Museum of Sacred Art and Parish Complex of San Martino Vescovo

Site overview

Ecco la traduzione integrale e fedele del testo, mantenendo il rigore documentaristico e la precisione dei riferimenti storici e artistici:

BODY (Versione Integrale):

The Museo Diffuso di arte sacra (Open-Air Museum of Sacred Art) is organized into 3 seats across the three Municipalities of the Viù Valley (Usseglio, Lemie, and Viù). The second seat, in Viù, narrates local history starting from the sacred art assets of the Viù territory within the church of San Martino.

The first mention of the parish dates back to 1011, in a deed in which the Bishop of Turin, Landolfo, confirmed the donation of the Church of San Martino and all its lands (fondi) to the Monastery of San Solutore. Over the centuries, the church has undergone many transformations: starting from 1781, the works that brought the church to its current dimensions were carried out. During that period, the square in front and the scalone (grand staircase) were also built. The interior was renovated between the 1940s and 1950s.

The church, with three aisles, is the largest in the Lanzo Valleys and, with its frescoes and paintings, its organ, the Baroque furnishings, and the peculiarity of some of its side altars, it is a true scrigno d’arte (treasure chest of art).

Among the works on display here is the famous 17th-century Ostensione della Sindone (Exhibition of the Shroud) with the depictions of Dukes Emmanuel Philibert and Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy, originating from the chapel of the Venera hamlet, as well as the Madonna and Child between Saints Sylvester and Longinus; the altarpiece of the Madonna and Child, Saint Andrew the Apostle, and Saint John the Baptist from the chapel of Sant’Andrea Apostolo in the Molar Marchis hamlet; some paintings from the chapel of the Holy Spirit in the Cramoletti Inferiore hamlet; the 18th-century Madonna and Child, Saint Dominic, and Saint Anthony Abbot, and the putto of the crucifix from the parish church of Col San Giovanni.

One room is dedicated to ancient liturgical objects: precious vestments, reliquaries, cartegoria (altar cards), 18th-century missals, and altar apparatus, including the 17th-century chalice featuring the effigy of Saint Martin.