**PULPIT**
Only in later periods were two ambons placed in basilicas for the reading of the Gospel and the Epistle.
Enrico Josi
II. ART
The Roman Cosmatesque pulpits (v. COSMATI) also have solid bases and belong to two different types: one with a square loggia and a single staircase, the other with a double staircase and a slightly projecting, curved, polygonal loggia. The decoration in porphyry, serpentine, and ornamental mosaics gives these works a distinctive character; they all date from the 13th to the 15th centuries. Among the most important are the pulpits of S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura, S. Clemente, and S. Maria in Aracoeli. schola cantorum (v.), they vary in form according to the function for which they were intended. The pulpits of southern Italy from the Romanesque period are generally of the type with a quadrangular chest supported by columns. Those of Salerno and Cava dei Tirreni, among others, are extremely rich in color, and the mosaic incrustations that prevail in the space to be decorated give them a character different from the Roman pulpits; the pulpit of the Palatine Chapel in Palermo is subtly measured in its polychrome richness of marbles. In the Apulian examples, from Canosa to Troia, sculpted ornamentation prevails. A Puglian sculptor, Nicola da Foggia, is credited with the pulpit of the old cathedral of Ravello, characterized by a staircase enclosed between polychrome marble walls.A separate group, for the exuberance of their sculptural decoration, consists of the Romanesque pulpits of Abruzzo, among which are those of S. Maria in Valle Porclaneta near Rosciolo by the sculptors Roggero and Nicodemo (1150), of S. Maria del Lago in Moscufo by the same Nicodemo (1150), of S. Pelino in Pentima, and of S. Clemente in Casauria from the second half of the 12th century.
In Tuscany, too, strong sculptural decorations began to prevail on the fronts of marble chests supported by isolated columns or attached to walls or resting on the chancel screens. Notable examples include those of the collegiate church of Barga (13th century), of S. Giovanni Maggiore near Borgo S. Lorenzo (12th century), of S. Miniato al Monte (13th century), Nicola Pisano (v.), such as the pulpit of the baptistery in Pisa (1260) and of the cathedral in Siena (1265–69), as well GIOVANNI B (v.) for the church of S. Jacopo in Pistoia and for the cathedral in Pisa. In these last examples, reflections of Gothic taste begin to prevail, although in other regions of Europe the most characteristic and beautiful examples reflecting such taste date only to the 15th century, such as the magnificent pulpit of Strasbourg Cathedral, entirely composed of carvings, tracery, and statues. Like the French pulpits, many also exist in Germany, Spain, and Portugal.
At this time, Italian Renaissance had developed the theme of the pulpit on its own, maintaining an extremely simple development of the architectural part that serves to frame reliefs and niches with statues echoing ancient forms, either in isolated structures or against walls supported by pillars or columns (Cathedral of Cremona, work of Geremia da Cremona; S. Lorenzo in Florence, work of Donatello), while the type with a projecting balcony or nest attached to columns or pillars became increasingly widespread.
Characteristic in this sense are the pulpit of Prato Cathedral, a work by Donatello and Michelozzo, and that in S. Maria Novella in Florence, designed by Brunelleschi and executed by Andrea di Lazzaro Cavalcanti. It is precisely this type, generally supported by ornate bracket corbels against the pillars or walls of churches, that spread most widely during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries and is almost always made of wood but often also with polychrome decorations and stucco. Notable examples from the period of the Catholic Reformation include those in the collegiate church of Manduria, the church of S. Maria in Mosso, and the church of the SS. Martiri in Turin, while in the 17th century, notable is the pulpit built by B. Cavalieri and G. Neri for the parish church of Chioggia or that of Asso near Como, entirely in walnut, supported by massive caryatids.
During the 18th century, when decoration became more theatrical and lavish and sometimes inclined toward the excesses of the Rococo, the most characteristic examples of such taste are to be found reflected in the pulpits of Germany and Austria. Almost always made of painted stucco or with polychrome inlays, they are supported by groups of figures and have canopies and baldachins with high pinnacles where flying angels and religious symbols appear amid clouds and rays. The pulpits of the church of Ottobeuren (1760) or that of the Marienkirche in Berlin, a work by Andreas Schlüter, are characteristic examples.
In the 19th century, there was a general return to Renaissance forms but with great simplicity of decoration, while in the modern era, the taste for a certain architectural rationalism sometimes seems to align with the requirements determined by the laws of acoustics.
Notable in this regard is the pulpit of the church of S. Ignazio in Rome. Other characteristic pulpits of our age are found in other Roman churches: the wooden one in S. Paolo by A. Foschini, the marble one in the church of Cristo Re by M. Piacentini, and finally those in the church of S. Maria Mediatrice, designed by the architect G. Muzio.
Gudulmo Matthiae - Emilio Lavagnino
III. LITURGY
As has been said, the pulpit in the presbytery was originally used for sacred readings; in the Middle Ages, two were made, one for the Gospel and the Exultet, the other for the Epistle.
The current form, also called a lectern, came into use after the mid-13th century with the spread of the Dominican and Franciscan Orders and developed further. It was generally placed on the Gospel side in the center of the nave so that the preacher’s voice could be more easily heard, and therefore often with a kind of canopy to improve acoustics; on the side toward the altar or on the wall is the crucifix. In movable pulpits, in addition to the bishop’s chair, a kneeler is arranged. The word "pulpit" in liturgy is also used for a lectern. — Vedi tav. IX.