Tari Mondo Prezioso - October 2016

Museum of the Treasure of San Gennaro

by Paolo Jorio (director)

 

Invention, popular devotion, religiousness, magnificence: all this and more can be found in the exhibition of the Museum of the Treasure of San Gennaro, in a journey through masterpieces from seven centuries that can be admired intact today thanks to the praiseworthy work of the Deputation, a secular institution which, since 1527 has been in charge of guarding the remains, the Royal Chapel and the treasure of San Gennaro (or Saint Januarius), which do not belong to the Church but to the city of Naples. In fact, many of the objects on display were saved and preserved from the continuous lootings and expropriations of the era, allowing them to reach our times practically untouched, bearing witness to an exemplary history of extremely fine craftsmanship dating from the 14th century. The masterpieces exhibited in the Museum of the Treasure of San Gennaro document the extraordinary skill of Neapolitan sculptors and silversmiths, who managed to combine technical knowledge and creativity. Chalices, pyxes, baskets, candelabras, plates, monstrances with the busts and statues of Patron Saints and other objects on display are the results of teamwork by masters highly skilled in their crafts. Sculptors, chisellers, welders and assemblers created masterpieces of rare beauty. Although the museum, which was opened in 2003, contains works and evidence of the great civilization of a people with a thousand years of history, it is a young museum that already boasts high visitor numbers, in addition to the two million people who visited the exhibitions organized in Rome, Paris and Belo Horizonte in Brazil. The journey takes in rooms in which different kinds of objects are exhibited: from those for daily liturgical use, such as chalices, pyxes and lamps, to the actual altar sets and reliquary statues and busts that, being a typical expression of direct and spontaneous popular devotion, during certain feast days were paraded before large crowds of people, ready to ask for the Saint’s intervention to ward off calamity, pestilence and famine.

Sculptors, chisellers, welders and assemblers created masterpieces of rare beauty, such as the Statue of St. Michael the Archangel of 1691, an extraordinary example of a blend of painting, sculpture and silversmith craftsmanship from the 17th and 18th centuries.  Or St. Irene, created by the silversmith Carlo Schisano in 1733, who was entrusted with the tricky task of protecting Naples from lightning strikes, and St. Emidius by Gaetano Fuma, who in 1735 was confirmed as protector against earthquakes.

The 1797 statue of St. Raphael the Archangel encouraging the young Tobias was created to the design of the Neapolitan sculptor Giuseppe Sanmartino. An extremely rare example of 17th century silver procession silverware, not for liturgical use, is the oval gilded silver plate by Biagio Guariniello in 1698, completely embossed and chiselled. In the centre is the crowned coat of arms of Naples, held by two putti. Thanks to the Deputation, the elegant silver and coral Altar Cross dating from 1707, with its clearly baroque design, escaped from the losses and destructions that took place over time.

 

The wonders of the Museum: the jewels

The extraordinary and unique artistic and cultural heritage exhibited in the Museum of the Treasure of San Gennaro includes priceless masterpieces of rare beauty, gifted above all by kings.In fact, there are numerous dynasties that, even if they never ruled of Naples and were simply guests of the city, over the centuries in some way left visible traces of their presence through precious gifts. There are masterpieces considered some of the most sumptuous and most important in the world. In 1679 the goldsmith Michele Dato crafted the famous necklace of San Gennaro, comprising thirteen gold links with diamonds, emeralds and rubies, donated by the Deputation, to which further precious stones, gifted by European sovereigns passing through or ruling over Naples, were subsequently added. In 1712 it was decided that San Gennaro’s bust should have a bishop’s mitre, so that his head could be covered with something more magnificent than the skullcap during solemn occasions. This was created the subsequent year by the goldsmith Matteo Treglia, in silver, adorned with a total of 3,964 precious stones. This was followed, in 1756, by a marvellous gold chalice with diamonds, rubies and emeralds, donated by the child king Ferdinand IV of Bourbon. The golden Pyx, with rubies, emeralds, diamonds and a jewelled cross is of particular beauty. It was made in Naples and donated in 1831 by King Ferdinand II of Bourbon. The magnificent Episcopal Cross, in gold, diamonds and emeralds, was made in 1878 and donated by King Umberto I and Queen Margherita of Savoy in 1879.

The treasure of San Gennaro is the extraordinary and unique story of the faith of a people: the Neapolitans.