Local legends about the Cappella Sansevero in Naples claim that the amazing works of art in it are the result of witchcraft and black magic.
The sculptures seem impossible to produce by hand, while the grim display of two real human bodies is believed to be the result of ritual murders. The abundance of Masonic symbols also contributes to the occult aura that surrounds the chapel.
At first glance, Cappella Sansevero looks like a typical 17th century Italian chapel, tastefully decorated with paintings and sculptures of a religious nature.
However, various items in the chapel indicate that something is wrong with this place.
Some sculptures look so natural that they lead many to believe that they are the result of a supernatural process.
In addition, the enigmatic symbolism found in the chapel refers to allegorical esoteric art.
And when visitors go down a few steps, they see this:
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The chapel reveals two real human bodies with their entire circulatory system. Not necessarily called "Adam and Eve" - and even more eerily called "anatomical machines" - this strange display has become the subject of all sorts of occult rumors.
To fully understand what a chapel is, you must know that its creator: Raimondo di Sangro, Prince of Sansevero. Some considered him a brilliant inventor and philosopher, others believed that he was a cruel black magician who killed people for strange experiments.
A visit to his Cappella Sansevero lends credibility to both views, as it reveals all the alchemical genius … and the madness of di Sangros. Before we look at the quirky pieces on display in the chapel, let's take a look at his biography.
From the age of 10, di di Sangro studied at a Jesuit school in Rome. In 1730, at the age of 20, he returned to Naples using the pseudonym "Prince of Sansevero". He soon joined a number of occult secret societies.
Despite the religious training he received from the Jesuits, the young man soon joined the secret Rosicrucian brotherhood, where he was initiated into ancient alchemical rituals, the so-called "holy art" or "royal art", which had been used by Egyptian priests for centuries. Don Raimondo found his calling. He never mentioned his "brothers" and lessons (he did not leave any records about the activities of the mysterious sect), the prince radically changed his life, devoting all his time to alchemy.
Vials, stoves, and stills filled the basement of his palace, and at night, strange colored vapors and disgusting odors often emerged from the barred basement windows. This happened at night time, and then the Neapolitans began to call him a wizard.
Di Sangro represented Freemasonry in his city when he became the leader of the Neapolitan Masonic Lodge. This fact, coupled with his ability to imagine strange inventions such as the "eternal flame" made from the chemical compound of his creation and human cranial bones, thereby increased the legendary status of the Sangro from which he was surrounded.
Prince Raimondo di Sangro was known as an eccentric, enigmatic and mystical man. He was the chairman of the Neapolitan Masonic lodge, whose symbols spanned the entire chapel, and he was simultaneously a student of many scientific fields, as well as alchemy and other mystical disciplines. He also spoke several exotic languages such as Hebrew and Arabic, and he was an inventor, some of his inventions were quite strange, such as the mechanical cart with wooden horses, which was said to be able to ride on land as well as on water. to swim. These exceptional qualities earned the prince a reputation as a practicing sorcerer and specialist in black magic, and there were many rumors that he performed sinister magical rituals using human sacrifice and curses.
It has also been said that he was able to accomplish great alchemical feats, such as creating blood from water or even nothing, and that he used various body parts of his victims in hideous curses and potions. The prince is said to have been imprisoned for several days and performed insane human experiments such as being reborn from the dead. These dark rumors and legends that surrounded the prince made him a fearful and avoidant person; possessed by a black wizard who was able to subdue magical and natural powers to his will. The prince did nothing to dispel these rumors, and it is believed that he even incited them.
One of Di Sangro's many "hobbies" was Belcanto, which means "beautiful singing." Sounds good, doesn't it? Who doesn't appreciate a good song?
However, the Belcanto was meant for di Sangro to buy little boys from impoverished families, castrate them and make them sing.
Even though he was familiar with the joys of family life and Christmas (…), the prince loved to inspect his big things for little boys with beautiful voices. He usually found them in the church choir. He then “bought” them from his parents (usually poor, uneducated farmers who had many children), and they were castrated by his personal physician Don Giuseppe Salerno. He then locked them up in the Conservatory dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo [Conservatory of the Poor Jesus Christ], where these castrated boys began their careers as "sopranos."
He saw in castrates a search for perfection, which, according to the Rosicrucians, was the result of "the abolition of dualism," "resulting from separation, a return to the original androgynous essence."
As di Sangro's reputation grew, his writings became more famous, he had powerful friends and powerful enemies. His involvement in Freemasonry meant that his writings were rejected and that he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church.
He spent the last days of his life decorating Cappello Sansevero, transforming this small place into a grandiose depiction of the "alchemical and free path to enlightenment."
Mysterious occult temple
Even before it was redone by Raimondo di Sangro, Cappello Sansevero was the subject of bizarre rumors. It is said to have been erected on the site of the ancient temple of Isis, and the locals call it the giant statue of the Nile God that sits around the corner of his house.
Adding to the gloom is the fact that at the end of the 16th century, Palazzo Sansevero was the site of a brutal murder when the composer Carlo Gesualdo caught his wife and lover together and killed them in his bed. Until 1888, a corridor connected Palazzo Sansevero and Chapel Sansevero.
