Capela de São João Baptista

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Capela de São João Baptista (Chapel of St. John the Baptist)
Igreja de São Roque (Church of Saint Roch)
Largo Trindade Coelho
Lisbon, April 2019

“This chapel (Capela de São João Baptista) was commissioned in 1740 by King John V. Upon completion, it was said to be the most expensive chapel in Europe, funded with the gold and other wealth that flowed to Portugal from Brazil. The designs and material were assembled under the direction of the architects Luigi Vanvitelli (1700–1773) and Niccolo Salvi (1697–1751). Vanvitelli modified his original design according to drawings sent to Italy by architect João Frederico Ludovice (1673–1752). Hundreds of different artists and craftsmen worked on its construction. It was assembled in the Church of St. Anthony of the Portuguese (Sant'Antonio dei Portoghesi) in Rome beginning in 1742. Consecrated by Pope Benedict XIV on 15 December 1744, it was sufficiently finished that the pontiff could say Mass in it on 6 May 1747. In September of that year, Manuel Pereira de Sampaio, Portuguese ambassador to the Holy See, saw to the dismantling of the chapel and its transport by three ships to Lisbon, where it was reassembled in São Roque in what was formerly the 17th-century Chapel of the Holy Ghost. Reassembly was overseen by Francesco Feliziani and Paolo Niccoli (or Riccoli), along with the Italian sculptor Alessandro Giusti (1715–1799). The assembly of the mosaic panels depicting the Baptism of Christ and Pentecost were not completed until August 1752, two years after the death of John V.” (Igreja de São Roque, Wikipedia)