Lighting in Design August-September 2017

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Much of mysterious and fascinating atmosphere of the
Sansevero Chapel Museum is owed to its founder,
Raimondo di Sangro, Prince of Sansevero (1710-1771),
who commissioned the masterpieces that are collected there.
The most famous of these is Giuseppe Sanmartino's Cristo
Velato (Veiled Christ). Sculpted in 1753, the work is famous the
world over and its solid marble veil is so inexplicably light and
airy it has given rise to numerous legends regarding Raimondo
di Sangro's notoriety as an alchemist. In addition to the Veiled
Christ located in the centre of the chapel, there are over 20
other sculptures that represent the quintessence of Neapolitan
Baroque and are by major artists, such as Francesco Queirolo,
Antonio Corradini and Francesco Celebrano.
In 2016, the museum decided to replace its obsolete and
energy-intensive lighting with a new LED system. The old sys-
tem consisted of 32 profilers and spotlights fitted with 150 and
70 W metal halide lamps, and the aim of the new project was
to reduce energy consumption, improve museum organisation
(by avoiding frequent maintenance operations to change light
bulbs) and protect the artworks from the kind of damage that
light radiation can have on sensitive materials. The museum, in
fact, made extremely specific requests and insisted on compact
devices that would be more efficient in terms of energy with
higher levels of performance (high colour rendering, visual com-
fort and long lamp life), low heat dissipation and the option of
a single control system for all the luminaires in order to design
different lighting configurations for the chapel's splendid collec-
tion of marbles.
To create a spectacular and dynamic lighting scenario, iGuzzini
worked closely with the museum's staff of experts. The result
is a series of light ‘frames’ created by a Master Pro Evo control
system that can operate with a range of different luminaires.
Palco spotlights with elliptical refractors were primarily used to
light the frescoed ceiling, with profilers accent-lighting theVeiled
Christ and other marbles. iPro spotlights were inserted in the
original oil-fired lanterns to accent-light the plaster decorations.
Once the new luminaires were installed, the chapel inside reg-
istered a considerable drop in average temperature (about 3 °C),
as well as a drastic reduction in electricity consump-
tion. First and foremost, though, the new lighting
system succeeded in enhancing the mysterious
atmosphere of this magical and fascinating place.
iGuzzini, a top leader architectural lighting manu-
facturer with an international network of over 26
subsidiary companies and local distributors across
Europe, Asia and USA, has been operating in South
Africa for some time and is now in the country in an
office based in Sandton’s Nelson Mandela Square.
iGuzzini Johannesburg:
+27 (0)60 506 8572
Sansevero
Chapel museum
Photographs by Luca Petrucci
27 LiD AUG/SEP 2017