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San Giorgio Maggiore, Naples

17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in ItalyBaroque architecture in NaplesChurches in Naples
Napoli Chiesa di San Giorgio Maggiore
Napoli Chiesa di San Giorgio Maggiore

San Giorgio Maggiore is a basilica church located on the corner of Via vicaria Vecchia and Via Duomo, in central Naples, Italy. The apse of the church lies diagonally across the street from San Severo al Pendino. A church at the site was built by the 4th century, and was initially known as "la severiana", after the bishop San Severo of Naples. The present name dates to the 9th century, and is dedicated to a martyred warrior in the battles against the Lombards. In 1640, a fire destroyed part of the church, and reconstruction followed plans by Cosimo Fanzago, who inverted the orientation. The present church's entrance is the former apse of the primitive church. After 1694, it was rebuilt after an earthquake. Cosimo Fanzago transferred into this church some of the granite columns from the nearby church of Santa Maria degli Angeli alle Croci. During the 18th century Risanamiento, when certain streets in Naples were being widened, the nave on the right side of the church was eliminated to widen Via Duomo. Near the lateral door of the church is the marble seat, constructed from spolia, of St Severus, founder of the church. In the left of main altar of the church are frescoes painted by a young Solimena. The church also holds a painting in Byzantine style, a wooden crucifix from the 13th century, and the relics of St Severus. The church has canvases by Camillo Lionti and Francesco Peresi.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article San Giorgio Maggiore, Naples (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

San Giorgio Maggiore, Naples
Piazza Crocelle ai Mannesi, Naples Pendino

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N 40.84967 ° E 14.26063 °
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Chiesa di San Giorgio Maggiore

Piazza Crocelle ai Mannesi
80138 Naples, Pendino
Campania, Italy
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Napoli Chiesa di San Giorgio Maggiore
Napoli Chiesa di San Giorgio Maggiore
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Pio Monte della Misericordia
Pio Monte della Misericordia

The Pio Monte della Misericordia is a church in the historic center of Naples, southern Italy. It is famous for its art works, including Caravaggio's The Seven Works of Mercy. A charity brotherhood (Pio Monte della Misericordia meaning "Pious Mount of Mercy" in Italian) was founded in August 1601 by seven young nobles, who met every Friday at the Hospital for Incurables and ministered to the sick.In 1602 they established an institution and commissioned a small church, built by Gian Giacomo di Conforto, near the staircase leading to the Cathedral, on the corner of the Via dei Tribunali and the Vico dei Zuroli. In 1605, they received an apostolic letter from Pope Paul V, according special privileges to the high altar.The church was consecrated in September 1606. From 1658 to 1678 the edifice was enlarged, also with the annexation of neighbouring structures, by architect Francesco Antonio Picchiati, forming a complex with a palace and a renewed church. The latter, at the high altar, houses Caravaggio's Seven Works of Mercy. There are also paintings by Luca Giordano, Carlo Sellitto, Fabrizio Santafede, Battistello Caracciolo and others. The noblemen of the brotherhood at Pio Monte della Misericordia were looking for painters "to give permanent visual expression to their sense of charitable mission”. Regarding the sharp contrasts of the chiaroscuro in Caravaggio's painting’s, the German art historian Ralf van Bühren explains the bright light as a metaphor for mercy, which "helps the audience to explore mercy in their own lives".