Bari, Basilica of St Nicholas - Bari

The Basilica was begun at the end of the 11th century to house the bones of St Nicholas, taken from the Mira shrine with the justification of keeping them safe from infidels. These relics were entrusted to the Benedictine monk Elijah, who was granted the palazzo catepanale area in a concession by the Norman king Roger Borsa, son of Guiscardo. As a result, the builing of this new structure began in 1087 and it was consacrated by Pope Urban II in 1089. The Basilica was, for centuries, the gateway between the Christian West and the Eastern religions, and it was here that Pope Urban II gathered the Ecumenical Council in 1098 and attempted to overcome the dissent that had caused the division leading to the supremacy of the Roman Catholic Church.

viaggiareinpuglia.it – Portale Turistico Istituzionale della Regione Puglia