We stay in Sardinia to visit a mysterious and magical place. The Well of Santa Cristina, the archaeological area of Santa Cristina is located about 4 kilometers from Paulilatino.
We will find an archaeological complex that includes the nuragic sanctuary and a small single-tower nuraghe with village remains.
The first news on this well date back to 1840 and the first graphic study of the structure is by Giovanni Spano, the father of Sardinian archeology in 1857.
What was it? At first it was thought to be a well for water supply, but next to it there is a fountain that it supplies visitors without any problem. The proximity of the Nuraghe is another indication that it was not a well because they were built near water sources.
Was the well actually a prison? Was Santa Cristina incarcerated by a tyrant, as local traditions tell?
What is it?
We can only make assumptions. There is no doubt that the "well" is a work of great architectural quality.
It is so balanced in proportions, sophisticated in the clear and precise paraments of the interior, studied in the geometric composition of the members, so rational in a word not to be understood, at first sight, that it is close to the year 1000 BC. and that the nuragic art has expressed it, before prestigious historical civilizations were established on the island ".
Spano thought that the well was a prison, justifying his theory with the conformation of the Etruscan and Roman prisons that "consisted of a well, that is underground, made vault lit only by an opening above".
Mayr, influenced by the analogies with the Mycenaean tholoi, interprets it as a domed tomb.
In 1910 Antonio Taramelli (italian archaeologis) identified it as a sacred well similar to Santa Vittoria di Serri.
Arnold Lebeuf ( Professor of Anthropology and Archaeoastronomy at the Jagielonian University of Krakow) tries to show, in 2011, how the Santa Cristina was a lunar astronomical observatory, an instrument through which its builders observed and recorded the moon's motions in order to foresee the eclipses.
The writer thinks it is based on the base / height ratio of the well dome, this is characterized by an architectural geometry that coincides with a good approximation with an astronomical geometry. In other words, the line passing between the north point of the base of the dome and the apical hole forms an angle (relative to the vertical) coinciding with the angle that characterizes the point where the moon crosses the meridian on the day of the northern major lunar.
We know only one thing with certainty that in the well of Santa Cristina and its vicinity there were rituals connected to the cults of the waters and that the use of the area continued well beyond the Nuragic age , not unanimously shared by archeologists, there is a theory the sanctuary was also a place of astronomical observation,
In fact, every year, coinciding with the spring equinox (around March 21st) and autumn (around September 23rd), the twenty-four steps (leading to the bottom of the well) are completely illuminated by sunlight.
Descending them simultaneously with an equinox means seeing one's shadow projected onto the inverted front wall. And even if science has explained this phenomenon through the effect of refraction of the image, it is undeniable that, for those who live it, the fascination of the "mystery" remains.
The well of Santa Cristina has at least one other particularity linked to the celestial cycles. Every eighteen and six months, the full moon (which is at that moment at its height) shines through the opening of the well, illuminating it completely and reflecting on the water.
Randomness or the result of a precise knowledge of the motion of the stars? Moreover, in other Sardinian sanctuaries of the same type, after all, the spring and autumn equinoxes (but also the winter and summer solstices) mark the moment when the light of the sun crosses the well, illuminating it in a "particular" way.
Therefore, their builders would have had astronomical knowledge that was anything but random and on the basis of these they would build the sacred wells.
What was it? At first it was thought to be a well for water supply, but next to it there is a fountain that it supplies visitors without any problem. The proximity of the Nuraghe is another indication that it was not a well because they were built near water sources.
Was the well actually a prison? Was Santa Cristina incarcerated by a tyrant, as local traditions tell?
What is it?
We can only make assumptions. There is no doubt that the "well" is a work of great architectural quality.
Spano thought that the well was a prison, justifying his theory with the conformation of the Etruscan and Roman prisons that "consisted of a well, that is underground, made vault lit only by an opening above".
Mayr, influenced by the analogies with the Mycenaean tholoi, interprets it as a domed tomb.
In 1910 Antonio Taramelli (italian archaeologis) identified it as a sacred well similar to Santa Vittoria di Serri.
Arnold Lebeuf ( Professor of Anthropology and Archaeoastronomy at the Jagielonian University of Krakow) tries to show, in 2011, how the Santa Cristina was a lunar astronomical observatory, an instrument through which its builders observed and recorded the moon's motions in order to foresee the eclipses.
The writer thinks it is based on the base / height ratio of the well dome, this is characterized by an architectural geometry that coincides with a good approximation with an astronomical geometry. In other words, the line passing between the north point of the base of the dome and the apical hole forms an angle (relative to the vertical) coinciding with the angle that characterizes the point where the moon crosses the meridian on the day of the northern major lunar.
We know only one thing with certainty that in the well of Santa Cristina and its vicinity there were rituals connected to the cults of the waters and that the use of the area continued well beyond the Nuragic age , not unanimously shared by archeologists, there is a theory the sanctuary was also a place of astronomical observation,
In fact, every year, coinciding with the spring equinox (around March 21st) and autumn (around September 23rd), the twenty-four steps (leading to the bottom of the well) are completely illuminated by sunlight.
Descending them simultaneously with an equinox means seeing one's shadow projected onto the inverted front wall. And even if science has explained this phenomenon through the effect of refraction of the image, it is undeniable that, for those who live it, the fascination of the "mystery" remains.The well of Santa Cristina has at least one other particularity linked to the celestial cycles. Every eighteen and six months, the full moon (which is at that moment at its height) shines through the opening of the well, illuminating it completely and reflecting on the water.
Randomness or the result of a precise knowledge of the motion of the stars? Moreover, in other Sardinian sanctuaries of the same type, after all, the spring and autumn equinoxes (but also the winter and summer solstices) mark the moment when the light of the sun crosses the well, illuminating it in a "particular" way.
Therefore, their builders would have had astronomical knowledge that was anything but random and on the basis of these they would build the sacred wells.
To date, there is no definitive word on these subjects. It remains (however you think) the magic of a place that resists for thousands of years, and the play of light, water and shadows that every visitor can see with their own eyes, continuing to remain fascinated
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