Church
Complesso Monumentale di Santa Chiara
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The basilica of Santa Chiara, or the monastery of Santa Chiara, is a monumental place of worship in Naples, one of the most important and largest monastic complexes in the city.
This is one of the 500 churces of the historical centre of the city, its story is very interesting and the majolica cloister in the monastery complex is truly a thing of beauty.
The cloister of the Monastery of Santa Chiara, founded in 1310, looks more like a park in a seaside resort town than a solemn retreat for nuns. Majolica tiles made at the Capodimonte workshops, in vivid colors and lively designs, cover the 66 octagonal columns surrounding its cloister, and between the columns are long benches also covered in tiles. These seem to bring the secular world inside the monastery walls, with scenes from everyday life of their period—the mid-1700s. Under the porticos, the walls on all four sides of the cloister are covered with 17th-century frescoes of Old Testament scenes. Inside on the right is a presepio (Nativity scene) set in a Roman ruin, incorporating mundane daily Neapolitan life along with the sacred creche scene. The figures are dressed in typical local 18th- and 19th-century clothing. The setting in a Roman ruin is thought perhaps to reflect the intense interest in the discovery of Herculaneum in the early 18th century.
The cloister of the Monastery of Santa Chiara, founded in 1310, looks more like a park in a seaside resort town than a solemn retreat for nuns. Majolica tiles made at the Capodimonte workshops, in vivid colors and lively designs, cover the 66 octagonal columns surrounding its cloister, and between t…
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Location
49/c Via Santa Chiara
Napoli, Campania