The Carthusian monastery, dedicated to St. Martin of Tours, was finished and inaugurated in 1368 under Joan I of Naples. It was expanded in the first half of the 16th century. In 1623 Cosimo Fanzago directed a further expansion that produced essentially the current structure. The article calls it a masterpiece of Baroque architecture, enlarged during the Counter-Reformation, and gives no dimensions or materials.
French forces suppressed the monastery and expelled the monks in 1799. The state confiscated it for good in 1866, and it later became the National Museum of San Martino. The museum is spread over two levels and reached from the two cloisters.
It holds Spanish and Bourbon-era objects and a Nativity scene described as among the finest in the world. It had 136,935 visitors in 2016.
Comments