Subjects
Subjects
The door leads into Piazza Arsenale, open on four sides: S towards the historic district of Castello; N towards the former Arsenale, now the Citadel of Museums; O towards Viale Buonstrada; and E towards the symmetric door of “S'Avanzada”, which allows the descent to the historic district of Villanova.
The door project, entrusted to Count Carlo Pilo Boyl, was approved by Carlo Felice in 1824, and in 1825 the impresario Efisio Fanari completed it, on the site where the seventeenth-century Porta del Soccolo once stood, to connect the Castello district with area O of the ancient royal arsenal.
The door takes its name from the consort of King Carlo Felice of Savoy, Maria Cristina of Bourbon. It is characterized by an arched shape broken in three directions, with wedge-shaped columns, bordered by ribbed pilasters concluded by Doric capitals that support a raised frame. On this rests a lunette that opens, accompanied by smooth pilasters surmounted by Doric capitals, which support the lintel in a strong projection. The whole recalls a classicism inspired by the Renaissance. In fact, its creator referred to the forms of the Porta Angelica in Rome.
The lunette sculpted by Domenico Franco on the façade facing Viale Buonstrada reads the inscription in Latin with the dedication: “Carolus Felix Rex viam planiorem brevioremque a Castro Caralis ad arcis regiam aperuit Maria Cristina Regina - Porte egressus in apertam viam nomen suum imposuit MDCCCXXV. Rotary January reigns in Praeside.”
Bibliography:
S. Naitza, Architecture from the late 17th century to purist classicism. Nuoro, Ilisso, 1992, sheet 67.
Content type:
Fortified architecture
Province: Cagliari
Common: Cagliari
Macro Territorial Area: South Sardinia
POSTAL CODE: 09123
Address: piazza Arsenale, s.n.c.
Update
Where is it
Images
Texts
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Whatsapp
Print
E-mail
Comments