Cappella Orientale nella Cripta.

It visually concretizes the discourse of the ecumenical vocation of Bari and St. Nicholas. In the wake of the Second Vatican Council and the improved relations between Catholics and Orthodox, the Holy See deemed it appropriate to welcome the wishes of the Dominican Fathers and the Archbishop of Bari, Enrico Nicodemo, to host an oriental chapel in the Basilica where the Orthodox could also celebrate their liturgy.

Cardinal Paolo Giobbe, who together with the then Archimandrite Gennadios Zervos blessed the chapel, said: It is the first time that a chapel has been erected in a Latin church for the celebration of the oriental liturgy. This achievement is one of the many fruits of the Ecumenical Council. Two years later, Archbishop Nicodemo and the Dominican Fathers also founded an Institute of Ecumenical Theology where professors and students, both Catholic and Orthodox, could teach and study in a spirit of fraternal friendship.

The iconostasis was made for this occasion by the Croatian artist Zlatko Latković, who also created the iconostasis of the Eastern Chapel in Berlin. What attracts the curiosity of visitors is the INBI, instead of INRI (Jesus Nazarenus Rex Iudeorum). The explanation is simple: in Greek Rex is Basileus.