Diotisalvi

Diotisalvi, also Deotisalvi or Deustesalvet, was an architect from Pisa, Italy, active in the 12th century in Pisa. Little is known of him.

He is well known to be the original architect of the Baptistry of Pisa, in Piazza dei Miracoli, as we can read in the sign he left inside the building, with the date 1152 (1153 stile pisano):

Although he did the original project, the present Baptistery was different from his idea. In fact, he constructed only the first part, the ground floor. The building was continued after his death by Nicola Pisano, a century after its foundation, and then completed by Giovanni Pisano. They changed many things in the final form of the building, that was intended to be simpler with no gothic cusps and no dome, just a small, and high, pyramidal roof. This was connected to the fact that he wanted to resemble the Anastasis in the basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Maybe Diotisalvi wanted to replicate his previous work of the church of Holy Sepulchre in Pisa, 40 years before.

The church of Holy Sepulchre, was built in the first part of 12th century. There are proofs that it existed in 1113. The church has an octagonal shape and a pyramidal roof. Inside the belltower, there is a sign where Deustesalvet claims to be the fabricator, i.e. constructor of the building. The inside was meant to resemble the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, while the outside was meant to resemble the Mosque of Omar, even in Jerusalem, because in that time was believed that the mosque was the Solomon's Temple. There are many churches in Europe dedicated to the Holy Sepulchre in octagonal or circular shape. We can cite the one in Bologna, Italy, inside the complex of Saint Stephen, or the one in Cambridge, or the Temple Church in London, United Kingdom.

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