15 April 2024

The statue of the Veiled Christ in Naples, history, legend and prices

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We have certainly heard of it at least once in our lives, one of the most famous statues in the world. The Veiled Christ it is a statue in front of which, whatever our beliefs and our religion, you can't help but be amazed. A creation that leaves you breathless and speechless.

It seems that the writer Héctor Bianciotti he was even caught by the Stendhal syndrome while admiring this masterpiece. Tourists from all over the world go every day to the most historic part of Naples, in Chapel of Sansevero, to contemplate this work of art recognized for its incomparable beauty and by the 2006 declared as the "Monument symbol of the Neapolitan city".

The conductor Riccardo Muti he used his face for the cover of his Mozart Requiem. Director Ferzan Ozpetek in its "Naples Veiled"He gave us some very close camera shots, but if we have never seen him live we can't even imagine his greatness.

Here is more information and the history of this masterpiece

Video description of the Veiled Christ

The characteristics of the Veiled Christ

The sculptor succeeded, working on a single block of marble, to give life to a statue life size (180x80x50 cm) which represents the lifeless body of Jesus Christ, covered with an extraordinary transparent veil in marble, lying on a bed.

The story of the birth of the Veiled Christ

Raimondo di Sangro, Prince of San Severo, was a man of multifaceted and mysterious personality. He loved to spend his time on inventions and research.

At the same time he was an admirer of art and culture and it was he who commissioned the realization of the Veiled Christ.

Initially it had to be the artist Antonio Corradini to create this work, but unfortunately in 1752 he died and did only in time to make a small terracotta draft of what he had in mind (now kept in the National Museum of San Martino).

The task thus passes to the sculptor Giuseppe Sanmartino, who did not take much account of the suggestion of the Venetian colleague and freed his creativity to produce a sculpture that is still talked about centuries later.

The representation of Christ

The Veiled Christ was thus finished in 1753. Sanmartino imagined him in natural size, lying on a mattress, with his head raised by two large cushions and covered with a sheet.

But not just a sheet. A delicate veil, which allowed a glimpse of the features of the tortured body of Christ. The limbs of Our Lord thus remain visible, with all their small folds and facets.

The veil is so thin that it allows her face and the signs of torture to be clearly visible. The shroud was engraved with such perfection and such meticulous skill that it is possible to recognize among the waves of the marble a swollen vein in the middle of the head and the hollows of the face. The creation is so suggestive that Christ appears to us almost dying.

At the foot of the body, the symbols of the torture: the crown of thorns, the nails and the pincer used to extract them from the wooden cross.

The legend of the Veil

The Veiled Christ has always seemed so powerful and wonderful, and at the same time realistic and delicate, that it has led visitors to think that it could not have been made solely with simple marble.

A legend has thus been created over time which stated that Raimondo di Sangro, who was also a very famous alchemist and scientist, had taught the sculptor Sanmartino a special technique for "marble" the veil.

Practically, after the conception of the figure of Christ carved in marble, the artist would have placed a real veil of fabric on it and - with a mystical chemical formula - would have obtained the calcification of the fabric in marble crystals.

The numerous studies and endless analyzes, on the other hand, leave no room for doubt.

Moreover, various historical documents, such as writings and letters of the time, testify that the material used was exclusively the cold and ethereal marble.

And for me the aforementioned fifty ducats will be paid to the Magnificent Giuseppe Sanmartino on behalf of the statue of Our dead Lord covered by a veil of marble ...

(document of the Prince, dated 16 December 1752)

And again, in the letters that Raimondo di Sangro writes to the physicist Jean-Antoine Nollet and to the academic of the Crusca Giovanni Giraldi the veil is quoted as "made from the same block as the statue".

We are, therefore, in front of a work that is in some ways divine, which is as realistic as it is so intangible.

The only way to approach it a little more is to see it up close with one's own eyes, in front of the main altar, in the center of the Chapel of Sansevero.

Find out more about the mysteries and beauties of the San Severo Chapel

Cappella Sansevero opening times

Everyday: 9.00 - 18.30
Saturday 9.00 - 20.30
Last allowed input 30 min. before closing
Closed on Tuesdays
For extraordinary openings and closures consult Site of the Sansevero Chapel

Ticket prices for the Sansevero Chapel

Ordinary ticket: € 10,00
Boys from 10 to 25 years: € 7,00
Skip the Line Ticket with Guided Tour: 48,5 €
Artecard: € 8,00
FAI members: € 8,00
Children up to 9 years: free
Audio guide: € 3,50
Pair of audio guides: € 6

Directions to get to the Sansevero Chapel

Address: Museo Cappella Sansevero, via Francesco De Sanctis, 19 / 21 - 80134 Naples

By car: starting from Piazza Garibaldi turn right into Corso Novara, then left into via Casanova, turn right into via Cesare Rosaroll, at the crossroads with via Foria turn left, proceed on Piazza Cavour then on Piazza Museo, turn left into via Enrico Pessina, then left again in via Broggia, left again in via S. Maria di Costantinopoli, turn right into vico S. Aniello a Caponapoli, turn right into Sant'Andrea delle Dame, continue on vico Luigi De Crecchio and proceed along Via del Sole. From here continue on foot following the signs.
By bus: from the station you can take the C82 which will stop in via Nuova Marina, at the intersection with via Porta di Massa, then continue on foot following the signs.
On the train: those arriving at the Naples Central Station can take a taxi or rent a car and follow the route previously described. If you do not want to drive, take the 2 metro line to the station with a stop in Piazza Cavour and continue on foot following the signs.
By plane: Once you reach Capodichino airport, take a taxi or rent a car. In the second case, enter the A56 and continue until the 5 exit, proceed on Corso Amedeo di Savoia, then via S. Teresa degli Scalzi and via Enrico Pessina, then turn left into via Broggia, then from this point follow the directions explained previously.