Cloister of Santo Stefano

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Cloister of the Basilica of Santo Stefano
Piazza Santo Stefano
Bologna, June 2015

“The focus of scholarly discussion has been for many years the supposed similarity between the so-called ‘New Jerusalem’ rebuilt here, according to a vita written in 1180, by Saint Petronius in the 5th century, and the largely lost 4th-century complex erected by Constantine the Great at the purported site of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Unfortunately the archaeological evidence from Bologna dates primarily to the 11th and 12th centuries, leaving the question about an earlier date still unanswered (at least until 1981). On the other hand, archaeology has meanwhile delivered many answers regarding the Constantinian church complex from Jerusalem, therefore the main interest presented by the 12th-century parts of the Church of Santo Stefano might much rather be their similarity to the almost contemporary Crusader Church of the Holy Sepulchre from Jerusalem, of which not all parts are preserved.” (Basilica of Santo Stefano, Wikipedia)