Archinect - News

Pope Francis announces return of Parthenon fragments in a potential precedent-setter

2022-12-20T18:39:00-05:00

Pope Francis will send back to Greece the three fragments of the Parthenon Sculptures that the Vatican Museums have held for two centuries, in the latest case of a Western museum bowing to demands for restitution of artifacts to their countries of origin.

The bequest was labeled a “donation” from the Vatican by Pope Francis, who also called it “a concrete sign of [his] sincere desire to follow in the ecumenical path of truth.”

The British Museum, meanwhile, is also reportedly in talks with Greece to return parts of its argued-over trove of Elgin Marbles as early as next year. A timeline for the Vatican's return to the Acropolis Museum has not yet been verified by either party.

Previously on Archinect: The British Museum is under fire after refusing Parthenon Marbles 3D scan

Pope Francis moves the Vatican's cultural program forward with a new contemporary art space

2021-11-11T09:00:00-05:00

The Vatican is making another foray into contemporary art with the launch of a dedicated space for exhibitions of works by 21st-century artists. [...] The move comes after the Vatican Museums cancelled an exhibition in 2018 of works by Andy Warhol which was intended to explore the Pop artist’s “spiritual side”.

The transformation of a hall in the Vatican’s historical Apostolical Library was underwritten in part by the heirs of US film producer and philanthropist Kirk Kerkorian. Pope Francis has been behind the push to incorporate contemporary artists into the Vatican’s cultural program since his ascension eight years ago. The new space will be inaugurated with an exhibition from Rome-based artist Pietro Ruffo titled Everyone: Humanity on the Move on view until February 25th.

“I appreciate this endeavour to open a dialogue. Life is the art of encounter. Cultures become sick when they become self-referential… when they exclude instead of integrate,” the Pontiff said at last week’s unveiling of the new exhibition space. “We are in need of a new beauty.”

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Foster + Partners unveils chapel design for Vatican City's 2018 Venice Biennale pavilion

2018-03-28T14:34:00-04:00

Foster + Partners unveiled their design concept for one of the 10 temporary chapels of the first ever Vatican City pavilion at the 2018 Venice Biennale.

Collaborating with Tecno, Foster + Partners will build their chapel in a forest area at one end of the Venetian island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Located between two mature trees with a view of a lagoon, the chapel comprises of three symbolic crosses and a timber deck, which will be “draped” over with a tent-like, wooden latticework structure.

Image via Foster + Partners.

“It was like a small oasis in the big garden, perfect for contemplation. Our aim is to create a small sanctuary space diffused with dappled shade and removed from the normality of passers-by, focussed instead on the water and sky beyond,” Norman Foster describes.

Vatican Chapels to be placed in the woods at Venice Biennale 2018

2018-03-23T15:44:00-04:00

After announcing participation in this year's Venice Architecture Biennale, the Vatican has recently released more details on their Holy See pavilion. The project is officially titled Vatican Chapels, featuring ten chapels commissioned from architects in ten different countries. Each structure will be realized in a forest on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, located opposite of St. Mark's Square. This wooded location serves as a space for silence and meditation as visitors journey through each structure.

The Vatican stated these ten chapels are meant to reference the ten commandments. Apart from this connection and each structure containing a pulpit and altar, the chapels will be completely unique and up to the participant's interpretation of the project. However, as a guide the Church has encouraged each architect to respond to themes explored in the preliminary Asplund Pavilion.

Asplund Pavilion rendering by MAP Studio. Image: ALPI.

Asplund Pavilion, designed by MAP Studio, wil...

The Vatican picks Norman Foster, Eduardo Souto de Moura + others to present chapels at the 2018 Venice Biennale

2018-01-16T18:59:00-05:00

The Vatican has announced that it will be participating in this year's Venice Architecture Biennale. They have previously had a presence at the International Exhibition of Art of the Biennale di Venezia, but it will be the first time ever the city-sized country has had a pavilion at architecture's version of the event

Overseen by the Italian curator and architecture historian Francesco Dal Co, the pavilion will involve 10 chapels, each one designed by an architect from a different country. In the spirit of Catholic generosity, the chapels are also to be relocated to places in need of spaces of worship after the biennale is over.

The ten architects building chapels are as follows:

Smiljan Radic, Chile
Carla Juaçaba, Brazil
Javier Corvalán, Paraguay
Sean Godsell, Australia
Eva Prats & Ricardo Flores, Spain
Eduardo Souto de Moura, Portugal
Francesco Cellini, Italy
Norman Foster, United Kingdom
Andrew Berman, USA
Terunobu Fujimori, Japan

Vatican's Renovated Public Restrooms Provides Showers, Haircuts for the Homeless

2015-02-18T15:02:00-05:00

The Vatican said Friday it had finished renovations on public restrooms just off St. Peter's Square that will include three showers and a free barber shop for the city's neediest. Each "homeless pilgrim," as the Vatican called the clients, will receive a kit including a towel, change of underwear, soap, deodorant, toothpaste, razor and shaving cream. The showers will be open every day but Wednesday, when the piazza is full for the pope's general audience. Haircuts will be available Mondays.

The sleek, clean facilities – with grey walls, white washbasins and a "hi-tech looking" barber's chair – opened two days ago. According to Pope Francis' chief alms-giver, Monsignor Konrad Krajewski, the initiative is intended to help the homeless secure jobs and residences, something that is often incredibly difficult if they are perceived as dirty and smelly. Staffed by volunteer barbers, the facilities will be open everyday except Wednesday, when Bernini's famous square is filled with people attending the Pope's general addresses.

Emerging out of the new Pope's stated imperative to (re)orient the Catholic Church around its poorest constituents, the bathrooms come after the Church recently distributed umbrellas and sleeping bags to the homeless. Additionally, over Christmas, the Church distributed 1,600 phone cards to migrants – chiefly Muslim and from North Africa – on the island of Lampedusa.

Projects like the new bathroom facilities are a great way to address the issue of homeles...

Santiago Calatrava exhibition now open in Vatican City

2013-12-04T14:48:00-05:00

The Santiago Calatrava: The Metamorphosis of Space exhibition celebrated its grand opening at the Braccio di Carlo Magno in Vatican City today. Curated by Micol Forti of the Vatican Museums, the special exhibition presents over 140 artistic works of Calatrava, including his never-before-seen architectural models, sculptures, and watercolor drawings.

The Roman Catholic Church is coming to the Venice Biennale

2013-05-14T20:44:00-04:00

The Vatican’s presence at the Biennale is the brainchild of Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, an exuberant polymath who as president of the Pontifical Council for Culture since 2009 has tried to build bridges between the church and contemporary culture, two worlds that have often clashed.