Montecassino

The Abbey of Montecassino as seen from Cassino. Rebuilt after it was destroyed in WW II, using the original plans for it.	Entrance cloister. This Abbey (and monasticism) founded around 520 c.e. by St. Benedict. Abbey destroyed 4 times.	Bramante cloister of the Abbey. Built in 1590's in Renaissance style. This cloister not destroyed in Allied bombing in WW II.
Statue of St. Benedict, from the 1730's, at the foot of the access staircase of the Bramante cloister. Sculptor - P. Campi.	Doves on the Bramante cloister	An entrance to the original Abbey built into the mountain
Fresco: St. Benedict watches monks returning to abbey after it was destroyed. Symbolic of the continuation of the "word."	Stained glass window with Star of David. Donated by Jewish WW II veterans.	War cemetery. More than 1000 Polish soldiers were buried here. Lost their lives liberating the Abbey from the Germans in 1944.
Cassino in the valley below Montecassino. After allies took Naples in WW II, Germans used this town as a defense of Rome.