Vatican Chapel in Venice, Souto de Moura

Vatican Chapel in Venice, Souto de Moura

Vatican Chapel in Venice, Souto de Moura

Vatican Chapel

Eduardo Souto de Moura

Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, Italia

45°25′35″N 12°20′39″E

2018

For its first participation in the Venice Biennale, in 2018, the Vatican offered a clerical oasis as a pavilion. Divided into ten chapels, each one designed by a renowned architect. Inspired by the Woodland Chapel by Gunnar Asplund, built in Stockholm in 1920, they aim to reflect what a chapel means in the 21

st

century.

The chapel designed by Eduardo Souto de Moura is a simple structure designed in large Vincenza stones, awakening the senses and inviting to spirituality.

“…No, it is not a chapel, not a sanctuary and in any case not a tomb. It is simply a place enclosed by four stone walls, while another stone at the center might be the altar. The entrance is screened by a tree we want to conserve. The walls, inside, have a ledge on which we can sit and wait… waiting with our feet on the ground, head in hands. “Things themselves know when they ought to happen”.

David Mourão-Ferreira

Text from the “Vatican

Chapels” catalogue, edited by Electaarchitettura

Photo credits: Alessandro Chemello, Luis Ferreira Alves,

Laurian Ghinitoiu

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