The Complete Guide to the Sansevero Chapel

In the heart of historic Naples is one of Italy’s strangest and most evocative attractions.

The Sansevero Chapel

Discover an icon of the Late Baroque.

Rumors of murder and black magic enhance the sensory wonder, which delights and disturbs to this day.

Detail of the face of marble sculpture 'The Veiled Truth' in Naples' Sansevero Chapel

Experience the Sansevero Chapel’s evident artistic beauty.

The Complete Guide to the Sansevero Chapel

In the center of the historic center of Naples sits one of Italy’s strangest, most evocative and compelling attractions: the Sansevero Chapel.

The Sansevero Chapel is an icon of the late Baroque. Rumors of murder and black magic hover around the Chapel’s evident artistic beauty, enhancing the sensory wonder, which delights and disturbs to this day.

Undoubtedly, it’s most famous wonder is the evocative Veiled Christ – where marble gives the hyper-realistic appearance of transparent cloth. Other sculptural achievements include the Statues of the Virtues and among them, Disillusion – the great masterpiece of Francesco Queirolo.

Head underground and you’ll find the strange Anatomical Machines, which reproduce the human circulatory system, externalized. When they were unveiled, Naples abounded with rumors that Raimondo di Sangro had murdered two servants – with the help of black magic – to make them.

A wonder in white and red marble. A temple of mysteries, some sacred and others profane. A scientific marvel. One of the greatest achievements of the Baroque. The Sansevero Chapel is full of mysteries – and we’ll do our best to reveal them all.

Raimondo di Sangro: Architectural Mastermind & Occultist

Raimondo di Sangro left quite a reputation in his wake. Many Neapolitans still cross themselves when passing the Sansvero Chapel, because they consider it cursed a consequence of its patron’s notoriety.

Rumors swirled around Raimondo, in life and death. He was suspected of performing hideous experiments of his servants, sometimes killing them in the process. Locals believed this alchemist kidnapped beautiful young men to satisfy his ungodly desires.

Today, we know that Raimondo wasn’t only a Mason, but ascended to be Grand Master of the Neapolitan chapter. However, Raimondo betrayed his fellow Masons by reporting their names to the King – in order to save himself. Most of Naples’ intellectual elite were embroiled in the scandal – which permanently alienated di Sangro.

This fall from grace was a far cry from Raimondo’s twenties, when he was beloved by the King, and even presented him a waterproof cape – long before anyone else knew how to make items waterproof.

Scanned from a work published in 1836, drawing of Raimondo di Sangro

Despite a religious upbringing, Raimondo was attracted to secret societies and occult mysteries.

Despite a religious upbringing, Raimondo was attracted to secret societies and occult mysteries. Aside from joining the Masons, Raimondo got involved with the Rosicrucian Order, a shady 17th century secret society. They believed that they held an ancient secret of life, passed down from the Pharaohs to them. Although many of the writings surrounding the Rosicrucian Order are lost, some remain, revealing a passionate interest in alchemy from its followers and a belief in a kind of divine androgyny.

Raimondo took his interest in divine androgyny a little too far however, by essentially kidnapping young boys and forcing them to become Castratos. Legend has it, that di Sangro would visit churches in the poorest boroughs of the Kingdom of the two Sicilies, keeping his ear alert for the most beautiful singing voice emanating from a boy child in the choir. When he found one, he would bribe the typically impoverished parents for the child, promising he would whisk them away to a better life.

Instead, Raimondo had these boy children castrated, to turn them into Castratos – adult male singers who had a haunting singing voice, more crystalline than any modern soprano. The boys would receive the snip before their voice dropped – around aged 8.

Despite his passion for opera, the prince’s real motivation was securing his immortality – and he knew he needed more than singers to do so. Raimondo’s motivation for masterminding the Sansevero Chapel was to preserve his fate for all time. Raimondo’s decision to build the Sansevero Chapel where he did further incited intrigue. Neapolitan legend has it that it was built on top of a Temple of Isis – the statue of the God of the Nile around the corner only confirmed this in the popular imaginary.

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Neapolitan legend has it that the Sansevero Chapel was built on top of a Temple of Isis, the Egyptian Goddess of life and magic.

Artwork of the Sansevero Chapel

As for Raimondo’s attempt to secure his immortality, to a certain extent, it worked – visitors to Naples today are still entranced by this Baroque wonder. Inside the Sansevero Chapel, you’ll find over 30 kinds of sculpture. The sheer range of marble varieties, in different colors and dramatically arranged, is shocking. Be prepared to see amazing examples of sculpture, including The Veiled Truth, The Veiled Christ and Disillusion. Next, head downstairs and be bewildered by the eerie Anatomical Machines…

Veiled Christ

Many visitors flock to Naples’ Sansevero Chapel just to see the Veiled Christ, which art historian Thomas D. Albright described as ‘An astonishing artistic achievement… and one of the creepiest things I’ve ever seen’ – we’d have to agree!

