Altare d'argento nel transetto destro

In the right transept: the Silver Altar (1319-1684) donated in 1319 by the Tsar of Serbia Uroš II Milutin to cover the tomb of the Saint in the crypt. In 1684 the Basilica commissioned two Neapolitan artists (Domenico Marinelli and Ennio Avitabile) to remake the altar in the dominant style of the time, the Baroque. For over three centuries the Basilica of San Nicola di Bari has guarded an unsolved enigma: 624 Latin characters engraved on the top of an altar, the meaning of which no one has ever been able to understand. The common belief is that it is a cryptogram, a coded message handed down to history by the centuries-old Nicolaian tradition, waiting to be deciphered. https://www.barinedita.it/storie-e-interviste/n2192-bari-la-scritta-che-mai-nessuno-e-riuscito-a-tradurre--e-il-mistero-della-basilica