Naples Cathedral
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The Naples Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Napoli; nap, Viscuvato 'e Napule), or Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary ( it, Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, links=no), is a
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...
, the main church of
Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, southern
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, and the seat of the
Archbishop of Naples The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Naples ( la, Archidioecesis Neapolitana) is a Roman Catholic archdioceses in southern Italy, the see being in Naples. A Christian community was founded there in the 1st century AD and the diocese of Naples wa ...
. It is widely known as the ''Cattedrale di San Gennaro'' (Cathedral of Saint Januarius), in honour of the city's patron saint.


History

The present cathedral in
Angevin Angevin or House of Anjou may refer to: *County of Anjou or Duchy of Anjou, a historical county, and later Duchy, in France **Angevin (language), the traditional langue d'oïl spoken in Anjou **Counts and Dukes of Anjou * House of Ingelger, a Frank ...
gothic style Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
( it, gotico angioino) was commissioned by King Charles I of Anjou. Construction continued during the reign of his successor, Charles II (1285–1309) and was completed in the early 14th century under
Robert of Anjou Robert of Anjou ( it, Roberto d'Angiò), known as Robert the Wise ( it, Roberto il Saggio; 1276 – 20 January 1343), was King of Naples, titular King of Jerusalem and Count of Provence and Forcalquier from 1309 to 1343, the central figure of Ita ...
. It was built on the foundations of two
palaeo-Christian The history of Christianity concerns the Christian religion, Christian countries, and the Christians with their various denominations, from the 1st century to the present. Christianity originated with the ministry of Jesus, a Jewish tea ...
basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...
s, whose traces can still be clearly seen. Underneath the building excavations have revealed Greek and Roman artifacts. The Archbishop's Palace adjoins the cathedral.


Interior and artwork

The cathedral gives access to the archaeological remains in the crypt of the neighbouring original palaeochristian church of
Santa Restituta Santa Restituta is a church in Naples, southern Italy, dedicated to Saint Restituta. The foundation of the basilica is attributed to the Emperor Constantine the Great in the 4th century and is mentioned in a passage from the life of Pope Sylves ...
where there is a Greek wall belonging to the temple of Apollo, in ''
opus reticulatum ''Opus reticulatum'' (also known as reticulate work) is a facing used for concrete walls in Roman architecture from about the first century BCE to the early first century CE. Facings are a type of polygonal masonry used to apply a smooth finish to ...
''. Under the apse the peristyle of a late imperial ''
domus In Ancient Rome, the ''domus'' (plural ''domūs'', genitive ''domūs'' or ''domī'') was the type of town house occupied by the upper classes and some wealthy freedmen during the Republican and Imperial eras. It was found in almost all the ma ...
'' can be seen; also a stretch of Roman aqueduct after the foundation of the city and a stretch of Greek road on an inclined plane. Another attraction of the interior is the Royal Chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro, with
fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
es by
Domenichino Domenico Zampieri (, ; October 21, 1581 – April 6, 1641), known by the diminutive Domenichino (, ) after his shortness, was an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese School of painters. Life Domenichino was born in Bologna, son of a sho ...
and Giovanni Lanfranco, altarpieces by Domenichino,
Massimo Stanzione Massimo Stanzione (also called Stanzioni; 1585 – 1656) was an Italian Baroque painter, mainly active in Naples, where he and his rival Jusepe de Ribera dominated the painting scene for several decades. He was primarily a painter of altarpiece ...
and Jusepe Ribera, the rich high altar by
Francesco Solimena Francesco Solimena (4 October 1657 – 3 April 1747) was a prolific Italian painter of the Baroque era, one of an established family of painters and draughtsmen. Biography Francesco Solimena was born in Canale di Serino in the province of ...
, the bronze railing by
Cosimo Fanzago Cosimo Fanzago (Clusone, 12 October 1591 – Napoli, 13 February 1678) was an Italian architect and sculptor, generally considered the greatest such artist of the Baroque period in Naples, Italy. Facade Santa Maria della Sapienza. Biography Fanz ...
and other artworks, including a reliquary by French masters of the 14th century. Other artworks include an ''Assumption'' by
Pietro Perugino Pietro Perugino (, ; – 1523), born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance Painting, painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pup ...
, canvasses by
Luca Giordano Luca Giordano (18 October 1634 – 3 January 1705) was an Italian late-Baroque painter and printmaker in etching. Fluent and decorative, he worked successfully in Naples and Rome, Florence, and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain. Earl ...
and the palaeo-Christian baptistery, with mosaics from the 4th century. The main chapel is a restoration of the 18th century, with a Baroque relief by
Pietro Bracci Pietro Bracci (1700–1773) was an Italian sculptor working in the Late Baroque manner. Biography He was born in Rome and became a student of Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari and Camillo Rusconi. His most familiar works are the colossal ''Oceanus' ...
. The Minutolo Chapel, mentioned in
Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian people, Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanism, Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so we ...
's ''
Decameron ''The Decameron'' (; it, label=Italian, Decameron or ''Decamerone'' ), subtitled ''Prince Galehaut'' (Old it, Prencipe Galeotto, links=no ) and sometimes nicknamed ''l'Umana commedia'' ("the Human comedy", as it was Boccaccio that dubbed Dan ...
'', has 14th-century frescoes. The
crypt A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...
is by the Lombard Tommaso Malvito. The façade was reworked by
Enrico Alvino Enrico Alvino (1809–1872) was an Italian architect and urban designer, particularly active in Naples in the mid-19th century. He was born in Milan, and died in Rome. Works Among his important works in Naples are: *façade of the church of San ...
in the late 19th century, but retains the 15th century portal, including some sculptures by Tino da Camaino.


