Chapel of the Merchants

Cappella dei Mercanti, Negozianti e Banchieri

A jewel of baroque architecture and sacred art built from 1680 by businessmen anxious to sanctify their dealings - they were, let's stress, "The Pious Congregation of Bankers, Shopkeepers and Merchants of Turin." One theme of the decor is the Magi, bearing the trade valuables without which the Christian church couldn't exist. The chapel was created within Chiesa dei Santi Martiri, a 16th-century Jesuit church. Its best-known artefact is the "calendario perpetuo" made by Giovanni Amedeo Plana in 1831. This predicts lunar phases, tides, days of the week and Christian holy days for 4000 years from Year Zero (1 BC in the Gregorian calendar); thereafter it's askew as it misses an extra leap-day tweak. It ranks among the world's earliest computers, though pipped by Babbage's "difference engine" of 1822.

Address

Via Giuseppe Garibaldi 25

Hours

Sept-June Sat 15:00-18:00, Sun 10:00-12:00

Website

cappelladeibanchieriemercanti.blogspot.it (opens in a new tab)