Lombard Architecture

Lombard architecture is the building tradition of the Kingdom of the Lombards, which ruled in Italy from 568 to 774, with Lombard building continuing in the south of the peninsula into the tenth and eleventh centuries. Its works were commissioned by Lombard rulers and nobility across two main regions, Langobardia Major in northern Italy, where most structures were later destroyed or heavily rebuilt, and Langobardia Minor in the south, particularly the former Duchy of Benevento and Duchy of Spoleto, where more original work survives. Lacking a building tradition of their own on arrival in Italy, the Lombards relied on local craftsmen, and their architecture departed from the compact forms of Roman and early Christian building by introducing taller central volumes, gradually absorbing Classical and Byzantine influence over the seventh and eighth centuries, visible in structures such as the church of Santa Sofia in Benevento. The principal surviving sites were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011 under the name Longobards in Italy, Places of Power.