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Cloister of San Gregorio Armeno
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The cloister of San Gregorio Armeno is a monumental structure in the city of Naples is located in the homonymous complex in the historic center.
The cloister, for centuries denied common citizenship, was open to all in 1922 or so, when the enclosure was abolished.
The precise date of the foundation of the structure is fairly unknown, but some written sources have hinted that the monastery existed in the period before the eleventh century. In a policy document, in fact, is mentioned then the little church of San Gregorio Armeno, flanked by three other churches. All together, located a short distance from each other, were united to form a single complex dedicated to San Gregorio Armeno whose relics were brought to Naples thanks to the Basilian nuns who escaped the war iconoclast.
In the early days, the cloister was designed with a rectangular green space and used as part of a kitchen garden and surrounded by eleven arches for twelve. With the dictates of the Council of Trent, the sisters were forced to recast the entire monastic complex. The first amendment concerned the church itself, the heart of the religious complex that, according to the Tridentine provisions had to be outside the convent. The reshuffle was more accurate than that affected the property in question, as the cloister, was the only place outside of the sisters, their own garden that was supposed to be, according to their taste as pleasant as possible.
At the request of the abbess Lucrezia Caracciolo, the works were entrusted to Giovanni Vincenzo Della Monica. On the advice of the noble, the building in question, the architect and engineer resumed design of the cloister of Santi Marcellino and Festo: also its valuable work.
The choice of the abbess, however, was not based only on a purely aesthetic judgment, but also functional, since the monastery of Saints Marcellino and Festo possessed a rare quality, which is to meet the needs of the sisters to dominate, even with his eyes, the urban and natural landscape. Five belvedere made less laborious seclusion: the two lower, for example, are next to the dome and on the east, which is the background the dome of San Lorenzo.
The earthquake of 1930 caused significant damage to the entire monastery and later restorations proved somewhat disappointing. The factor that has shocked the experts of cultural heritage, it is noted that the splendid staircase was demolished eighteenth century gave way to the baths of the orphanage, which had been earmarked for the religious complex.
The monastery has a Fountain of dispute attribution [1] made to the request of the abbess Violante Pignatelli and the same is flanked by two statues of Christ and the Samaritan woman, sculptural works of Matthew Bottiglieri. Also, are there any original decorations and oranges. The creator of the water bodies, remained unknown, always at the request of the noblewoman, also introduced dolphins and other marine animals, masks, etc.. all figures intertwined, worthy element of Neapolitan baroque, greedy of form and space. By the fountain, however, we find the well that took such a structure, just to cover the hole from which material was extracted tuff for the reconstruction.
Another main feature of the cloister, the water systems are designed to use water from the conduit of Carmarthen and the rain, so completely independently. The channels that were come to the water tanks, were placed on two arches raised between the garden and the porch next to the church. The tanks were covered with pavilion vaults in lapilli wrought and made accessible through a small window, from which he could easily pass a man. Well that collected rainwater, however, was located along the eastern axis. The 135 steps leading to the aqueduct tunnels and numerous deposits made in the spaces below.
The monastery consists of many other environments, such as the pharmacy and the oven (then converted to the dining room for the orphans in the eighteenth century). The works were carried out after 1664, under the direction of Francesco Antonio Picchiatti, changed significantly the structure of the cloister, significantly reducing its size, in fact, was built the refectory on the ground floor, while the cells occupied the floor above. In the courtyard there were seventeen service kitchens, which made sense because the religious tenessero every comfort: as we said Henrietta Caracciolo who lived for seven years, within the complex, not as a religious woman, but as a lay , she published her memoir entitled The Mysteries of the Neapolitan cloister.
The cloister leads to two chapels, one of which contains a painting by an unknown artist depicting the Adoration of the Virgin. In the other, the Chapel of the Idria (the only relic of the medieval convent, although redecorated in the eighteenth century), there are eighteen paintings by Paolo De Matteis on the Life of Mary. Altar, also stands the oriental icon of Our Lady of the Idria. The structure is the only relic of the medieval monastery.
On the left of the entrance to the nuns' choir and from there to the so-called Hall of nuns, through which the girls who took the vows brought a dowry of works of art as a sign of devotion. Also in one of the rooms, there is the "Lounge of the Abbess in rococo style.