Turin - The Royal Church of San Lorenzo by Mark Sukhija

The façade cupola of the Royal Church of San Lorenzo, TurinThe Battle of Saint Queintin was won by the Savoy on the 10th of August 1557, the feast day of St Lawrence. In commemoration, Emanuele Filiberto had the Church of the Holy Mary and Crib (formerly Madonna of the Snows) restored and rededicated to St Lawerence. The design and construction of the Church was given over to Guarino Guarini, a Theatine priest from Modena in 1666. Guarino Guarini celebrated the inaugral mass on the 11th of May 1680.

With a façade very much cohesive with the other civil buildings of the Piazzetta Reale, the Royal Church of San Lorenzo is distinguished by it's cupola.

The mian entrance to the church is through the Oratory of Our Lady of Sorrows which was restored in 1846 which formed the nave of the old church Holy Mary of the Crib. Eight convex sides open into concave chaepls with lateral altars. Above four pendentives, a gallery with eight oval shaped windows between eight pillars which form the base of the ribs of the vaulting. The ribs crossing forms and eight-pointed star and the lantern dome rises from the octagon.

The richly decorated polychrom marble altars are also to the design of Guarini under various courtly patrons.

The Church of San Lorenzo, as the Church of the Holy Mary and Crib, is also known as having been the temporary home of the Holy Shroud after it was relocated from Chambéry to Turin in 1578.

The design by Guarini, uses many of the structural and decorative mechanisms and tools of the Baroque age which aimed to to visually overwhelm the visitor to the Church - a reminder of the supremacy of the Church. In this, Guarini has managed magnicently. In a fairly compact space for a Royal Church much has been poured in both decorativly and structurally and this whirlwind is to be admired.

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Map

Further reading

Italy - 5 great hotels - Recommended hotels in Rome, Florence, Turin and Milan

Martigny - Amphitheatres and Erotic Rodin - Travelogue from a trip to Martigny in Canton Valais for the Erotic Rodin Exhibition

Como - Villa Olmo - Brief information on and about the Villa Olmo in Como, Italy

Saint Maurice - an afternoon the oldest abbey north of the Alps - A travelogue from an afternoon spent in Saint Maurice, home to the oldest Abbey north of the Alps, in Canton Valais, Switzerland

Italy - 10 places not to miss - 10 places you shouldn't miss in Italy

Milan - Detail of the Cathedral - Detail of the exterior of the Cathedral in Milan

Genoa - Palazzo Reale - Frescoed cieling on the Palazzo della Meridiana in central Genoa

Genoa - Basilica della Santissima Annunziata del Vastato - Façade of the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata del Vastato Nunnziatta in central Genoa

Genoa - Palazzo della Meridiana - Baulstrade in the courtyard of the Palazzo Reale in Genoa

Genoa - Palazzo Tobia Pallavicino - Facade of the Palazzo Tobia Pallavicino - home of Genoa Chamber of Commerce

About Mark Sukhija

Mark Sukhija is a travel and wine blogger, photographer, tourism researcher, hat-touting, white-shirt-wearing, New Zealand fantatic and eclipse chaser. Aside from at least annual visits to New Zealand, Mark has seen eclipses in South Australia (2002), Libya (2006), China (2009) and Queensland (2012). After twelve years in Switzerland, Mark moved back to London in 2012. You can follow Mark on Twitter or Facebook