Santa Maria dello Spasimo, or Lo Spasimo, is an unfinished Catholic church in the Kalsa neighborhood in
Palermo,
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
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, on Via dello Spasimo.
Construction of the church and accompanying monastery of the
Olivetan Order
The Olivetans, formally known as the Order of Our Lady of Mount Olivet, are a monastic order. They were founded in 1313 and recognised in 1344. They use the Rule of Saint Benedict and are a member of the Benedictine Confederation, where they are ...
began in 1509 with a papal bull from
Julius II
Pope Julius II ( la, Iulius II; it, Giulio II; born Giuliano della Rovere; 5 December 144321 February 1513) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1503 to his death in February 1513. Nicknamed the Warrior Pope or the ...
, on land bequeathed by Giacomo Basilicò, a lawyer and the widower of a rich noblewoman. The ''Spasimo'' or
Swoon of the Virgin was a controversial idea in late medieval and Renaissance Catholic devotion. The church commissioned the painting by
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...
, ''
Christ Falling on the Way to Calvary'', or ''Lo Spasimo di Sicilia'', as it is also known. This was completed in Rome in about 1514–165, but in 1622 the Spanish
Viceroy of Naples
This is a list of viceroys of the Kingdom of Naples. Following the conquest of Naples by Louis XII of France in 1501, Naples was subject to the rule of the foreign rulers, the Kings of France, Aragon and Spain and the Habsburg Archdukes of Austri ...
twisted arms and obtained its sale to
Philip IV of Spain
Philip IV ( es, Felipe, pt, Filipe; 8 April 160517 September 1665), also called the Planet King (Spanish: ''Rey Planeta''), was King of Spain from 1621 to his death and (as Philip III) King of Portugal from 1621 to 1640. Philip is remembered ...
, and it is now in the
Museo del Prado in Madrid.
The church was never completed because of the rising
Turkish threat in 1535, where resources meant for the church were diverted to fortifications of the city against any possible incursions. Even in its unfinished states, ''Lo Spasimo'' shows the late Gothic style architecture that permeated building practices in Palermo at the time as well as the Spanish influence in the city.
[De Seta, Cesare. Palermo città d'arte: Guida illustrata ai monumenti di Palermo e Monreale. Kalós. Palermo, 2009: 222]
The church now hosts open air musical, theatrical and cultural events because of its lack of a roof.
References
Sources
*
Penny, Nicholas, National Gallery Catalogues (new series): ''The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, Volume I'', 2004, National Gallery Publications Ltd,
*Bellafiore, Giuseppe. ''Palermo: guida della città e dei dintorni''. Palermo, 1990. (reprinted several times)
*De Seta, Cesare. ''Palermo città d'arte: Guida illustrata ai monumenti di Palermo e Monreale''. Kalós. Palermo, 2009. (pp. 222–223)
*La Fisca, Anna Maria and Giovanni Palazzo. ''Santa Maria dello Spasimo''. Edizioni Guida. Palermo, 1997.
{{Authority control
Maria dello Spasimo
Gothic architecture in Palermo
Unfinished buildings and structures