The Holy Sepulcher
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Authors
Dionigi Bussola
Date
Type
Image
Language
Keyword
Jesus , Sepulcher , Tomb , Shroud , Angels , Resurrection
Alternative Title
Abstract
The terracotta figure of Christ in this chapel (1660) was the first sculpture Dionigi Bussola made for the Sacro Monte at Domodossola. The two angels were added in 1663. All three figures are arranged in a niche that was carved out of the solid rock of the mountain. This chapel is built directly below the Chapel of the Deposition in the sanctuary, which was also sculpted by Bussola. It can be accessed by member of the convent via an internal staircase that leads from the sacristy or by the public using an external set of stairs. Originally, pilgrims would enter into the chapel through the door by Christ's head. This allowed visitors to interact with the sculptures on a profoundly personal level, as had initially been possible at Varallo's Crucifixion (c. 1520) and Sepulcher (c. 1500 - 1510) Chapels since was no barrier between the visitor and the object of their devotion. However; the chapel at Domodossola does not reproduce the experience of visiting the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem by forcing devotees to duck through a small door like the version at Varallo does. Pietro Prada, a Rosminian priest who lived at Domodossola in the 1890s, records that another door at the other end of the chapel opened onto the convent's garden. It is not clear whether this doorway still exists or remains functional, but exiting through it would have allowed visitors to contemplate their pilgrimage and the image of the Holy Sepulcher at length before they approached the final chapel of The Resurrection. This route also prevents the need for pilgrims to double back along the devotional path as they are now compelled to do. Modern pilgrims view this scene through a window while standing on a staircase that is set about a foot back from the exterior wall of the chapel. It is not clear when this opening was cut, but it may have been made around 1915, when Pietro Mosca is known to have made a number of unspecified alterations to the figures and the structure of the chapel. Giovanni Sampietro may have done some painting for this chapel, but the frescoes we see today were completed between 1877 and 1882 by Felice Parietti. Giovanni Matteo Capis (1617 - 1681), the founder and first benefactor of the Sacro Monte Calvario, is buried in this chapel beneath the figure of Christ. As with the previous two chapels by Bussola, the local religious community maintains that none of the chapels at Domodossola show Jesus' face while he is dead. They assert that this sculpture depicts the moment of his resurrection; pointing to the figure's open eyes, the new traces blood trickling from his wounds, and the position of his arms as evidence. / The Sacro Monte, or Monte Calvario, of Domodossola was founded by two friars from the local Capuchin convent, Gioacchino da Cassano and Andrea da Rho. In 1656, they planted a large cross atop the ruins of the medieval fortress that had previously occupied the site and began building the sanctuary on top of the hill in July of the following year. This was the first Sacro Monte dedicated to the Via Crucis, or the Stations of the Cross. Early construction efforts were led and funded by Giovanni Matteo Capis (1617 - 1681) a wealthy merchant who had previously served as the mayor of Domodossola, the director of its hospital, and a leader in the local inquisition.
Description
Sacro Monte Calvario, Domodossola
Citation
Tullio Bertamini and Carlo Pessina, Il Sacro Monte Calvario di Domodossola (Ornavasso: Tipografia Saccardo Carlo & Figli, 2000), 83 - 84; Franco Caresio, I Sacri Monti del Piemonte (Turin: Editurist, 1989), 246 - 260; Guido Gentile, Sacri Monti (Torino: Einaudi, 2019), 355 - 361; Santino Langé, Sacri Monti Piemontsi e Lombardi (Milano: Tamburini Editore, 1967), 41 - 42; Angelo Marzi, Guida al Sacro Monte Calvario di Domodossola (Torino: Kosmos Edizioni, 1995), 32 - 33; Enrico Massone Ed., Sacri Monte in Piemonte: Itinerari nelle aree protete di Belmonte, Crea, Domodossola, Ghiffa, Orta, Varallo (Torino: Kosmos, 1994), 67 - 87; Simonetta Minissale and Alessandro Feltre, eds., Calvario: Monte Sacro di Domodossola (Torino: Umberto Allemandi & Co., 2009), 78 - 79; Pietro Prada, Domodossola e il Monte Calvario (Milano: Tip. Edit, L.F. Cogliati, 1897), 44, 48, 118, 139; Geoffrey Symcox, Jerusalem in the Alps: The Sacro Monte of Varallo and the Sanctuaries of North-Western Italy (Turnhout: Brepolis, 2019), 242 - 246; Luigi Zanzi and Paolo Zanzi Eds., Atlante dei Sacri Monti prealpini (Milan: Skira, 2002), 84.