Local legends about the Sansevero
Chapel of Naples claim that the astonishing works of art it contains
are the result of sorcery and black magic. The sculptures appear
impossible to create by hand, while a macabre display featuring two
actual human bodies is said to be the result of ritual killings. Also,
adding to the occult aura surrounding the chapel, it is filled with
Masonic symbolism.
At first glance, Capella Sansevero is your typical Italian chapel
from the 17th century, tastefully filled with paintings and sculptures
of a religious nature. However, a closer look at the various items in
the chapel reveals that something is “off” about this place. Some
sculptures are so “organic-looking” that they lead many to believe they
were the result of a supernatural process. Furthermore, the enigmatic
symbolism found around the chapel heavily hints to an allegorical
esoteric message.
And, when visitors climb down a few stairs, they see this:
The chapel has on display two actual human remains with their entire
nervous system on display. Creepily dubbed “Adam and Eve” – and even
more creepily referred to as “anatomical machines” – this bizarre
display has been the subject of all kinds of rumors.
To fully understand what is going on with the chapel, one must
understand its creator: Raimondo di Sangro, the Prince of Sansevero.
While he was considered a brilliant inventor and philosopher by many,
others believed that he was a cruel black magician who killed people to
conduct bizarre experiments.
A visit to his Sansevero Chapel gives credence to both points of view
as it puts on display all of di Sangro’s alchemical genius … and
madness. Before looking at the bizarre works of art on display at the
chapel, let’s first look at the man behind it all.
Raimondo di Sangro, the “Sorcerer Prince”
From the age of 10, di Sangro was educated at the Jesuit College of
Rome. In 1730, at age 20, he came back to Naples using the title “Prince
of Sansevero”. He soon joined the ranks of occult secret societies.
“In spite of the religious training that he had received
with the Jesuits, the young man soon joined the secret brotherhood of
the Rosicrucians, where he was initiated into ancient alchemic rituals,
the so called “sacred art” or “king’s art” which had been handed down
through the centuries from Egyptian priest to their disciples. Don
Raimondo had found his life calling. While maintaining the outmost
silence about “his brothers” and the teachings he was receiving (he left
no documents whatsoever on the activities of the mysterious sect) the
Prince radically changed his life and devoted all his time to alchemy.
Vials, ovens and alembics filled the cellar of his palace and at
nighttime it was not rare to see strange, colored vapors and disgusting
smells coming out of the barred windows of his cellar. It was at that
time that Neapolitans started labeling him a sorcerer.”
– Rino Di Stefano, Raimondo de Sangro, the “Sorcerer” Prince
Di Sangro introduced Freemasonry to his city as he became the head of
the Neapolitan Masonic Lodge. This fact, combined with his knack for
presenting peculiar inventions, such as an “eternal flame” made from a
chemical compound of his creation and human skull bones, only grew the
legend surrounding Di Sangro.
“Prince Raimondo di Sangro was known as an eccentric,
enigmatic, and mystical man. He was the head of the Neapolitan Masonic
lodge, the symbols of which are interspersed throughout the chapel, and
was a student of numerous areas of the sciences, as well as alchemy and
other mystical disciplines. He also spoke several exotic languages such
as Hebrew and Arabic and was an inventor, some of his inventions of
which were rather bizarre, such as a mechanized carriage with wooden
horses that was said to be able to travel over both land and water.
These eccentricities led to the Prince garnering a reputation as a
practitioner of wizardry and black magic, and rumors abounded that he
performed sinister magical rituals, human sacrifices, and curses. It was
also said that he could perform great feats of alchemy, such as
creating blood out of water or even thin air, and that he used the
various body parts of his sacrificed victims in his odious spells and
potions. The Prince was said to lock himself away for days on end and
perform demented experiments on human beings, such as reanimating the
dead. These dark rumors and legends that swirled around the Prince made
him into a man to be feared and avoided; a larger than life black
sorcerer who could bend magical and natural forces to his will. The
Prince did little to deny these rumors and it is thought that he even
encouraged them.”
– Brent Swancer, The Bizarre Anatomical Machines of Italy
One of di Sangro’s many “hobbies” was Bel Canto, which means
“beautiful singing”. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Who doesn’t appreciate
beautiful singing?
However, for di Sangro, “Bel Canto” means buying little boys from
impoverished parents, castrating them and forcing them to sing.
“In spite of his being acquainted with the pleasures of
family life and having children (…), the Prince enjoyed going around his
many estates looking for young boys with beautiful voices. Usually he
would find them in the church choir. Then he would “buy” them from their
parents (usually poor, illiterate peasants who had many children) and
had his personal physician, don Giuseppe Salerno, castrate them. He
would then lock them up in the Conservatory of Jesus Christ’s Poor in
Naples, where these young castrated boys started their careers as
“sopranist”.
