Cathedral of Santa Maria Annunziata

The cathedral features a fascinating floor mosaic:
- in the center, the Tree of Life (beginning with elephants, cats, Adam and Eve, ...,
until you reach God) and in the left aisle,
- the Tree of Knowledge with the decider for heaven or hell is very worth seeing.

The Cathedral of Santa Annunziata (Italian: Duomo di Otranto / Basilica Cattedrale di Santa Maria Annunziata) is a church building in Otranto (Italy) from the 12th century. The minor basilica is the seat of the Archdiocese of Otranto. A large mosaic (10 million Tessera) from the 12th century with an area of 57 × 28 m = 1596 m² is located all over the floor of the building. The artist was a monk named Pantaleon from the monastery of San Nicola di Casole. In his home monastery of San Nicola di Casole, he was considered to be someone who understood how to interpret Greek and Nordic myths and how to give artistic form to their mysterious relationships with Christian stories and parables. In total, over 700 individual “stories” are interwoven in this mosaic. Among them is a depiction of King Arthur, a legendary figure from the late 9th century who was literary in Britain and has come down to us in court literature of the 12th century.The relics of the 800 martyrs of Otranto († August 11, 1480), who were canonized in 2013, are kept in the cathedral. Other relics of these martyrs can be found in Naples and Venice. When the Turks conquered Otranto in 1480, they gave the residents the choice of either renouncing their Christian faith or dying. 800 male residents preferred death by beheading.

beautiful church where the martyrs of Otranto are buried when they were defeated by the Turks