Santa Chiara (Naples)

Santa Chiara is a religious complex in Naples, southern Italy, that includes the Church of Santa Chiara, a monastery, tombs and an archeological museum.

The monastery was built in 1310-1340 by King Robert of Naples, who is also buried in the complex. The place chosen was annexed to the western walls. The original church was in traditional Provençal-Gothic style, but was restored in the 17th-18th century in Baroque style by Domenico Antonio Vaccaro. After the edifice was almost entirely destroyed by a fire after the Allied bombings during World War II, it was brought back to the alleged original state by a disputed restoration, which was completed in 1953.

The sober façade has a massive appearance, gentled by the large central rose-window. The bell tower, separated from the main edifice, was begun in 1328 but was completed only in Renaissance times. The simple interior houses, behind the high altar, the tomb of King Robert and, in the side chapels, those of the Bourbon king of Naples, Francis II and his consort Marie Sophie, as well as of Queen Maria Cristina of Savoy (wife of Charles Felix of Sardinia) and of the national hero Salvo d'Acquisto (a carabiniere who sacrificed his own life to save the lives of 22 civilian hostages at the time of the Nazi occupation).

Famous is the cloister of the Clarisses, transformed in 1742 by Vaccaro with the addition of precious majolica tiles in Rococò style. The Nuns' Choir houses fragments of frescoes by Giotto.

The museum houses information on the history of the church, archaeological findings, remains of destroyed parts of the interior and other collections.

ee also

*Gesù Nuovo
*History of Naples