Gesù Nuovo
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Gesù Nuovo (Italian New Jesus) is the name of a church and a square in Naples, Italy. They are located just outside the western boundary of the historic center of the city. The existence of the square is a consequence of the expansion of the city to the west beginning in the early 1500s under the rule of Spanish viceroy Pedro Alvarez de Toledo. The square is marked by three prominent landmarks:
- The Church of Gesù Nuovo
- The Church of Santa Chiara
- The Spire of the Immaculate Virgin
[edit] The Church of Gesù Nuovo
The Church of Gesù Nuovo was originally a residence built in 1470 for Roberto Sanseverino, Prince of Salerno. Political intrigues of the day caused the property to be confiscated. It was eventually sold in the 1580s to the Jesuit order and was consecrated in 1601. The church passed to a Franciscan order when the Jesuits were expelled from Naples in 1767. The Jesuits got the church back in 1821. The unusual facade is called ashlar and is the original façade. Frescos on the ceiling of the central nave are by Belisario Corenzio and Paolo de Matteis. Also, the church displays The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple (1725) one of the most noteworthy works by Francesco Solimena, the great painter of the Neapolitan Baroque.
[edit] The Church of Santa Chiara
The Church of Santa Chiara is a Gothic church/convent built between 1310 and 1328 for the wife of King Robert of Anjou. It is marked by a belfry that stands within the grounds at the northeast corner. The complex retains the citadel-like walls setting it apart from the outside world, walls that contained a vast religious community—and today contain a more modest one—made up of the Convent of the Poor Clares and an order Grey Friars. The complex was expanded along Baroque lines in the 18th century. It was almost entirely destroyed by bombing in WW II and was restored to its original Gothic form in 1953. The noteworthy monastic courtyard in the rear of the church is the result of a renovation done by Domenico Antonio Vaccaro in the 1730s, for Maria Amalia of Saxony, wife of Charles III of Bourbon, King of Naples. The majolica tilework is characteristic of the school of Neapolitan ceramic from that period and was crafted by Donato Massa and his son, Giuseppe.
[edit] The Spire of the Immaculate Virgin
The Spire of the Immaculate Virgin stands at the center of the square. It is the tallest and most ornamental of three such "plague columns" in Naples—that is, built to invoke the Lord's protection from the plague. This one was completed in 1750 after many decades of construction. Some of the finest sculptors of the 18th century worked on the spire:, including Francesco Pagani and Matteo Bottiglieri. Depicted on the spire, among other scenes, are the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple; The Birth of the Virgin Mary; and The Annunciation. Its rich ornamentation is considered the epitome of Neapolitan Baroque sculpture.
