves
in the ancient choir-stalls of the chapter of the Basilica. The choir-stalls
are almost separate, independent of the whole structure of the Basilica.
The reason for this arrangement is without doubt the difficulty of
finding another place suitable to the needs of the Chapter officiants,
capable of safeguarding the health of the personages, protecting them from
the damp of the grotto during the long hours of praying the divine office.
Cardinal Sebastiano Pighino (1550-1553) makes mention of this difficulty
in a letter to Pope Giulio III (1550-1555) in which he asks that the Chapter
of the Basilica may be released from paying taxes to the Roman Curia.
The choir-stalls, which were built in 1630, and recently restored in
1964, were originally composed of eighteen stalls but at present fourteen.
The whole work carved in walnut is decorated with precious friezes and
cornices. |
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