(…)
He saw in the castrati a search for perfection, which according to
the Rosicrucians resulted from “annulling the dualism that comes from
separation, a return to the primordial androgynous being”.
– Ibid.
As di Sangro’s reputation grew, and his writings gained publicity, he
made powerful friends and powerful enemies. His involvement with
Freemasonry lead to his writings being banned and for him to be
excommunicated by the Catholic Church.
He spent the latter days of his life decorating the Sansevero
Chapel, turning this small place into a grandiose representation of the
“alchemical and Masonic path to illumination”.
A Mysterious Occult Temple
Before
it was transformed by Raimondo di Sangro, the Sansevero Chapel was
already the subject of bizarre rumors. It was said to have been
constructed on an old temple of Isis and, to prove this fact, locals
point to a massive statue of the God of the Nile, located just around
the corner from his home.
The Statue of the God of the Nile in Naples.
Adding to the sinister factor, the Palazzo Sansevero was the scene of
a brutal murder at the end of the 16th century, when the composer Carlo
Gesualdo caught his wife and her lover together and hacked them to
death in their bed. Up until 1888, a passageway connected Palazzo
Sansevero to the Sansevero Chapel.
However, it is when Raimondo di Sangro turned this chapel into an
alchemical project that the site became an attraction, especially in
occult circles. Other than the enigmatic “hidden message” of the chapel,
it is the works of art that mystify visitors. They appear to daringly
declare: “I was an occultist and this is what I could do”.
The works of art in the Sansevero Chapel are indeed unique, powerful and unsettling, forcing visitors to ask: “How did
he do that”? And, when one knows the esoteric and alchemical background
of the Prince, observing them leads to the question: “Was this done
through an occult process?”
The most compelling example of this is The Veiled Christ.
Set in the middle of the chapel, this sculpture of Christ covered by a
thin veiled has an unnerving quality: How was this marble sculpture made
using a block of stone and a chisel? The veil is too … real.
“Veiled Christ”
“Completed in 1753 by Giuseppe Sanmartino and
commissioned by Raimondo di Sangro, it portrays Christ deposed after
crucifixion, covered by a transparent veil. This veil is rendered with
such subtlety as to be almost deceiving to the eye, and the effect seen
in person is really striking: one gets the impression that the “real”
sculpture is lying underneath, and that the shroud could be easily
grabbed and lifted.
It’s precisely because of Sanmartino’s extraordinary virtuosity in
sculpting the veil that a legend surrounding this Christ dies hard
– fooling from time to time even specialized magazines and otherwise
irreproachable art websites.
Legend has it that prince Raimondo di Sangro, who commissioned the
work, actually fabricated the veil himself, laying it down over
Sanmartino’s sculpture and petrifying it with an alchemic method of his
own invention; hence the phenomenal liquidness of the drapery, and the
“transparence” of the tissue.”
– Bizarrobazar, The Mystery of Chapel Sansevero
For centuries, a “black legend” surrounded this sculpture and others
in the chapel that held that the Prince used a mysterious alchemical
process to “marbelize” a fine cloth placed over the sculpture.
Veiled Christ from above.
Some observers noticed a troubling detail about that sculpture: Christ appears to still be breathing.
“There may be another small “anomaly” in this Veiled
Christ, as there is a slight indentation over the nostril, as if the
shroud is being sucked in by breath – is this “dead Jesus” alive? Did di
Sangro believe that Jesus had not died on the Cross? If so, perhaps he
was not only a Mason, but a member of another, even more mysterious,
order?
Jesus disappeared from his tomb – but he is not alone. The Prince’s
tombstone can still be seen in the chapel. He died on March 22, 1771,
“from a sudden illness caused by his mechanic experiments”. During the
long nights he spent in his laboratory he had probably inhaled or
ingested some toxic substance, which this time had indeed become lethal.
His sarcophagus, however, does not contain his body; someone stole it.
When or why is not known.
Raimondo had a plaque placed in the chapel, stating that the person
who commissioned those works (i.e. himself) was moved by a desire “to
astonish, discover and teach”.
– Phillip Coppens, The Alchemical Chapel
On the left of Veiled Christ is The Chastity, a sculpture
modeled after di Sangro’s mother Cecilia Caetani d’Aragona. The naked
woman is covered from head to toe by a thin veil which reveals her forms
in every detail. This work of art is, once again, another
“supernatural” feat of sculpture. How can this effect be achieved using
marble?
The Chastity.
A close-up shot.
