8/10/2019 VENARIA-SANT'UBERTO
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The Church of St. Hubert
The Church of St. Hubert (Cappella di SantUberto), dedicated to
thePatron Saint of Hunters as a reminder of the Palace's
huntingocation, is the !e"el of the #eggia di $enaria #eale. %t "as
$ittorio&medeo %% "ho, after acuiring roal status "ith the
acuisition firstof Sicil (*+) and then of Sardinia (*-), had a
grand chapel built,connected to the Palace and opening onto the
illage suare. &baroue masterpiece, the church "as built bet"een
* and */on a plan b Filippo Juvarra, the great architect from
0essina calledb the 1ing to shape Turin into a capital in 2eeping
"ith 3uropean
standards "hen the Sao State rose to 1ingdom status. The
facingbric2"or2 facade is set bac2 from the a4is of the 5reat
5aller,forming a small paris.
The church has a centrali6ed, orthogonal plan, "ith t"o large
altars at the sides of the transept and fourchapels at the opposite
ends of the diagonals that are round on the inside and polgonal on
the outside.The reference here is to 0ichelangelos Saint Peter in
#ome. &boe the drum the plafond, "ith lacunarsdecorated "ith
roses, creates the effect of a trompe7loeil cupola that "as neer
built. Tall pilasters "ithCorinthian capitals support the richl
decorated trabeation. 8uarra did not complete the passage"asbet"een
the Church and the #eggia, that "ere achieed under Carlo 3manuele
%%% b his successor,Benedetto Alfieri, "ho is also the author of
the splendid monumental staircase leading to the tribunes.The
artists and craftsmen appointed to decorate the "alls, to ma2e the
marble altars, the statues and the
paintings "ere carefull selected b 8uarra himself.
The e4cellent restoration "or2s recentl underta2en hae brought
bac2 to light the original colors andchec2ered flooring and hae
reamped the original light effects that ma2e this Church a
celebration ofarchitecture, sculpture and painting.The comple4
structure of the high altar is the "or2 of 5ioanni 9aratta from
Carrara and his aid (*:7). %t consists of fling angels supporting a
ciborium in the shape of a small temple, inundated bsunlight coming
in from the "indo"s of the semi7circular apse, shielded b fluted
columns of theCorinthian order. 9aratta also authored the four
statues of the ;octors of the Church, t"o from the
