Extraordinary demonstration of the history of the city of Bari, built on the ruins of the Byzantine cathedral, shows the strong relationship that the city of Bari has with Saint Sabine. The exterior, characterized by extraordinary structures, the result of composite architectural solutions, acts as a counterbalance to the interior, linear and harmonious.
The Cathedral is one of the most outstanding examples of Romanesque architecture. It has a facade of bright limestone, decorated with arches, pilasters and a rose window with ahistorical ring. You can admire the heads of the transept, with rose windows and mullioned windows, the trulla (ancient baptistery converted into a sacristy) and the bell tower with its high spire. The three-nave interior, stripped of its baroque stuccoes at the beginning of the twentieth century, appears solemn and harmonious, soberly decorated with carved elements in the visible limestone. Under the transept there is the crypt, with the icon of the Madonna Odegitria, to whom the church was dedicated in ancient times.
In the crypt are preserved the relics of St. Sabine, Bishop of Canosa, in the high altar. Once the silver bust of Saint Sabine was brought to the capitular archive, today the icon of the Madonna Odegitria is venerated according to the tradition that came from the East in the 8th century, but in reality later and with a very ancient cult.
In the minor apses there are two sarcophagi: one contains the relics of Saint Columba, recently restored, and the other various reliquaries. In the right sacristy is placed an altar with a painting depicting, probably, St. Maurus, considered the first bishop of Bari.
On June 21, the day of the summer solstice, an unusual phenomenon is observed in the cathedral: around 5 p.m., the sun’s rays that penetrate the 18 segments of the rose window on the facade perfectly match the petals of the rose that adorns the floor of the nave.