The Basilica of Gethsemane
Spk 1 00.14
From light to dimness...like Christ at the moment of his decision to take the path of the cross. The same feeling Barluzzi also experiences during the construction of the striking Basilica of Gethsemane.
Spk 3 00.26
WOMAN IT
Architect GIOVANNA FRANCO REPELLINI
GFR Architecture Studio - Milan
"For Gethsemane it was all very complicated. For technical reasons here there was a great complication, however, nobody was stopping Barluzzi, also for political reasons. There was even a demonstration, clashes. There was always someone opposing it."
Spk 1 00.15
Amidst the difficulties of finding funds, politics and clashes with other communities, the construction of Gethsemane goes forward, because Barluzzi brings an ideal to the heart. Giovanna highlights the great faith of the architect of the Holy Land.
Spk 3 00.38
WOMAN IT
Architect GIOVANNA FRANCO REPELLINI
GFR Architecture Studio - Milan
"Barluzzi thought he was doing the shrines because God wanted him to. So I always say, if one has God as a client, no one stops him! He was a man who really thought that his work was not just a work, but it was an ideal, and so that gave him great strength. Besides that he was quite young when he did Tabor and Gethsemane."
Spk 1 00.16
Unlike Tabor, at Gethsemane Barluzzi wanted to create a triumphant and at the same time suffering area. In Latin, DOLENS - because Jesus sweated blood but also TRIUMPHANS because then the resurrection takes place.
Spk 3 00.17
WOMAN IT
Architect GIOVANNA FRANCO REPELLINI
GFR Architecture Studio - Milan
"In fact, the church for me has this detail. The TRIUMPHANS facade that takes up the Roman triumphal arch because that has to represent the triumph of Christ."
Spk 1 00.28
According to Repellini, the 12 low domes are much more modest Byzantine style. Also of interest on the sides are large windows with purple stained glass windows that vary in 7 different shades.
In the center of the church is the stone where Jesus wept according to tradition. That idea of building by incorporating archaeological elements is very visible inside the Basilica.
Spk 3 00.29
WOMAN IT
Architect GIOVANNA FRANCO REPELLINI
GFR Architecture Studio - Milan
The church of nations was to be paid for by different nations, and in the twelve domes were to be twelve different frescoes. And there begins a tremendous tug-of-war.
Spk 1 00.16
"For Barluzzi," she explains, "the designs that came from the various countries were not in artistic harmony with his project. With the change of Custos at the time, and other obstacles Barluzzi believes everyone was against him."
Spk 3 00.14
WOMAN IT
Architect GIOVANNA FRANCO REPELLINI
GFR Architecture Studio - Milan
From Barluzzi you had 12 churches. That's 12 churches entrusted to him. He's not someone who could complain. You can tell they held him in very high regard, even though he was a little dramatic in the end.
The basilica comes to cost more than expected, because the ship that was supposed to carry the marble sunk, so he had to buy it twice. It was not his fault, however, somehow he gets blamed because the prices went up, as they always do.
Spk 1 00.19
Architect Repellini calls the interior of the Basilica full of poetry, of sacredness. The light and dark with which Barluzzi leads to the encounter with poetry: Those who enter the church are in search of the sacred, and in the pilgrim a deep feeling is created, a prayer of those who seek poetry.
Spk 3 00.28
WOMAN IT
Architect GIOVANNA FRANCO REPELLINI
GFR Architecture Studio - Milan
When I said at the beginning that he was imaginative because he was looking for poetry, he did not want to make a simple church, a "shrine" for pilgrims. No, he is looking for something that inspires, that inside can bring a feeling that can remind us of the Gospel episode.
Spk 1 00.19
Every day hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and tourists enter these shrines. Emotion and devotion in some, archaeological and artistic curiosity in others. Everyone has their own impact with the places where Jesus walked and lived the days of his life.
Spk 3 00.19
WOMAN IT
Architect GIOVANNA FRANCO REPELLINI
GFR Architecture Studio - Milan
"He wants the Holy Land to create in the pilgrim a feeling of devotion and love for Christ. This is what he seeks in all his work, and I must say he has succeeded in part. At least in my heart he has succeeded."
