Naples, floor behind altar collapses in 16th-century church of the Incurables

Serious episode strikes the Neapolitan historical-artistic heritage: the 16th-century church of Santa Maria del Popolo degli Incurabili, attached to the ancient Incurabili hospital complex, has in fact suffered the collapse of a vault supporting the floor behind the high altar. The collapse occurred at dawn on Sunday, March 24, when the church was fortunately deserted. The collapse also affected the tomb of Maria d’Ayerba (co-founder of the hospital along with Maria Longo) and part of the wooden choir: both the tomb and the portion of the wooden choir collapsed (only the marble slab of the tomb remained in place). Problems also occurred with the garage, which is located exactly under the church, and into which the rubble therefore fell.

The Incurabili complex is now part of the Naples Museum of Sanitary Arts, and the critical state of preservation of the church was known. The complex, engineer Ciro Verdoliva explained to Ansa, “is affected by an evolving crack framework that certainly conveys a suffering of the foundations highlighting a high structural criticality. It is no coincidence that the day after I took office, I visited the sites and activated the company’s technical department for the commissioning of in-depth monitoring, including with the help of geo radar, to determine the state of the subsoil and so that professionals with proven experience would be commissioned for the support necessary to determine the state of the structures from a static point of view.” Technicians are already working to monitor the situation and understand the causes of the collapse.

Pictured is the interior of the Church of the Incurables.

Naples, floor behind altar collapses in 16th-century church of the Incurables

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