|  The
mystery of the swords in the stone
Myths and legends hover about in the
Tuscan air creating that aura of mystery which can stimulate
imagination and curiosity of those who believe in the highly
imaginative and allow dreams to carry them. How many times
when we were little have we heard the story of the sword
in the stone, of the legendary King Arthur who, young and
helpless stable boy, managed to raise the hilt of the sword
which for years had been stuck in the rock.
This legend takes on realistic features when you reach Tuscany,
in the Valle del Merse, in the town of Chiusdino, in the
Siena province, which still bears alive the mystery of the
sword, kept in the church of Monte Siepi near the very famous
Abbey of San Galgano, know as the abbey without a roof.
Legend tells that Galgano, a young man dedicated to a carefree
and luxurious life, after receiving a vision of the Archangel
Gabriel, abandoned his earthly goods to retire into meditation.
To receive confirmation of God?s will, so it is told, he
stuck his own sword into the rock recreating with the hilt
the image of the cross of Christ. Upon his death, in 1181,
Galgano was proclaimed a Saint and faithful flowed from
everywhere to give him homage. For this reason, around 1184,
the building of the San Galgano abbey was finished.
The abbey, after a period of great splendour
during the pilgrimages to the reliquary of the Saint, was
completely abandoned until, in 1786, the belltower collapsed
destroying the roof of the main nave. The materials resulting
were the object of sacking for centuries, until, at the
beginning of the 1900?s it was restored and currently appears
in all its gothic style majesty. Built on a flat part of
the hill, with great pointed arches forming the walls, a
green field for flooring and rose windows, double lancet
windows and capitals which, at sunset, create a magic game
of light and shadow.
The legendary rock in the stone is kept
at the little church of Monte Siepi, a little building in
Sienese Romanic style, the roof (characteristically dome-shaped)
and the walls were built in concentric white and red circles.
Currently the sword in the stone is under study to monitor
building materials and give it a date.
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