However, this chapel, especially in occult circles, only became attractive when Raimondo di Sangro turned it into an alchemical project. Apart from the chapel's mysterious "hidden messages", these are works of art that amaze visitors. As if they dare to proclaim, "I was an occultist and I was capable of that."
Indeed, the artwork at Cappello Sansevero is unique, powerful and disturbing, appealing to visitors who ask themselves, "How did he do it?" And, if someone knows the esoteric and alchemical experience of the prince, then they answer: "This was done with the help of occultism."
The most exciting example of this is Veiled Christ. Set in the middle of the chapel, this finely veiled sculpture of Christ has an alarming quality: how was this marble sculpture made of stone with a chisel? The veil is just too … real.
Executed in 1753 by Giuseppe Sanmartino and commissioned by Raimondo di Sangro, it depicts Christ taken after the crucifixion and is covered with a transparent veil. The veil has been made with such sophistication that it looks almost deceptively real, and the personally tested effect is truly stunning: the impression is that the "real" sculpture is below and that the veil could simply be lifted.
Legend has it that Raimondo di Sangro, who commissioned this work, actually made the veil himself, placing it on a sculpture of Sanmartino and turning it into stone using alchemy.
For centuries, a "black legend" has surrounded this and other sculptures in the chapel, where the prince used a mysterious alchemical process to "outline" the delicate fabric over the sculpture.
Some observers have noticed one detail in this sculpture: Christ still seems to be breathing.
In this Wrapped Christ, there may be another small "anomaly" with a slight depression above the nostrils, as if the veil is being sucked in by the breath - is this "dead Jesus" alive? Did Di Sangro believe that Jesus did not die on the cross? If so, perhaps he was not just a Freemason, but a member of another, even more mysterious Order?
Jesus disappeared from the grave - but not alone. The prince's tombstone is still visible in the chapel. He died on March 22, 1771 from "a sudden illness caused by his mechanical experiments." During the long nights spent in his laboratory, he probably inhaled or swallowed some kind of poisonous substance, which this time was lethal. However, his body is not in his sarcophagus: someone stole it. When or how is unknown.
Raimondo took an oath in the chapel, stating that the person who commissioned these works (that is, himself) was motivated by the desire to "amaze, discover and teach."
On the left side of the veiled Christ is the statue of Chastity, a sculpture modeled after San Sanro's mother Cecilia Caetani d'Aragona. The naked woman is covered from head to toe with a thin veil that reveals her form to the smallest detail. This work of art is again another “supernatural” sculpture masterpiece. How do you achieve this effect with marble?
Chastity (La Pudicizia) from Corradini with its fabric wrapping the female figure as if she were transparent is another "mystery" of the sculpture technique. Imagine how the artist began his work with a square block of marble, mentally "seeing" this figure in it, patiently removing everything that did not belong, freeing the figure piece by piece from the stone, smoothing the surface, it thinned, cutting out every fold of the curtain.
Although the statue was modeled after di Sangro's mother, it is certainly a tribute to the most important figure in Freemasonry: the veiled Isis.
The veiled woman can be understood as an allegory of wisdom and as a reference to the veiled Isis, the special deity of the science of initiation.
In fact, the hidden Isis within occult symbolism is the ultimate representation of all occult mysteries in which truth is veiled to a true esoteric initiation for the layman.
On the opposite side of Honesty is Disappointment, another intriguing sculpture that infuses deep symbolism. Modeled on the father of Prince Antonio di Sangro, she portrays a man who is trying to break out of the net, a winged youth helps him.
Once again, a sacrament surrounds this sculpture: how can you create a mesh over a body that was previously molded under it? Was an alchemical process used to achieve this amazing result?
This distinction from chastity is an allegory for a fundamental Masonic concept: the liberation of man through the intellect.
Its allegorical meaning is that the person is determined to free themselves from false beliefs (the web) with the help of the intellect (the young person).
While there are several other sculptures in the chapel, these three are clearly outstanding and are associated with their mysterious organic qualities. In addition, these three sculptures represent an "esoteric triangle" with Chastity on the left (representing the feminine principle), Disappointment on the right (representing the masculine principle) and the veiled Christ in the middle (representing "perfect people"), the sculptures represent, esoterically, the most basic principle of hermeticity: duality merges to create the perfect being.
In occult circles, this concept is personified by Isis and Osiris, who combine to create Horus - the perfect being.
To achieve perfection, the initiate must successfully understand and internalize the dual nature of the world (good and evil, male and female, black and white, etc.) through alchemical transformation.
This concept is symbolically represented by the unification of Osiris and Isis (male and female principle) to give birth to Horus, the child of the star, Christ as a figure, the perfect man of Freemasonry - who is equated with the flaming stars.
The original floor of the chapel also differs greatly in the concept of duality and esoteric initiation.
