Turin Cathedral

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San Giovanni Battista Cathedral
View through the main nave to the altar

The Turin Cathedral ( Italian : Duomo di Torino ) is dedicated to John the Baptist (Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista) . It is the highest-ranking church in the Piedmontese capital of Turin and the cathedral of the archbishopric . Located on the Piazza San Giovanni, it forms an outstanding architectural ensemble together with the castle .

Campanile and longhouse

Of the predecessors of today's building, only the campanile, which was completed in 1469, remained . Today's cathedral, an undemanding basilica in Renaissance shapes on a cruciform floor plan with a marble facade, was built from 1491 to 1498 based on drawings by Meo del Caprino. Filippo Juvarra added the baroque upper storeys to the Campanile in 1723.

Shroud Chapel

Chapel of the Turin Shroud, dome by Guarino Guarini
Elevation and floor plan of the Shroud Chapel on the title page of the Scenographia by G. Guarini, 1682.

In religious and art-historical terms far more important than the simple main building is directly behind the crossing attached to the cathedral chapel in the 17th century for the most precious treasure of the House of Savoy , which since 1587 in the cathedral kept Turin grave cloth , the Holy Shroud, was built . The access is provided by the two flights of stairs to the side of the choir, placed in the axis of the side aisles, which lead up to round vestibules to reach the level of the chapel. This was determined by the height of the piano nobile in the immediately adjoining castle in order to make it easier for the ducal family to gain unhindered access to the chapel, which was also used as the burial place of the Savoyard. In 1657 Amadeo Castellamonte started the round building. Inside it is surrounded by a regular sequence of arches in the Serliana pattern. When Guarino Guarini took over the management of the unfinished building a decade later , he interrupted the uniformity of this lower zone by interrupting it with three openings to anteroom and vaulting it with a very unusual dome construction: two niches are spanned by a large arch, so that these Ribs arranged in a triangle delimit three pendants (which are usually used in architecture to lead from the four corners of a floor plan to the round dome), which support the base of the dome drum. This drum is again structured in a calm six-fold rhythm and above it closes the dome vault, completed in 1682, with a multi-perforated network of segmental arches that are stacked in six layers. This structurally extremely differentiated sequence of structural elements also plays with the changing incidence of light. The number three is a recurring motif of the chapel architecture. Guarini, who was also a mathematician and theologian, had deliberately used it as a symbol of the Trinity . His inventions of form in this chapel are among the greatest of the whole Baroque period, they have found neither a model nor a later imitation or further development.

The chapel was closed in 1990 due to structural damage. Shortly before the restoration work was completed, it was badly damaged in a fire on April 12, 1997 and only reopened on September 27, 2018 after more than 21 years of restoration. The restoration of the altar is scheduled to begin in 2019. The visit to the chapel is part of the tour of the Musei Reali Torino.

Equipment of the cathedral

A copy of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci in Milan , painted by Luigi Gagna, is located above the central portal of the cathedral , in the chapel of St. Crispino and Crispiniano a multi-part altarpiece with the Madonna and saints, donated in 1504 by the shoemaker's guild and painted by Giovanni Martino Spanzotti, the tomb of Bishop Claudio di Seyssel from 1526 is by Matteo Sanmicheli. Three altars in the third to fifth right side chapels on the right are works by Bartolomeo Caravoglia: a Madonna with four saints from 1655, a panel with St. Barbara and St. Jerome and the Madonna with Saints Hippolytus and Cassian of 1656. After the Turin during the Plague of 1630 her second patron , St.. Secundus , a chapel had praised was the Chapel of San Secondo in 1650 from which Lugano originating Giovanni Andrea Casella designed (1619-1685). He also created the fresco Four Events from the Life of St. Cosmas and Damian in the Cappella di San Giovanni Battista , the altarpiece St. Cäcilia worships the Madonna and Child and other altar panels. The marble statues of St. Christina and Teresa created Pierre Legros (1666–1719), the bust of Pope Pius IX. Giovanni Albertoni (1806–1887), the monument to Cardinal Giuseppe Gamba by the sculptor Edoardo Rubino in 1930.

organ

View of the great organ

The organ was built in 1874 by Giacomo Vegezzi Bossi , and modified by him in 1901–1902. The instrument stands on the singing stage on the epistle side of the altar, in a monumental case that was built by Benedetto Antegnati (Brescia) and which previously housed several instruments. The cathedral organ was extensively restored in 1972, with some stops being added. The instrument has a total of 59 registers, divided into two manuals and a pedal . In the manual works, a total of 15 registers can be registered separately on the bass and treble sides. The actions are mechanical .

