Certosa di San Martino, Naples
Certosa di San Martino is a former Carthusian monastery, and its buildings now contain a museum. The complex was begun in 1325 and consecrated in 1368 under Joan I of Naples. It is dedicated to St.
Martin of Tours. Look at the church entrance: Cosimo Fanzago shaped much of the form you see today, giving the complex its baroque character. The marble work inside the church and its chapels, along with busts in the large cloister, belong to Fanzago’s contribution.
The museum opened to the public in 1866, gathering objects that tell the artistic and cultural history of Naples and the southern kingdoms. Its collections include Spanish and Bourbon-era material, as well as celebrated presepi, or Nativity scenes. Among the church murals is a forceful image of Henry VIII’s suppression and destruction of the London Charterhouse.
The monastery was suppressed in 1799, and the monks were expelled permanently in 1866, when the property passed to the state. The complex now contains about one hundred rooms, two churches, four chapels, three cloisters, hanging gardens, and other spaces.
