Lighting in Design August-September 2017

M uch 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), Sansevero Chapel museum

Photographs by Luca Petrucci

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/scott@iguzzini.ae

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LiD AUG/SEP 2017