Misplaced Pages

Rucellai Sepulchre
Tempietto del Santo Sepolcro
Alternative names	Sacellum of the Holy Sepulchre Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre Tempietto del Santo Sepolcro Sacello del Santo Sepolcro Tempietto Rucellai
General information
Type	funerary chapel
Architectural style	Renaissance
Location	Rucellai Chapel, San Pancrazio
Town or city	Florence
Country	Italy
Coordinates	43°46′19″N 11°15′00″E / 43.77196°N 11.24990°E / 43.77196; 11.24990
Construction started	about 1458
Completed	1467
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Leon Battista Alberti

The Rucellai Sepulchre is a small funerary chapel built inside the Rucellai Chapel of the church of San Pancrazio, Florence. It was commissioned by Giovanni di Paolo Rucellai and built to designs by Leon Battista Alberti in imitation or emulation of the Holy Sepulchre in the Anastasis in Jerusalem. It contains the tombs of Giovanni Rucellai and members of his family.

Names

The Rucellai sepulchre is known by various names, including Sacellum of the Holy Sepulchre, Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, Italian: Tempietto del Santo Sepolcro, Sacello del Santo Sepolcro and Tempietto Rucellai.

History

Leon Battista Alberti probably began work on the Rucellai Chapel and on the sepulchre within it in about 1458; the origins of the chapel date to 1417, when the walls of the nave of San Pancrazio were built. According to the inscription above the door, the Sepulchre was completed in 1467.

The Rucellai Chapel was closed for many years for restoration. Since 16 February 2013 it has been re-opened to the public. Access is through the Marino Marini Museum, which occupies the deconsecrated part of the church of San Pancrazio.

Description

Exterior

Inscriptions

The sepulchre has two inscriptions: one, on a square panel above the door, reads:

meaning approximately "Giovanni di Paolo Rucellai, in order that his salvation might be prayed for from where, through Christ, the resurrection of all was achieved, had this temple built in the shape of the tomb in Jerusalem 1467".

The other inscription runs round the top of the building and reads:

YHESVM QVERITIS NAZARENVM CRVCIFIXVM SURREXIT NON EST HIC ECCE LOCVS VBI POSVERVNT EVM

or approximately "you seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified; he rose, he is not here; this is the place where they put him".

Decorative panels

The exterior walls are decorated with 30 square panels of marble inlay work, with mainly vegetal and geometrical patterns.

Gallery

YHESVM QVERITIS N		AZARENVM CRVCIFIXVM SUR			REXIT NON EST HIC ECCE L			OCVS VBI POSVERVNT EVM

Interior

The burial chamber takes the entire interior space of the sacellum, with a marble slab placed against its southern wall.

The inner walls and vault of the sepulchre are entirely frescoed, work that one author has attributed to Giovanni da Piamonte.

See also

• Pietra dura, decorative stone inlay work

References

1. Ferruccio Canali (2006) Firenze: i luoghi di Leon Battista Alberti (in Italian). Comune di Firenze, Ufficio Centro Storico, Patrimonio Mondiale UNESCO. Accessed May 2013.
2. Rab Hatfield (2004) The Funding of the Façade of Santa Maria Novella. Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes. London: The Warburg Institute. 67: 81–128. (subscription required)
3. Nicoletta Speltra (12 February 2013). Riapre al pubblico la Cappella Rucellai e torna visibile il tempietto dell'Alberti (in Italian). La Stampa. Archived 6 January 2020.
4. ^ The Marino Marini Museum in Florence: Half and Half, Donna Scharnagl for "visit Florence". Retrieved 29 October 2024.
5. Frank Dabell (2001). Giovanni da Piamonte (in Italian). Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, volume 56. Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. Accessed February 2019.

v t e Tourism in Florence
Museums, galleries and palaces	Bargello Casa Buonarroti Casa Guidi Galleria dell'Accademia David Garden of Archimedes Loggia del Bigallo Loggia dei Lanzi Loggia del Mercato Nuovo Loggia del Pesce Loggia Rucellai Museo dell'Opera del Duomo Museo Galileo Museo Nazionale Alinari della Fotografia Museo Nazionale di San Marco Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze La Specola National Archaeological Museum Orsanmichele Ospedale degli Innocenti Palazzo dell'Arte dei Beccai Palazzo Davanzati Palazzo Della Stufa Palazzo Gondi Palazzo Medici Riccardi Magi Chapel Palazzo Pitti Museo delle Porcellane Palazzo Spini Feroni Palazzo Strozzi Palazzo Vecchio Studiolo of Francesco I Stibbert Museum Uffizi Vasari Corridor
Religious sites	Basilicas Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore S Croce Baroncelli Chapel Pazzi Chapel S Lorenzo Medici Chapels S Maria Novella Tornabuoni Chapel SS Annunziata S Marco S Maria del Carmine Brancacci Chapel S Miniato al Monte S Spirito S Trinita Bartolini Salimbeni Chapel Sassetti Chapel Churches Badia Fiorentina Battistero di San Giovanni Certosa del Galluzzo Ognissanti Oratorio dei Vanchetoni Oratory of Gesù Pellegrino Oratory of S Thomas Aquinas Orsanmichele S Ambrogio Ss Apostoli S Felicita S Frediano in Cestello S Gaetano S Giovannino degli Scolopi S Giovannino dei Cavalieri S Jacopo sopr'Arno S Maria degli Angeli S Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi S Maria Maggiore S Martino del Vescovo S Pancrazio S Salvatore al Vescovo S Salvi Ss Simone e Giuda S Stefano al Ponte Other Great Synagogue
Towers (Torri)	degli Amidei degli Alberti dei Belfredelli dei Della Bella dei Gianfigliazzi dei Mannelli dei Pulci Giotto's Campanile
Library	Biblioteca Riccardiana (Palazzo Medici Riccardi) British Institute of Florence Gabinetto Vieusseux (Palazzo Strozzi) Kunsthistorisches Institut Laurentian Library National Central Library
Landmarks	Fountain of Neptune Giotto's Campanile Monument to Dante Ponte Vecchio
Theatres	Teatro Comunale Teatro della Pergola Teatro Verdi
Squares	Piazza del Duomo Piazza della Repubblica Piazza della Signoria Piazza Santa Croce Piazza San Lorenzo Piazzale Michelangelo
Streets	Via Cavour Via de' Tornabuoni
Forts	Belvedere Fortezza da Basso
Gardens and parks	Bardini Gardens Boboli Gardens Giardino dell'Iris Giardino delle Rose Orto Botanico di Firenze Parco delle Cascine
Villas	Medici villas di Castello La Petraia di Careggi Medicea L'Ambrogiana del Poggio Imperiale Gamberaia I Tatti Il Gioiello La Pietra Rusciano
Events and traditions	Calcio storico fiorentino Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Scoppio del carro
Districts of Florence Trams in Florence

• Tombs in Italy
• Monuments and memorials in Florence
• Renaissance architecture in Florence
• Chapels in Florence
• Funerary art
• Leon Battista Alberti buildings