Palazzo
Madama also known as the Royal Palace of Turin is a historic House of Savoy in
Turin, Northern Italy. The palace was first constructed in the 16th
century but modernized in the 17th century by Christine Marie of
France. The palace includes the Chapel of the Holy Shroud and Palazzo
Chiablese. The former was built to accommodate the famous Shroud of Turin. This
building became the property of state in 1946 before being turned into a
museum. In 1997, the palace was placed on the list of UNESCO World Heritage
Site together with the other 13 residences of the House of Savoy.
The
construction of this palace was ordered in 1645 by the Regent Maria Christina.
Christina wanted her son to be welcomed in a new court when he returned from
the civil war. This explains the reason why she chose the palace’s location to
be at the previous Bishop’s palace that had been constructed at the centre of
the new capital of Savoy that was Turin during Emmanuel Philibert’s reign. One
of the advantages of building this palace at this place was to enable the Duke
to monitor the city’s two entrances from the Bishop’s palace. However, the
Bishop’s palace was in 1536 captured by the French who used it as a residence
of the French Viceroys of Savoy. This aspect led to the Bishop’s palace
becoming the seat of power, hence Christina’s need for the new Palace to be
constructed at its location.
Overlooking
the Piazza Castello is the section that was built by Juvarra. Today, this
section is made up of a scenographic façade a single bay deep that screens the
back part of the edifice that has remained unchanged since the palace was
completed. On the exterior part of the palace, the architect, Juvarra expressed
a magnificent architectural preamble to an edifice which was never constructed.
The preamble was expressed in form of a high-ceilinged piano nobile that has an
arch-headed windows linked to the
mezzanine above by an order of pilasters of a composite order. Every pilaster
stands on a formal fielded channel-rusticated and sturdy base against the
ground floor’s ashlar masonry (Scott, 2003). The palace’s three central bays
are emphasized by the bolder relief provided by the complete columns attached
to the façade. The latter are in turn strengthened by being returned inward
behind them so as to give space for a glass-fronted central interior.
References
Scott, J. B. (2003). Architecture for the shroud: Relic
and ritual in Turin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
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