Cappella Sansevero

Cappella Sansevero Review

Off Vicolo Domenico Maggiore at the beginning of Via Francesco de Sanctis, this chapel/museum has one of the most intriguing sculpture collections you're likely find anywhere. The chapel was founded in 1590 by Prince Giovan Francesco di Sangro, fulfilling a vow to the Virgin after recovery from an illness. (His statue is on the second niche to the left.) Over the generations the simple chapel became a family mausoleum, with statues of the various princes lining the walls.

Most of the building work here is due to restructuring in the mid-18th century under the seventh Sangro di Sansevero prince, Raimondo—a larger-than-life figure, popularly believed to have signed a pact with the devil allowing him to plumb nature's secrets. Prince Raimondo commissioned the young sculptor Giuseppe Sammartino to create numerous works, including the chapel's centerpiece, the remarkable Veiled Christ, which has a seemingly transparent marble veil some say was created using a chemical formula provided by the prince. If you have the stomach for it, take a look in the crypt, where some of the anatomical experiments conducted by the prince are gruesomely displayed.