Archaeology - Prehistoric Monuments of Sardinia
__________________________________________________
Prehistoric Temple
Sacred Well of Santa Cristina
Paulilatino (Oristano)

The nuragic sanctuary of St Christina is set beautifully in the countryside, four kilometres away from the village of Paulilatino. Not only is it the principal archaeological treasure of the locality, but for the whole of Sardinia, it has enormous value. Originally, it constituted a sacred place for the water cult and for the divinities worshipped by the nuragic peoples.
From the information given at the site, run by the cooperative society "Archeotur", we include the following:
(...)" The sanctuary goes back to C9th -11th BC and appears in perfect condition. Entirely of basalt, it represents the pinnacle of nuragic religious architecture.
In defining this masterpiece, Professor Giovanni Lilliu, academic at the Lincei and leading expert on nuragic civilisation, spoke of the "Magistra Barbaritas" (master barbarian civilisation).
The monument is oriented from NNW to SSE and is made up of three distinct and precisely chiselled out parts: the vestibule or atrium, stair room and "a tholos" (falsely-domed corridor) hypogeic chamber.
The two outside walls show evidence no signs of working and are made of stones and mud.

The vestibule is the part in front of the stairway where the votive offerings for the divinity were placed. The stair room, as well as allowing access to the hypogeic chamber and having an important aesthetic function, allowed the water, which in various periods of the year flowed irregularly, to be reached.
The falsely-domed corridor chamber is about 2.50m wide, thus conforming perfectly with the trapezoidal shape of the stair room. It is composed of quoins forming concentric circles: these become smaller as one proceeds the 7 metres towards the summit, the small circular light at the top being only 35cm. Currently the water has a constant level of 50cm, because of a drainage channel built during the excavations, allowing the structure to be visited year round.
The outer part of the temple is different from the inner in that it is less detailed. However, there is an artistic element: from above, one can appreciate better the sizeable, keyhole-shaped enclosure, which functions as a cornice and contains stone benches inside.
The outside, in elliptical shape, measures 26m x 20 and encloses the whole structure.
The sacred well, though sharing certain characteristics with other examples on the island, stands out for its considerable size, excellent condition and, above all, for its extremely sophisticated style of construction.

One of the aspects which render the building particularly mysterious and attractive is its astronomical configuration. In March and September, during the equinox, the sun illuminates the bottom of the well through the stair room: this renders the architecture unique of its kind.
Inside the temple numerous votive objects have been found, including a model boat in bronze and various bronze statues. The temple is a few metres away from the remains of the cabins used as a residence by pilgrims, the faithful and priests who assembled to celebrate the festivities; a tradition still alive today in the Christian village.
Other, quadrangular buildings are present, almost certainly used as a market stalls during the celebrations.
The great circular hut, intended, so it seems, for political and religious meetings, has been maintained more or less intact. It has an outer diameter of 10m and a residual height of 1.70m. The wall perimeter supports the stone bench 50cm wide and 30cm high, with cobbled flooring. Next to it there is a second cabin in the same shape but with reduced size. Behind these constructions there is a large enclosure whose function is unknown."