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Home > Italy Travel Guide > Chiesa di San Gregorio Armeno

Chiesa di San Gregorio Armeno

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Introduction
Location
History

ATTRACTIONS

Sculptures
Coister & Fountain
Interior

INFORMATION

Useful information
Links

Introduction

Chiesa di San Gregorio Armeno (1580) is one of the richest Baroque churches in Naples, with a cloister. Benedictine ruins still preside over this church. The convent attached to it earned a reputation for luxury since the nuns, traditionally from the noble families, were accustomed to lavish living, which continued here.
The sumptuous Baroque interior of the church sports frescoes by the prolific Luca Giordano. The cloister is a quiet haven in a neighbourhood noisy with vendors of Neapolitan crib figures (presepi), whose many workshop line the Via San Gregorio Armeno.

Location

Address: Via del Duomo 147, Naples, Italy
Transit: Bus: Take the AMN buses going to Corso Umberto, Via Duomo or Via Foria.
Train: The church is approximately 1 km from the main railway station and the Circumvesuviana railway station.
Subway: Leave the metro train at the Piazza Cavour stop.

History

According to tradition the monastery is located on the site of the remains of the temple to Attic Ceres. It was founded in the 8th century by a group of nuns belonging to the order of St Basil who fled Constantinople with the relics of Saint Gregory, Bishop of Armenia.
In 1225 a decree by Sergio Duke of Naples meant the convent was joined with other convents dedicated to the Saviour and Saint Pantaleon and became subject to rules of the Benedictine order.
The rigid rules imposed by the Tridentine reform led to the building of a new convent. From 1572 to 1577 Vincenzo Della Monica extended the buildings and made living quarters more suitable for the strict cloistering and new community life imposed on the nuns. Forty rooms were added, each with its own loggia facing to the front of the building. In keeping with levantine rites the church had been at the centre of the convent but it was completely rebuilt between 1574 and 1580 to a design by Giovanni Battista Cavagna and given an opening onto the street, a single nave with four side chapels each side separated by corinthian parastades, and a rectangular apse surmounted by a dome.

From 1579 to 1582 at the wishes of Abbess Beatrice Caracciolo, the church was enriched with a carved, painted wooden ceiling the work of painter Theodore the Flemish and "carpenter" Giovanni Andrea Magliulo working together with a large group of collaborators.
From 1671 to1684 Luca Giordano painted the church with a narrative series of fifty two episodes. Other work in the church is by ornamentalist architect Dionisio Lazzari and stucco workers Giovan Battista d'Adamo and Luise Lago.
In the 18th century the church was embellished with stucco, marble and brass work typical of the Neapolitan baroque period. It also acquired an organ and two wooden sculpted mass tablets created by the court architect Niccolo Tagliacozzi Canali, active in the church from 1730 to 1750. In 1757 a winter choir was created in a space below the truss beams under the wooden ceiling. This was used by nuns present during religious services.

The lower part of the church facade has arches in piperno (a type of lavic stone) ashlar work. The upper part of the facade features tuscanic pilasters alternating with large windows which illuminate the nun's choir above the porch. The late 16th century wooden entrance doorway has carved relief work depicting the figures of Saints Lawrence and Stephen and the Evangelists.

Sculptures

In the second chapel we can admire a wooden crucifix dated between 1450 and 1470, and two polychrome sculptures of Our Lady of Sorrows and Saint John the Baptist by Francesco Mollica.

Cloister & Fountain

In the magnificent sixteenth century cloister accessible from Piazza San Gaetano stands the renowned fountain with its group of sculptures representing The Samaritan at the Well by M. Bottigliero. Within the cloister is the ancient Hydria Chapel (“hydria” is a Greek name for water jar), the only testimony to have survived counter-reform measures. It looks onto the cloister and conserves paintings from the 11th century and frescoes by P. de Matteis (1712).

Interior

The interior of the church has a single nave and is built to a rectangular plan with side chapels and a flat-ended apse. The wooden ceiling is worthy of note. Divided into four sections it recounts episodes from stories of the martyrdom of the Saints painted by Theodore the Flemish, Cornelis Smet and other southern Italian artists. To the sides of the entrance we can admire an Immaculate Conception by Silvestro Buono and a Madonna in Glory attributed to the Flemish painter Cornelis Smet.

Paintings
The first chapel on the right is dedicated to the Madonna of the Annunciation and has on the altar an Annunciation by Pacecco de Rosa painted in 1644. In the second chapel is a painting of the Sacred Heart of Jesus with Saints Pantaleon and Anthony dating from 1775.
The third chapel is dedicated to Saint Gregory and decorated with marble work designed by Cosimo Fanzago. Here we can admire a painting of The Saint among Angels attributed to Di Maria who also painted the frescoes dated 1660 to 1670 in the small chapel dome depicting stories of the Saint. There are two paintings by Francesco Fracanzano on the walls: Saint Gregory Thrown into the Well and King Tiridate with a Boar's Face Supplicating before Saint Gregory.
The fourth chapel has a painting of the Madonna of the Rosary by painter Nicola Malinconico on the altar.
The fifth chapel is dedicated to Saint Patricia, the object of devoted worship on the part of Neapolitans.

On the altar is a panel painting of the Beheading of John the Baptist attributed to the school of Silvestro Buono.
On the right wall of the presbytery there is a small communion in brass and copper designed by Giovan Domenico Vinaccia and a painting by Giuseppe Simonelli depicting a Choir of Angels dated 1699. Inside the presbytery are a wooden Holy Stairway and a painting by Paolo de Matteis depicting Elijah and the Angel. In the apse, opposite the large painting by Simonelli we can admire a painting depicting Moses making water spring from the rocks attributed to Tommaso Fasano.
The fourth chapel on the left has a painting of Saint Benedict attributed to Giuseppe Ribera but more probably the work of Francesco Fracanzano.

Marble and other works
At the rear of the main altar we can admire marble-work carried out by Dionisio Lazzari in 1682 and two cherubs in marble by Bartolomeo Ghetti (1701) at the head of the altar. Above the altar is a wooden panel painting of the Ascension by Giovan Bernardo Lama dating to the 1680s.
Through the room on the right of the altar we can enter the Sacristy. On the ceiling is a canvas depicting the Adoration of the Sacrament by Paolo de Matteis dating from around 1712.

In front of the third chapel is a large seventeenth century pulpit with wooden inlay work depicting the stories of the Saints.
The first chapel has a Nativity scene on the altar attributed to the sixteenth century devotional painter Giovanni Angelo Criscionio.
Above the entrance door are the striking frescoes by Luca Giordano narrating three episodes from the monastery's beginnings. These are: the Departure of the Armenian nuns, Arrival in Naples with the relics of Saint Gregory and Celebrations bestowed on the nuns by the Neapolitans.

Useful information

Telephone: 081 449 097

Links

Circumvesuviana

Transport

Caremar

Transport

N.L.G Navigazione Libera del Golfo

Transport

Alilauro

Transport

Aeroporto Internazionale di Napoli

Transport

Trenitalia

Transport

Euro Star

Transport

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