“The Chastity (La Pudicizia) by
Corradini, with its drapery veiling the female character as if it was
transparent, is another “mystery” of sculpting technique, where the
stone seems to have lost its weight, becoming ethereal and almost
floating. Imagine how the artist started his work from a squared block
of marble, how his mind’s eye “saw” this figure inside of it, how he
patiently removed all which didn’t belong, freeing the figure from the
stone little by little, smoothing the surface, refining, chiselling
every wrinkle of her veil.”
– Op. Cit, Bizarrobazar.
Although the statue was modeled after di Sangro’s mother, it is
clearly a tribute to the most important figure in Freemasonry: Veiled
Isis.
“The veiled woman can be interpreted as an allegory of
Wisdom, and the reference to the veiled Isis, special divinity of the
science of initiation.”
– Made in South Italy, The Alchemist Chapel
Indeed, in occult symbolism, Veiled Isis is the ultimate
representation of occult mysteries where the truth is veiled to the
profane until true esoteric initiation.
“The mysteries of Hermeticism, the great spiritual truths
hidden from the world by the ignorance of the world, and the keys of
the secret doctrines of the ancient philosophers, are all symbolized by
the Virgin Isis. Veiled from head to foot, she reveals her wisdom only
to the tried and initiated few who have earned the right to enter her
sacred presence, tear from the veiled of Nature its shroud of obscurity,
and stand face to face with the Divine Reality. (…)
To the modern seeker she is the epitome of the Great Unknown, and
only those who unveil her will be able to solve the mysteries of life,
death, generation, and regeneration.”
– Manly P. Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages
Locals claim that The Chastity is placed exactly where a statue of Isis stood, back when the chapel was a temple of Isis.
On the opposite side of The Chastity is Disillusionment, another
perplexing sculpture infused with profound symbolism. Modeled after the
Prince’s father Antonio di Sangro, it depicts a man struggling to free
himself from a net as he is being helped by a winged youth.
Disullisionnement by Francesco Queirolo.
A close-up shot.
Once again, a mystery surrounds this sculpture: How can a net be
sculpted over a body that appears to have been already sculpted
underneath? Was an alchemical process used to achieve this astonishing
result?
Not unlike The Chasity, this sculpture is an allegory for a fundamental Masonic concept: The freeing of Man using the intellect.
“Its allegorical meaning is that man is intent on freeing
himself from false beliefs (the net) with the aid of the intellect (the
young man).”
– Rino Di Stefano, “San Severo”
Although there are several other sculptures in the chapel, the three
above clearly stand out and are connected with their mysterious organic
qualities. Furthermore, these three sculptures constitute an “esoteric
triangle”. With The Chastity on the left (representing the female
principle), Disillusionment on the right (representing the male
principle) and Veiled Christ in the middle (representing the “perfected
man”), the sculptures esoterically represent the most fundamental
hermetic principle: Duality merging to create a perfected being.
In occult circles, this concept is personified by Isis and Osiris uniting to create Horus – the perfect being. (It is a declaration of the Satan merging with Lilith/Semiramis/Diana/Jezebel to create Nimrod, the anti Christ. DB)
In my article about Sirius, I explain:
“To achieve perfection, the initiate must successfully
understand and internalize the dual nature of the world (good and evil;
masculine and feminine; black and white, etc.) through alchemical
metamorphosis. This concept is symbolically represented by the union of
Osiris and Isis (the male and female principles) to give birth to Horus,
the star-child, the Christ-like figure, the perfected man of
Freemasonry – who is equated with the Blazing Star.”
The original floor of the chapel also heavily plays on the concept of duality and esoteric initiation.
The original floor of the chapel before it was changed in 1909.
The original floor was in black and white – meant to represent
duality and the unification of opposing forces – not unlike the
checkerboard floor found in all Masonic lodges. The intricate,
tri-dimensional design depicts a labyrinth – a masonic symbol for
initiation.
“Labyrinths and mazes were favored places of initiation
among many ancient cults. Remains of these mystic mazes have been found
among the American Indians, Hindus, Persians, Egyptians, and Greeks. (…)
The famous labyrinth of Crete, in which roamed the bull-headed
Minotaur, was unquestionably a place of initiation into the Cretan
Mysteries.
Labyrinths were symbolic of the involvements and illusions of the
lower world through which wanders the soul of man in its search for
truth.”
– Hall, op. cit.
Just like duality opposes black and white, the sublime works of art
described above are opposed to a morbid and sinister display: The
Anatomical Machines.
Adam and Eve
The two “anatomical machines” on display at Capella Sansevero.
What the heck are those things might you ask? Well, they’re exactly
what you’re hoping they are not. And maybe worse. This exhibit consists
of two actual skeletons of a mature male and a pregnant woman. Their
entire nervous system is exposed, where the arteries are colored red and
the veins are colored blue. The fetus of the pregnant woman was on also
originally on display but the specimen mysteriously disappeared.