I Manual C-c 4
1. Voce umana D. 8th'
2. Corni dolci D 16 ′
3. Flauto traverso D 8th'
4th + 5th Flauto in VIII B / D 4 ′
6th + 7th Ottavino B / D 2 ′
8th. Cornetto III D
9. Cornetto in XVII B 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
10. Violone B 8th'
11. Violino D 8th'
12. + 13. Drum B / D 16 ′
14. + 15. Drum B / D 8th'
16. Corno inglese D 16 ′
17th Clarino B 8th'
18th Clarinetto D. 8th'
19th Oboe D. 8th'
20th Clarone B 4 ′
21. + 22. Principale B / D 16 ′
23 + 24 Principale B / D 8th'
25. + 26. Principale II B / D 8th'
27. + 28. Ottava B / D 4 ′
29. + 30. Ottava II B / D 4 ′
31st + 32nd XII B / D 4 ′
33. XV 2 ′
34. XIX 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
35. XXII-XXVI 1 ′ + 2 ⁄ 3 ′
36. XXVI-XXIX 2 ⁄ 3 ′ + 1 ⁄ 2 ′
37. XXVI-XXIX 2 ⁄ 3 ′ + 1 ⁄ 2 ′
38. XXXIII-XXXVI 1 ⁄ 3 ′ + 1 ⁄ 4 ′
39. XXXIII-XXXVI 1 ⁄ 3 ′ + 1 ⁄ 4 ′
40. XXXIII-XXXVI 1 ⁄ 3 ′ + 1 ⁄ 4 ′
41. Sesquialtera
II Manual C – c 4
42nd + 43rd Principale B / D 8th'
44. + 45. Ottava B / D 4 ′
46. XV 2 ′
47. XIX 1 ⁄ 3 ′
48. XXII 1'
49. XXVI 1 ⁄ 3 ′
50. XXIX-XXXIII 1 ⁄ 2 ′ + 1 ⁄ 3 ′
51. Voce umana 8th'
52nd + 53rd Bordone B / D 8th'
54. Flauto traverso D 8th'
55 + 56. Flauto conico B / D 4 ′
57. Flautino D. 2 ′
58. Cornetto a tre canne D.
59. Violino D 8th'
60. Voce flebile 8th'
61. Tromba D 8th'
62nd + 63rd Violoncello B / D 8th'
64. Voce corale D. 16 ′
Pedal C – d 1
65. Contrabbasso 16 ′
66. Principals 16 ′
67. Gran Quinta 10 2 ⁄ 3  ′
68. Ottava 8th'
69. Ottava 4 ′
70. Ripieno VI
71. Flauto coperto 8th'
72. Bombard 16 ′
73. Trombones 8th'
74. Clarone 4 ′

Equipment of the Shroud Chapel

The center of the black marble shroud chapel is dominated by an altar structure designed by Antonio Bertola in 1694, which contains the silver shrine for the venerated shroud. After it was only barely rescued from the 1997 fire, it is rarely exhibited for conservation reasons, most recently in 2015. A reproduction is usually shown in the bulletproof display case.

For the shroud itself and its storage see:

photos

  • Facade of the Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista

  • Campanile

  • Showcase for the Turin Shroud with a detailed reproduction of the “Sacra Sindone”.

literature

  • Renzo Rossotti: Storia insolita di Torino . Newton & Compton, Rome 2006, ISBN 88-8289-743-5 .
  • Giovanni B. Semeria: Storia della Chiesa metropolitana di Torino . Fontana, Turin 1840.
  • Jenny John: Piedmont and Lombardy. Gräfe and Unzer, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-7742-0628-7 , p. 50.
  • Heinz Schomann: Piedmont - Liguria - Aosta Valley. Art monuments and museums (= Manfred Wundram [Hrsg.]: Reclams Art Guide Italy . I, 2). Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 1982, p. 445-452 .

Web links

Commons : Duomo (Turin)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georg Peter Karn: The projects Filippo Juvarra for the Duomo Nuovo in Turin. Cathedral building in the age of absolutism. Olms, Hildesheim 1999, ISBN 3-487-10957-3 .
  2. ^ Rudolf Wittkower: Art and Architecture in Italy 1600-1750. 2nd ed. Penguin, Harmondsworth 1965, pp. 270-271.
  3. ↑ La Cappella di San Secondo Martire
  4. ↑ More information about the organ and its disposition (in Italian).

Coordinates: 45 ° 4 ′ 24 "  N , 7 ° 41 ′ 7.6"  E