The Veiled Christ was completed in 1753 by Neapolitan artist Giuseppe Sanmartino, working under his eccentric patron Raimondo di Sangro – the mastermind behind the chapel. The sculpture represents the poignant moment after Joseph has lain Jesus, wrapped in a linen shroud, down his tomb.

When it was unveiled, Neapolitans were convinced that some sort of magic was behind Sanmartino’s sculpture – that cloth had been draped across marble and somehow transformed to resemble marble itself. Of course, no real magic was involved; Sanmartino was just an exceptionally skilled artist, and Veiled Christ was his masterpiece.

Veiled Christ Reclining in the Sansevero

Most of Disillusion’s evocative symbolism of Sansevero Chapel is liberally borrowed from the initiation ritual of masonry.

Disillusion

One of the most evocative, and personal, sculptures in the Sansevero Chapel is Francesco Queirolo’s Disillusion. Raimondo di Sangro commissioned the sculpture in honor of his late father, who had lived a life of depravity, only to renounce it all in his later years and become a priest.

Disillusion is a remarkable feat of technical skill. The central figure is an older man, removing a web of netting which has encased him, and looking toward an angel who is helping to guide him toward liberation.

Below the angel is a globe, a symbol of the vices of the world, but above it, the Bible stands triumphant. Not only does this allude to Christian virtue, but it also nods toward Raimondo di Sangro’s masonry, as does the Bas Relief. On the relief is the story of Jesus returning sight to the blind, from the New Testament.

No sculpture like Disillusion had been developed in Western Art before. Most of its evocative symbolism is liberally borrowed from the initiation ritual of masonry.

Veiled Truth

Alongside Veiled Christ and Disillusion, Veiled Truth is considered the best of artworks in the Sansevero Chapel. Liked the Veiled Christ, here cloth falls over a marble figure so transparently, and so finely, it’s hard to believe that no transmutative magic was involved in its creation.

Veiled Truth is a woman, and the curvature of breasts and body are visible below the swirling folds of cloth. Raimondo commissioned the statue in honor of his mother, who died when she was one. However, the statue clearly evokes classical depictions of Wisdom, particularly the Egyptian Goddess Isis, who was veiled when associated with initiation.

Neapolitan legend states that Veiled Truth was placed in the exact same spot a statue of the Goddess once stood, when a Temple to Isis was on this site…

Statues of the Virtues

Other Baroque sculptures can be found in the Sansevero Chapel, and they all depict a different virtue, as Raimondo believed. These virtues are not exactly Christian virtues – many of the statues have esoteric symbols which nod toward the initiation rituals of various secret societies.

Among Raimondo’s Virtues are Divine Love, which shows a beautiful boy holding a blazing heart, Decorum, which eludes to the triumph of elite values in dominion over nature, Sweetness of Marriage, Self-Control and Sincerity.

Statue of Veiled Truth, Sansevero Chapel, pictures a woman concealed by a transparent veil with board behind her

There’s no other proof of such sophisticated knowledge of human anatomy from the 18th century.

The Anatomical Machines

Are they art, or are they science? Unlike today, in the 18th century, the two fields were not so opposed – scientists were mere ‘natural philosophers’, and hermeticism (a doctrine that Raimondo di Sangro certainly adhered to and which is the foundation of modern science) was itself a heady combination of modern science and spirituality.

The two Anatomical Machines show a complete human arteriovenous system, made of beeswax and dye. Even today, we have no idea how the scientist Di Sangro worked with did it, because there’s no other ocular proof of such sophisticated knowledge of human anatomy from the 18th century.

For hundreds of years, the Anatomical Machines have been shrouded in dark legends. Rumor had it that Raimondo di Sangro had killed his servants by pouring a mysteries substance down their necks – preserving their veins forever. Today, we know that, aside from the skeletons themselves, the Anatomical Machines are not made by organic material. However, the perfect and complete reconstruction doesn’t rule funny business out. The Marquis de Sade loved them, and today, they attract visitors to the chapel in droves.

Skull of the male Anatomical Machine from the Chapel Sansevero

On a private tour of the Sansevero Chapel, you’ll discover the hidden history of each piece.

How to Visit the Sansevero Chapel

If you want to visit the Sansevero Chapel, we’d recommend booking in advance, especially during the high season, as it can get incredibly busy. You can buy tickets online. Adults cost €8 and reduced priced tickets, for students, children or the elderly, cost €5; all tickets bought online have an additional €2 booking fee.

Discover the Sansevero Chapel on a Private Tour

However, we’d recommend a tour of the Sansevero Chapel. On a private tour of the Sansevero Chapel, you won’t only see the amazing artwork – you’ll also discover the hidden history of each piece.

Even better, our Sansevero Chapel tours will also take you to discover the best of historic Naples – helping you understand the strange history of the Di Sangro family and this marvelous place, even more.

Address

You can find the Sansevero Chapel at Via Francesco de Sanctis, 19/21 in the historic center of Naples, just northwest of San Domenico Maggiore.

Opening Hours

The Sansevero Chapel is open every day, except Tuesday, from 9.00am – 7.00pm. On Saturday, they offer evening late opening, and the chapel doesn’t close util 8:30pm.