Renaissance Score Engraved in Church's Exterior
Gesù Nuovo One of the most beautiful churches in Naples, Italy, conceals a musical score within its unusual stone-clad facade, a new study has concluded.
Famous for its triumphant Neapolitan Baroque interior and lavishly decorated with colored marble and frescoes, the fortress-like church of Gesù Nuovo has long puzzled historians for the mysterious symbols engraved on the diamond-shaped stones protruding from its facade.
"It was believed that these symbols represented the names of caves of a volcanic rock called piperno from which the stones were made," art historian Vincenzo De Pasquale told Naples daily "Il Mattino."
"Instead they are Aramaic letters [ an alphabet adapted from Phoenician]. We have seven letters, and each of them corresponds to a musical note," De Pasquale said....
Read entire article at Discovery News
Famous for its triumphant Neapolitan Baroque interior and lavishly decorated with colored marble and frescoes, the fortress-like church of Gesù Nuovo has long puzzled historians for the mysterious symbols engraved on the diamond-shaped stones protruding from its facade.
"It was believed that these symbols represented the names of caves of a volcanic rock called piperno from which the stones were made," art historian Vincenzo De Pasquale told Naples daily "Il Mattino."
"Instead they are Aramaic letters [ an alphabet adapted from Phoenician]. We have seven letters, and each of them corresponds to a musical note," De Pasquale said....