BOLOGNA – In 1224, on a rocky outcrop near where the Sanctuary of La Verna stands today, in the Arezzo area, St. Francis of Assisi received the stigmata, the five wounds of Jesus crucified. On the occasion ofeighth centenary of that event, the community of the Friars Minor of the Sanctuary and the Study Center for Sacred Architecture of the Lercaro Foundation of Bologna, in collaboration with the National Park of the Casentinesi Forests, Monte Falterona and Campigna, decided to build a new, small prayer chapel right in the Verna wood. To carry out the project, 30 young designers, architects and building engineers will be selected to propose their ideas in a competition announced for the occasion. From today, Thursday 1 December, and until 15 January 2023 there is the possibility to apply: participants must have to the maximum 40 years.
However, it will not be a classic competition of ideas. The 30 selected designers, in fact, before presenting their proposals will have to participate in a mandatory training coursewhich will begin in March and end in June 2023. The laboratory is divided into six study days in Bologna, with frontal lessons and visits to churches and chapels in the area, to which are added two strong moments in La Verna, three days each, at the beginning and at the end of the path, with the aim of inserting the architectural proposal within the spirituality of the place, with attention to the search for oneself and for the relationship with God and with nature. Projects must be submitted by 3 October 2023 and on the 18th of that same month the winner will be known. The works for the actual construction of the chapel are scheduled for February 2024, ending in June.
All projects, in addition to the winner, will be exhibited in one exhibition at the headquarters of the Lercaro Foundation in Bologna which will be inaugurated on 19 October 2023. To support this proposal financially as well, a consortium of entrepreneurial realities met who supported the project on their own initiative. Among them are Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, the Lebole-Banci family, Mauro and Laura Magni. Then there are the Baracchi Foundation and some entrepreneurial realities in the Arezzo area such as SEM.AR, Tremagi, Chimet and TreEmme. And then there’s Devotio, the expo of products and services for the religious world, held in Bologna every two years. The work will therefore be possible thanks to their contribution.
A WORK THAT COMBINES ARCHITECTURE AND SPIRITUALITY
“The friars of La Verna and the whole world are about to experience the eighth centenary of the Stigmata of St. Francis, who he received right on this mountain – says friar Francesco Brasa, Father Guardian of the Sanctuary – 2024 will be a year of many pastoral initiatives, cultural and artistic. But we also wanted to leave a sign of this anniversary in the physiognomy of this mountain. And so we thought of doing this course and this competition for architects, to create a new prayer space in the sacred wood of La Verna, thus bringing the world of architecture and art closer to the world of spirituality in a dialogue of mutual enrichment“. In eight centuries, the presence of the Friars Minor on Mount La Verna ‘has given life to a large sanctuary – continues Father Brasa – which has developed in harmony with the surrounding nature. For the eighth centenary, however, we wanted to return to the great open-air sanctuary, which is this sacred forest, bringing the visitors of the new millennium back to the fundamental experience lived by Saint Francis, the silence in this hermitage’.
Father Brasa continues: “We would therefore like this place, which we will design together with the young architects, to be an open space for the experience of this ocean of silence that envelops us, but which brings us a word. The word that changed the life of Francis of Assisi, which led him to be a saint and a fully successful man. For this reason, after eight centuries, Francis still speaks to everyone’s heart: religious, atheist, of other spiritualities. But everything is born here, in this inhabited silence, which we would like would also conform with this new architecture, to give back to today’s men this experience that touches, enriches and transforms”. This project “aims to ensure that a space for prayer is also a space of great architectural and spiritual richness – explains Claudia Manenti, head of the Study Center for Sacred Architecture of the Lercaro Foundation – we want architecture, spirituality and forest of Verna come together to make aexperience to people who are in search of silence, relationship with God and closeness to nature“.
The idea of the chapel in the woods comes from the experience of the ‘Vatican chapels‘, proposed by the Vatican for the 2018 Architecture Biennale, which saw the creation of several chapels in Venice designed by internationally renowned architects. “From that experience we asked ourselves how to make not only good architecture, but a suitable place for prayer and personal meditation’, explains Manenti.
In La Verna, over the centuries, small hermitages and small chapels have been built scattered in the woods. Hence the idea of creating a new structure, says Manenti, ‘in a beautiful place that invites meditation and spiritual experience, in the wake of what St. Francis experienced in that place”.
“IT WILL BE THE SYMBOL OF A REGROWTH FOREST”
The chapel, which will be dedicated to the Resurrection of Christ, must be maximum of 25 square meters, made with shapes and materials that can dialogue with the surrounding nature and with the nearby Sanctuary. Inside is to be expected a small altar, a lectern and seats. There are no images to insert, but a suitable space can be left to place a possible work in the future. The space around the chapel can be equipped with pergolas, seats and other structures which do not increase the surface area, but which are useful for preparing the traveler for an atmosphere of spirituality and recollection. In addition to the chapel, a small pillar will also have to be built, at the beginning of the path called ‘Cammino del Cardinale’, and a Via Crucis to mark the pace that leads to the place of prayer.
“The context of the sanctuary is very rich in history and works of art – underlines Manenti – therefore we wanted to add something, but without entering into disharmony with the existing one. For this reason, an area affected by a climatic turbulence that uprooted the trees was chosen a few years ago. Therefore now it is a forest in regrowth and this new chapel therefore wants to be an experience of spiritual rebirth, in a place where the forest is reclaiming the territory”.
The Study Center for Sacred Architecture of the Lercaro Foundation in Bologna was founded in 2008 and has been carrying out research, training and workshops for 15 years aimed at priests, architects and planners. The Study Center is interested in grasping the role and effectiveness of a liturgical and prayer space in today, with various initiatives proposed each year.
HOW TO ENTER THE CONTEST
Registration for the workshop-competition must take place through pre-registration by completing the call form available on the website www.fondazionelercaro.it/centrostudi and sending the completed form and a book of projects (also carried out in the course of study) to the email [email protected]. The results of the evaluation of the projects by the competition commission will be made public on 18 October 2023 on the website of the Study Center for Sacred Architecture at www.fondazionelercaro.it/centro-studi and communicated via email to all registered At the contest. The secretariat of the Study Center for Sacred Architecture answers for information on 3312929003.
The initiative is promoted by the Community of the Friars Minor of the La Verna Franciscan Sanctuary and the Study Center for Sacred Architecture – Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro Foundation, in collaboration with the Parco delle Foreste Casentinesi, Monte Falterona and Campigna under the patronage of the Dicastery of Culture and Education, National Office for Ecclesiastical Cultural Heritage and Religious Buildings of the Italian Episcopal Conference, Diocese of Arezzo-Cortona-Sansepolcro, Diocese of Bologna, Municipality of Chiusi della Verna, Order of Architects of Bologna, Giovanni Michelucci Foundation, San Fedele Cultural Foundation. Media partner: DIRE Agency.
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A new chapel will be built in the Casentinesi Forests for the wood of San Francesco