Miracle of the Blood

The church houses a vial of the blood of Saint Januarius, which is brought out three times a year, on the first Saturday in May, on 19 September and 16 December, when the dried blood usually liquefies. If the blood fails to liquefy, then legend has it that disaster will befall Naples. A recent hypothesis by Garlaschelli, Ramaccini, and Della Sala is that the vial contains a
thixotropic Thixotropy is a time-dependent shear thinning property. Certain gels or fluids that are thick or viscous under static conditions will flow (become thinner, less viscous) over time when shaken, agitated, shear-stressed, or otherwise stressed (ti ...
gel A gel is a semi-solid that can have properties ranging from soft and weak to hard and tough. Gels are defined as a substantially dilute cross-linked system, which exhibits no flow when in the steady-state, although the liquid phase may still dif ...
,; he also explained on the ''Blood Miracle'' of ''Riddles of the Dead'' series on
National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television television network, network and flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel owned by the National Geograp ...
. In such a substance viscosity increases if left unstirred and decreases if stirred or moved. Researchers have proposed specifically a suspension of
hydrated iron oxide Iron(III) oxide-hydroxide or ferric oxyhydroxideA. L. Mackay (1960): "β-Ferric Oxyhydroxide". ''Mineralogical Magazine'' (''Journal of the Mineralogical Society''), volume 32, issue 250, pages 545-557. is the chemical compound of iron, oxygen, ...
, FeO(OH), which reproduces the color and behavior of the 'blood' in the ampoule. The suspension can be prepared from simple chemicals that would have been easily available locally since antiquity. On March 21, 2015, the blood in the vial appeared to liquify during a visit by Pope Francis. This was taken as a sign of the saint's favour of the pope. The blood did not liquify when Pope Benedict XVI visited in 2007.


Burials

*
Saint Januarius Januarius ( ; la, Ianuarius; Neapolitan and it, Gennaro), also known as , was Bishop of Benevento and is a martyr and saint of the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. While no contemporary sources on his life are preserved, later ...
*
Pope Innocent IV Pope Innocent IV ( la, Innocentius IV; – 7 December 1254), born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 June 1243 to his death in 1254. Fieschi was born in Genoa and studied at the universitie ...
*
Charles I of Naples Charles I (early 1226/12277 January 1285), commonly called Charles of Anjou, was a member of the royal Capetian dynasty and the founder of the second House of Anjou. He was Count of Provence (1246–85) and Forcalquier (1246–48, 1256–85) ...
* Saint Restituta *
Sisto Riario Sforza Sisto Riario Sforza (5 December 1810 – 29 September 1877) was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal who served as the Archbishop of Naples from 1845 until his death. Sforza's rapid rise through the Church ranks began with various appointments ...
* Rinaldo Piscicello *
Ascanio Filomarino Ascanio Filomarino (1583 – 3 November 1666) was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal, who was Archbishop of Naples from 1641 to 1666. Early life Filomarino was born in Naples to the noble family of the dukes Della Torre. Eldest of the five sons o ...
*
Alfonso Castaldo Alfonso Castaldo (6 November 1890 – 3 March 1966) was an Italian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Naples from 1958 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1958. Biography Alfonso Castaldo was ...


References

{{Authority control 14th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Gennaro Burial places of popes Gothic architecture in Naples Roman Catholic cathedrals in Italy Cathedrals in Campania Burial sites of the Capetian House of Anjou