NAPLES.- Reopened to the public after 50 years, the Church of San Gennaro in Naples has inaugurated a chapel redecorated with a multi-layered art installation designed pro bono by architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava. An initiative of the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, the Chapel features porcelain objects, stained glass, and textiles from specialized Italian manufacturers and artisans.
"I’m proud and honored to have made this installation in the Church of San Gennaro and for the City of Naples,” said Santiago Calatrava. “Thank you to the officials of the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte who have trusted me to deliver a new element to this historic church. My key intentions for this installation are twofold: to display the sacred character of nature around us and to understand the sacred artistic abilities of the human hand, both of which need our protection.”
Honoring the significance of Capodimonte’s surrounding 134-hectare public park and the former summer residence and hunting lodge of the king of Naples and Sicily, Calatrava designed the installation with natural motifs of the local flora, fauna and the cosmos. Celebrating the ancient traditions and artistry of local manufacturers, Calatrava incorporated silk textiles from the Royal Silk factory of San Luecio in Caserna, made by the “Annamari Alois” atelier, porcelain objects from La Scuola Internazionale della Porcellana di Capodimonte, and stained glass from Maestro vetraio Antonio Perotti from Vietri sul Mare. Artisans like these have become almost a rarity in Italy today and this installation supports and promotes their extraordinary work.
Calatrava’s artistic vision accentuates the existing architectural and decorative features of the Chapel’s baroque interior, through:
• painting the interior walls white and dark blue;
• placing vibrant-colored stained glass windows bound with the ancient lead technique, featuring both natural and religious imagery, throughout the Chapel;
• placing ceramic objects such as candle holders, vases, ceiling adornments, which feature images of angels, doves, flowers and stars, throughout the Chapel;
• adorning each of the three altars with large textiles, each of them decorated with images of leaves, flowers and doves; and
• murals of doves painted by Calatrava in the niches on each side of the altar.
The Church of San Gennaro, located inside of the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, was built in 1745 at the behest of Charles III of Bourbon and was intended as a parish church for nearby forest workers. It was originally projected by architect and stage designer Ferdinando Sanfelice.
Coordinated on site by Engineer Vito Avino from Salerno, this installation is directly linked to the collection of Calatrava’s work featured nearby in an exhibition “Nella Luce di Napoli,” which is currently running at the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte. Hundreds of Calatrava’s architectural models, sculptures, paintings, drawings and ceramics are on display.
The installation in the Church of San Gennaro in Naples joins other iconic projects completed by Santiago Calatrava in Italy: the bridges and high-speed railway station in Reggio Emilia, the Ponte della Costituzione (Constitution Bridge) in Venice, and the “San Francesco” Bridge over the Crati river in Cosenza.
Santiago Calatrava
Born in the Spanish City of Valencia, Santiago Calatrava is an architect, civil engineer, painter and sculptor. After completing his studies in Civil Engineering at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, he opened his first office in Zurich in 1981, where he still maintains his firm’s headquarters. He also has offices in New York and Dubai. His most recent projects include the Cosenza Bridge in Italy, World Trade Center Transportation Hub in New York, the record-breaking Dubai Tower and the UAE Pavilion for the EXPO 2020 in Dubai, a new commercial office building at the Stadelhofen Railway Station, which will include parking for 1,000 bicycles.