The floor was originally black and white - meant to represent duality and the unification of opposing forces - in contrast to the checkerboard floor found in all Masonic lodges. The intricate three-dimensional design features a labyrinth, a Masonic symbol of initiation.
Labyrinths were a favorite initiation site in many ancient cults. Remnants of these mystical labyrinths have been found among American Indians, Indians, Persians, Egyptians and Greeks. The famous labyrinth of Crete, in which the bull-minotaur roamed, was undoubtedly a place of initiation into Cretan secrets.
The labyrinths symbolized the subtleties and illusions of the lower world through which the human soul wanders in search of truth.
Just like the duality of black and white contrasts, the unusual artwork described above contrasted with a morbid and gloomy display: anatomical machines.
These exhibits consist of two real skeletons of an adult man and a pregnant woman. Your entire circulatory system is displayed, with the arteries colored red and the veins blue.
How did Raimondo di Sangro maintain the circulatory system of these human remains? Well, it's a mystery that remains mysterious. Again, these "anatomical machines" are surrounded by a "dark legend".
In fact, it was rumored that "Adam and Eve" were two of Sangro's servants who were injected with a substance that crystallized their blood vessels and were thus killed. Here is a dramatic account of this legend:
The prince, like a magician, prepares the drug in a cauldron. Finally, the long-awaited reaction occurs: the mysterious liquid is ready. On the other side of the room, tied up with a gagged servant. The man sobs while the woman remains alert, even when she cannot move, perhaps preserving the new life she carries in her womb, giving way to anxiety, causing her to become defenseless. The prince does not have much time, he must act quickly. He pours liquid into a strange pump, then approaches the victims: in his eyes he sees unspeakable horror. He starts with a man, piercing his jugular vein with a syringe and injecting fluid into his bloodstream. The heart will pump the drug through the body and the prince will look at the face of the person struggling with death as a powerful poison begins to circulate. All this is done: the servant is dead, in orderit will take two to three hours for the mixture to harden, and of course more than a month for the decaying flesh to slip out of the skeleton, and the network of veins, arteries and capillaries to turn the process into marble. Now it was the woman's turn.
Although recent "studies" claim that Di Sangro recreated the circulatory system of these organs using wire and beeswax, I find it hard to believe. I mean, just look at the close-up photos. How can a person operate this complex system manually?
These two skeletons are superimposed on an intricate, sinuous network of metal tendrils and hardened arteries and veins that represent the arteries, intestines, and musculature of humans with amazing, meticulous precision. The skull of the two figures is hinged and can be opened to reveal an incredibly detailed web of vessels. At their presentation, the models were so inexplicable and grotesque that it was believed that the sinister prince actually used his black magic and alchemy on some of his servants to turn them into monsters.
Whether they are the result of black magic or not, Adam and Eve have a number of very real puzzles, not least how they were made. For years, the manufacturing method has been a source of confusion among scientists and doctors. Were the complex circulatory systems real, and if so, how can they be preserved so well over 200 years? Were they artificial? If so, how could they be accurately reproduced? Since there was virtually no documentation of the original creation of anatomical machines, these were questions that could not be answered for a long time. The most important 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 subjects' circulatory systems while they are still alive after the materials have pushed through their veins, painfully killing the unfortunate victim. However, no one can say this with certainty.
However, these anatomical machines don't just impress visitors. They must also fulfill a symbolic purpose in the Great Work of alchemy, that is, in the chapel.
Due to various attributes, it is believed that anatomical machines represent the final stage of an alchemical process called "rubedo", symbolized by a red phoenix rising from the ashes. Fun Fact: The Cars were originally displayed in a room called Phoenix.
The initial arrangement of the "anatomical machines" within the Phoenix Core on a rotating platform looks like a symbolic choice: perhaps Raimondo di Sangro presented this as a representation of Rubedo, a stage in the search for the Philosopher's Stone in which matter reassembles and gives immortality.
At least you can tell that the chapel is mysterious. This is only compounded by the fact that Sangro destroyed his own scientific archive shortly before his death. Then, after his death, under threat of excommunication due to San Sanro's confusion in Freemasonry and alchemy, his descendants destroyed what remained of his writings, formulas, laboratory equipment, and experimental results. All that remains is barely hidden symbolism.
Conclusion
In keeping with the image of its creator, the Sansevero Chapel is equally bold and unflappable. It is a celebration of the esoteric path and an exhibit of the alchemical know-how of an ecstatic occult. Although “occult” literally means “hidden from the public,” Raimondo di Sangro spent his life publishing his interests and discoveries, barely covering up the true nature of his experiments.
Therefore, the chapel is one of those rare occasions when "magic" is revealed. While the chapel's unusual artwork is a celebration of life, beauty, and spirituality, the painful manipulation of the bodies beneath them symbolizes death, decay, and cruelty.
The Sansevero Chapel, unlike the black and white floor that was used to cover this occult temple, visually represents the dualistic nature of the universe and, likewise, the dualistic nature of man.
When these opposing forces are combined and duality is resolved, esoteric perfection must be achieved. To achieve this, one should not be afraid to look at the sky … and look into the abyss of hell.
