Official Information
Official site & compulsory online booking: https://www.museosansevero.it/
Official tickets: All tickets are sold via the official website’s booking system; advance purchase is strongly recommended.
Address: Via Francesco de Sanctis 19/21, 80134 Napoli, Italy
Map: View on Google Maps
Opening Hours
Open daily with extended hours most days (commonly from late morning to early evening); closed on some major holidays. Entry is by timed ticket only; check the official site for current time slots and closures.
The Cappella Sansevero is one of Italy’s most unforgettable small museums, famous worldwide for the ‘Veiled Christ’ sculpture. Hidden in a side street of Naples’ historic centre, it contains an extraordinary ensemble of 18th-century marble statues, frescoes and mysterious symbolism commissioned by Raimondo di Sangro, Prince of Sansevero, a polymath nobleman with a passion for science, esotericism and spectacle. At the centre of the chapel lies Giuseppe Sanmartino’s Cristo Velato, a life-size marble Christ shrouded in a translucent stone veil that seems impossibly delicate. Around it stand allegorical statues representing virtues and states of mind, such as Modesty and Disillusion, each carved with exquisite technical skill. The ceiling fresco ‘Glory of Paradise’ floods the space with colour, while cryptic symbols and inscriptions hint at the prince’s interests in alchemy and freemasonry. In the underground ‘cavea’, the so-called anatomical machines display human skeletons with a network of veins and arteries, part science experiment, part baroque theatre, and still sparking debate about how they were created. The overall effect is intense: visitors emerge from the chapel with a mix of aesthetic awe and curiosity about the man who commissioned it. Visits are tightly controlled to preserve the artworks and avoid overcrowding. Timed tickets must be booked in advance on the official website, and entry slots often sell out days ahead in high season. Photography is prohibited inside, which helps maintain the contemplative atmosphere but makes early research important if you want reference images later. Plan 45–60 minutes for a standard visit, more if you like to read every panel and audio-guide note. Because the chapel sits between Piazza San Domenico Maggiore and Via dei Tribunali, it’s easy to combine with a food walk or a broader tour of Naples’ centro storico and underground sites.