The cathedral of Altamura, one of the few sacred buildings commissioned by Frederick, was not seen completed by him. The first stone was laid in 1232 at the same time as the foundation of the city; the construction of the church went very slowly and only in the fourteenth century, more than fifty years after the Emperor’s death, could it boast the magnificent portal, one of the most beautiful in Puglia. He conceived it as an " unicum " architectural, like Castel del Monte.
He made it an " Unicum" also from a legal point of view because he made it free from any episcopal jurisdiction; he took it, in fact, from the power of the bishop of the nearby Gravina and put it in his direct dependence, like a palatine chapel, that is belonging to the Royal Palace.
