European Heritage Days 2023: Cappella Sansevero for Friends of Naples

The Museo Cappella Sansevero participates in the European Heritage Days 2023 with an extended opening scheduled for Saturday 23 September

The baroque jewel will be open to the public from 9am to 22pm (last admission at 21pm).

Part of the proceeds from ticket sales, in the amount of 1 euro for each ticket issued during the entire day, will be donated to the start of the restoration project of the choir of the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Pizzofalcone (Naples), promoted by the non-profit association Friends of Naples.

Reservations and ticket purchases on www.museosansevero.it

The initiative is part of the 2023 events of the European Heritage Days, the largest and most popular cultural event in Europe which this year will have as its theme “Heritage InVita”, taking up the European slogan “Living Heritage”, chosen by the Council of Europe and shared by the countries participating in the event.

“We are pleased to join the European Heritage Days again this year, which, through the 2023 theme, invites us to reflect on cultural heritage as a synonym for living heritage. – says Maria Alessandra Masucci, president and director of the Museo Cappella Sansevero – We have chosen to celebrate this day by extending our opening hours and offering our support to the Friends of Naples Association to bring back to life a work of the Neapolitan artistic heritage. With them we share the love for the many wonders of our city and above all the commitment to return them to the public in all their beauty”.

“We are happy with this collaboration and deeply grateful to the Museo Cappella Sansevero which has generously offered its support to support with a concrete action the recovery of one of the many precious testimonies of our artistic heritage. – declares Alberto Sifola, president of Friends of Naples – The initiative will allow the start of the restoration to bring the choir of the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli a Pizzofalcone back to its original splendor, a precious double-order wooden choir of very important historical documentary value. Naples has a heritage that is unique in the world. Preserving it, safeguarding it and passing it on to future generations is a commitment that we are passionate about and that we want to share with those in every part of the world who have Naples in their hearts. Today's initiative adds a precious piece to the list of assets that Friends of Naples has restored, above all thanks to the enthusiasm of its donors and patrons as well as the passionate collaboration of restoration laboratories and artisans among the most appreciated in the city".

SANTA MARIA OF THE ANGELS IN PIZZOFALCONE

In the gallery behind the altar of the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, there is a wooden double-order choir of very important historical documentary value. Made entirely of fine wood, it can be traced back to the construction of the church with carved and engraved decorative elements. In fact, behind the seats of the stalls, there are alternating mirrors with carved frames and on the sides fluted columns with a base carved with racemes and Corinthian capitals. In the upper part of the seat, two volutes flank scenes with characters and heraldic symbols that would be worth exploring further. On the sides, however, there are seat dividers with volutes that end with cherubs and a ribbon frame carved with phytomorphic elements. The rarity of these antique furnishing elements leads us to think of a stonemason's workshop specialized in wooden sculptures that at the beginning of the seventeenth century may have worked around a project by the architect Francesco Grimaldi from Chieti to make this gallery unique and special. The basilica was founded by Princess Costanza Doria del Carretto who, in 1587, donated the area where the church would later be built to the Order of the Clerics Regular Theatines. The first stone was laid in 1600 and work continued at least until 1610. The architectural project was entrusted to the Theatine Father Francesco Grimaldi, who created the grandiose Latin cross-shaped space. The visual fulcrum of the bright interior is the high dome in which the Coronation of the Virgin in the Glory of Paradise is depicted, the final scene of the cycle of frescoes dedicated to the Life of the Virgin that was painted in the compartments of the barrel vault of the central nave by Giovan Battista Beinaschi between 1668 and 1675. Beinaschi's frescoes, which are also found on the counter-façade (the Dream of St. Joseph and the Flight into Egypt) and in the vault (the Immaculate Conception, the Nativity of the Virgin, the Annunciation), constitute a significant testimony to the monumental Baroque decoration in Naples. Also notable are the paintings by Luca Giordano in the chapel of the Monte dei Morti, the canvases and frescoes by Giovanni Bernardino Azzolino in the chapel dedicated to St. Charles Borromeo and the tombs by Tito Angelini in the chapel of the Serra di Gerace family.