Enel’s LED
technology
illuminates
the Basilica
of Santa Maria
Maggiore
T
o illuminate the architectural space of the
Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.
With this goal, the Endesa Foundation and Enel X,
the Enel Group company dedicated to innovative
products and digital solutions, created a new lighting
system composed of the latest generation LEDs,
thanks to which, in a few months, a growing number
of visitors enter every day one of the most beautiful
and representative churches of the artistic heritage
of the capital.
The installation has been very challenging and
complex. Started in August 2017, and completed
at the end of the same year, it saw the participation
of dozens of Enel experts. The goals of the new
system were mainly energy saving and improvement
of architectural lighting. Inside the Basilica, different
architectural and artistic styles have contributed
over time to make it one of the most important
monuments of the city of Rome.
Therefore, a study and a historical-artistic analysis
of the different architectural volumes were first
carried on, identifying the different areas of
intervention: the pronaos, the central nave, the side
aisles, the apse, the main altar, the crypt, the coffered
ceiling, several chapels - the smaller ones, but also
the Pauline, the Cesi, and the Sforza ones -,
the Crucifix, the baptistery, and the vestibule.
Within the identified areas of intervention,
the artistic lighting project provided for an
intervention based on the reading levels that
identify the architectural space, as outlined
by the areas that make up the basilica and the
decorative elements that enrich it.
With regard to the improvement and the reading
of the architectural space, a diffused lighting
that ensures a homogeneous light beam has
been proposed, which is implemented by an
“accent lighting”.
This design approach matched the desire to enhance
the colours of the different materials that compose
the architectural structure and the inner volumes
of the Basilica, through the choice of high colour
rendering LED sources.
In short, the project aims at improving the use
of space, both for liturgical needs and for the
enjoyment of valuable historical monument.
It therefore involved: a revaluation of the symbolic,
liturgical, and religious value; a revaluation
of the architectural complex; the use of new
technologies; the achievement of savings
and the improvement of energy efficiency.
Light is then a tool to enhance architectural works,
for the benefit of art and, above all, citizens.
A smart and minimally invasive lighting system
that favours the usability of spaces and the visual
comfort, and which reinforces the perception
of details, helping to enhance aesthetics
and emotional reactions.
A project carried out in the name of innovation
that will bring an energy saving of 80%, allowing
all devotees to live an unforgettable visual
experience in their daily pilgrimage to what
in Rome is also known as Liberian Basilica
or Our Lady of the Snows.
LUCE 325
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