Description
San Lorenzo is Turin's royal church: it stands on the northwest side of Piazza Castello, next to Palazzo Chiablese and the Royal Palace. From outside it looks like any other building, with no facade and no bell tower; the masterpiece is all inside, in the dome by Guarino Guarini.
The show is up high. The dome is a web of sixteen ribs that interlace into an eight-pointed star, with an octagon at the center, and eight elliptical windows that, seen from below, form what is jokingly called the "devil's face".
Below, Guarini turned the Latin-cross plan into an octagonal space enclosed in a square. The chapels wrap around as if independent and make the space seem elastic, in motion. The light grows as your gaze climbs, from the darkness of the ground floor to the lantern at 50 meters.
In the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, around noon at the equinoxes, a ray of sun enters through a hole and lights up a hidden fresco showing God the Father. In the morning the same thing happens above two other side altars.
At the entrance is the small chapel of Santa Maria ad Presepae, older, with an altar from 1726 reached by twelve steps that, according to tradition, are to be climbed on your knees. Since 2010 the sacristy has housed a small educational museum on the Shroud.
The story begins with a promise. On August 10, 1557, the feast of Saint Lawrence, Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy won the Battle of St. Quentin. In 1562 he had the small church that stood here rebuilt and dedicated it to the saint.
Guarini, an architect and Theatine priest, worked on it from 1668 and consecrated it on May 12, 1680, celebrating the Mass himself. The facade he designed was never built, so as not to break the symmetry of the square.
Every day at 5:15 p.m. the bell rings ten times: they recall the ten divisions of the Russian campaign, and there has been an Alpini plaque on the facade since January 26, 1983.
The show is up high. The dome is a web of sixteen ribs that interlace into an eight-pointed star, with an octagon at the center, and eight elliptical windows that, seen from below, form what is jokingly called the "devil's face".
Below, Guarini turned the Latin-cross plan into an octagonal space enclosed in a square. The chapels wrap around as if independent and make the space seem elastic, in motion. The light grows as your gaze climbs, from the darkness of the ground floor to the lantern at 50 meters.
In the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, around noon at the equinoxes, a ray of sun enters through a hole and lights up a hidden fresco showing God the Father. In the morning the same thing happens above two other side altars.
At the entrance is the small chapel of Santa Maria ad Presepae, older, with an altar from 1726 reached by twelve steps that, according to tradition, are to be climbed on your knees. Since 2010 the sacristy has housed a small educational museum on the Shroud.
The story begins with a promise. On August 10, 1557, the feast of Saint Lawrence, Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy won the Battle of St. Quentin. In 1562 he had the small church that stood here rebuilt and dedicated it to the saint.
Guarini, an architect and Theatine priest, worked on it from 1668 and consecrated it on May 12, 1680, celebrating the Mass himself. The facade he designed was never built, so as not to break the symmetry of the square.
Every day at 5:15 p.m. the bell rings ten times: they recall the ten divisions of the Russian campaign, and there has been an Alpini plaque on the facade since January 26, 1983.