THE PARADISE OF CASERTA
“Fragments of Paradise”, a mega themed exhibition opening in the UNESCO listed Royal Palace of Caserta, near Naples, on the 1st July 2022, includes the “Green Museum” section encompassing the vast royal park that extends for 123 hectares of woodland, aqueducts and monumental fountains.
The concept of preserving historic gardens as national treasures, distinct from the magnificent palaces and manor houses they are normally connected to, is relatively new, affirm exhibition organizers.
In this exhibition, the Royal Park of Caserta assumes equal status to the celebrated palace, which rivals and in many aspects surpasses Versailles, as was the intention of Carlo Borbone, King of Naples, and his wife Maria Amalia, who commissioned architect Luigi Vanvitelli to build the aqueduct Carolino to feed the magnificent sequence of pools and fountains. Later, Maria Carolina, wife of Ferdinand IV and sister of Marie Antoinette, ordered the English Garden area, laid out with new botanical discoveries and ancient Roman sculptures from the Pompeii excavations, creating a veritable paradise.
Another section of the exhibition is set out in the Queen's Apartments overlooking the park with some 200 works of art, paintings, sculptures and rare books on botany and herbs recounting the history and development of gardens throughout the centuries.
The exhibition runs until the 16th October 2022.
M. STENHOUSE
Info: Tel. +39.0823.1491213 https://reggiadicaserta.cultura.gov.it