Cappella Sansevero

Lonely Planet review

For sheer impact, the Cristo Velato (Veiled Christ) sculpture takes some beating. Giuseppe Sanmartino's incredible depiction of Jesus lying covered by a thin sheet is so realistic that it's tempting to try to lift the veil and look at Christ underneath. Similarly lifelike, Francesco Queirolo's Disinganno (Disillusion) shows a man trying to untangle himself from a net, while Pudicizia (Modesty) by Antonio Corradini is a salacious veiled nude.

Originally built around the end of the 16th century to house the tombs of the de Sangro family, this Masonic-inspired temple was given its current baroque fit-out by the bizarre Prince Raimondo de Sangro. Between 1749 and 1766 he commissioned the top artists of the day to decorate the interior, while he quietly got on with the task of embalming his dead servants. Determined to crack the art of human preservation, Raimondo was regarded with considerable fear by the local population. You can judge for yourself whether they were right by going down the stairs and checking out the two meticulously preserved human arterial systems.