Date

Circa 1910

The chapel also functions as the cathedral treasury (Tesoro) and is elaborately decorated with Baroque art. There are no less than seven altars, four of which have paintings by Domenichino. A tabernacle behind the main altar enshrines a silver reliquary bust (1305) containing the head of St. Januarius. A large gilt-bronze grille separates the chapel from the nave. The cathedral is dedicated to San Gennaro (St. Januarius), Bishop of Naples, a martyr saint of both the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Churches (died ca. 305) and the patron saint of Naples. It was built on the foundations of two pre-Christian basilicas, and completed in the early 14th century under Robert of Anjou. With the transfer of the remains of San Gennaro to the cathedral in 1497, a new chapel to house the relics was commissioned. The Succorpo (crypt) was completed in 1506 after a design by Tommaso Malvito of Como. The chapel, its attendant sculpture and its wall decoration mark a high-point of Renaissance style in Naples. The west facade was renovated in a Neo-Gothic style in 1877-1905 by Enrico Alvino; only the portal survives from the medieval facade.