LUCE estratti LUCE 326_Carminati_Cappella della Sindone | Page 7

Torino
Et lux in tenebris lucet
A masterpiece of the Baroque by Guarino Guarini, the
Chapel of the Shroud reopens to the public, 21 years
after the tragic fire that severely damaged it during
the night between 11th and 12th of April 1997
A
little treasure of the Savoy Turin set between
the Cathedral and the Royal Palace, the
Chapel of the Shroud reopens its doors after
the long and complex restoration works that
saw the involvement of the Ministry for cultural
heritage and activities, the Compagnia
di San Paolo, the Fondazione Specchio
dei Tempi - La Stampa, and the Chamber for
the Valorisation of Artistic and Cultural Heritage
of Turin. Two decades of work that involved
accurate field surveys and structural studies
to restore the solidity of the chapel, whose static
and integrity had been severely compromised
by the thermal shock caused by the flames
and the water needed to extinguish them,
and the reopening of the ancient quarry in
Frabosa Soprana, near Cuneo, for the supply
of the material necessary for the replacement
of the numerous structural elements that have
become unusable. Only remaining witness
of the tragic events of 1997, the central altar
designed by Antonio Bertola to host and
preserve the Shroud in its central urn still bears
the signs of the flames that surrounded it.
Until now made impossible by the scaffoldings
erected for the consolidation of the chapel,
its restoration is scheduled for spring 2019
and will be funded by the Fondazione Specchio
dei Tempi - La Stampa.
Completed in 1694, the history of the Chapel
of the Shroud began in 1611, when Emanuele
I of Savoy entrusted Carlo di Castellamonte to
build a structure to host the relic of the Shroud,
owned by the Savoy family since 1453.
After a first major interruption of the works,
the project is carried on by Amedeo di
Castellamonte (1655) and by Bernardino Quadri
(1657), who defines its circular plan set between
the royal palace and the apse of the Cathedral
of San Giovanni Battista, modifying the original
project by raising it to the level of the noble
floor of the palace. In 1668 the works are
entrusted to Guarino Guarini, a Theatine father,
architect and mathematician, who had come
to Turin two years earlier. By completing what
is now a symbol of the Italian Renaissance,
he introduces the sinuosity of the curved
line in the otherwise orthogonal and rational
plan of Turin.
If part of the symbolic path envisaged
by Guarini, which included the ascent of the
faithful from the dim light of the two flights
of stairs covered in black marble placed
at the sides of the apse of the Cathedral,
has failed for reasons related to regulations –
impossibility, for example, to place the
necessary handrails without affecting the
valuable craftmanship of the marble balustrade,
deliberately leaning against the walls
to increase the sensation of difficulty
in the ascent –, its soul is fully preserved
by the new lighting of the dome designed,
realized, and sponsored jointly by Iren Energia
and Performance In Lighting. In the scenario
designed by the Milanese GMS Studio Associato,
in fact, architecture and light become once
again the absolute protagonists of a project
in which the 66 artificial light sources remain
completely hidden from sight.
Architect Margherita Suss underlines how
DESIGNING LIGHT / LUCE 326
63