The macabre display.
How did Raimondo di Sangro preserve the nervous system of these human
remains? Well, that’s a mystery that keeps on being mysterious. And,
once again, a “dark legend” surrounds these “anatomical machines”.
It was indeed rumored that “Adam and Eve” were two servants of di
Sangro who were injected with a substance that crystallized their
nervous system – killing them in the process. Here’s a dramatic account
of the legend:
“The Prince, just like a sorcerer, is stirring the
preparation in a big cauldron. Eventually, the long-awaited reaction
takes place: a mysterious liquid is ready. On the other side of the
room, the two bound and gagged servants can’t even scream anymore. The
man is sobbing, while the woman, even immobilized, stays vigilant and
alert — perhaps the new life she carries in her womb prevents her from
giving in to fear, commanding an already impossible defense. The Prince
hasn’t got much time, he has to act quickly. He pours the liquid down a
strange pump, then he gets close to his victims: in their eyes he sees
an unnameable terror. He starts with the man, puncturing the jugular
vein and injecting the liquid right into his bloodstream with a syringe.
The heart will pump the preparation throughout the body, and the Prince
watches the agonizing man’s face as the dense poison begins to
circulate. There, it’s all done: the servant is dead. It will take two
to three hours for the mixture to solidify, and surely more than a month
for the putrified flesh to fall off the skeleton and the network of
veins, arteries and capillaries the process turned into marble. Now it’s
the woman’s turn.”
– bizzarrobazar, The mysteries of Sansevero Chapel
Recent studies claim that di Sangro artificially recreated the
nervous systems of these bodies using wire and beeswax. However,
manually recreating such a complex system of wires is a near-impossible
task.
“These two skeletons are overlaid with a complex,
twisting network of metal tendrils and hardened arteries and veins which
represent the arterial system, viscera and musculature of human beings
with amazing, meticulous accuracy. The skulls of the two figures are
hinged, and can be opened to reveal an incredibly detailed spiderweb of
blood vessels within. Upon their unveiling, the disturbing models were
so mystifying and grotesque that it was believed that the dark Prince
had actually used his black magic and alchemy on some of his unwilling
servants to morph them into these abominations.
Regardless of whether they are the result of black magic or not, Adam
and Eve present a number of very real mysteries, not the least of which
is how they were made in the first place. For years the method of
construction was the source of bafflement among scientists and doctors.
Were the intricate hardened circulatory systems real, and if so how did
they remain so remarkably well preserved for over 200 years? Were they
artificial? If so, how could they be reproduced so faithfully? Since
there was little to no documentation as to the original creation of the
anatomical machines, these were questions for which the answers long
remained elusive. The main theory was that the two anatomical machines
were created through a process known as plasticization, or “human
metallization,” which involves injecting substances directly into the
circulatory systems of subjects while they were still living, after
which these materials would travel along the veins and harden, painfully
killing the unfortunate victim in the process. However, no one really
knew for sure.”
– Op Cit. Swancer
No matter what the case may be, these anatomical machines aren’t
simply there to freak out visitors. They are also said to serve a
symbolic purpose in the alchemical “great work” that is the chapel.
Through various clues, it is believed that the anatomical machines
represent the last stage of the alchemical process called Rubedo – the
reddening – symbolized by a red phoenix rising from its ashes.
Interesting fact: The “machines” were originally on display in a room
called The Phoenix.
“the originary placement of the “anatomical machines”,
inside the Phoenix Apartment on a revolving platform, looks like a
symbolic choice: maybe Raimondo di Sangro thought of them as a depiction
of the rubedo, a stage in the search for the philosopher’s stone in which matter recomposes itself, granting immortality.”
– Op. Cit., bizzarrobazar
The least one can say is that the chapel is surrounded by mystery.
This is only amplified by the fact that di Sangro destroyed his own
scientific archive before he died. Then, after his death, under threat
of excommunication by the Church due to di Sangro’s involvement with
Freemasonry and alchemy, his descendants destroyed what was left of his
writings, formulae, laboratory equipment and results of experiments. All
that is left is thinly veiled symbolism.
In Conclusion
In the image of its creator, the Chapel of Sansevero is brash and
unapologetic. It is a satanic celebration of the esoteric path and a showcase of
the alchemical know-how of a possessed occultist. While “occult”
literally means “hidden from the public”, Raimondo di Sangro spent his
life publicizing his interests and discoveries, barely “placing a veil”
on the true nature of his experiments.
(The Chapel is, therefore, one of those rare instances where “magic”
can be seen in plain sight. It is the evil kind of magic that reveals the elements of creation and salvation juxtaposed with the inevitable rise of the anti-Christ to come. DB)
vigilant citizen
