The Anatomical Machines of Cappella Sansevero

These "anatomical machines" are only one of the many strange items in this Italian crypt

Once the private place of worship for Sansevero family, and then transformed into their burial chapel, this church museum holds some very strange and astounding object.

It was under the eccentric hand of Raimondo di Sangro, the Prince of Sansevero, that the Cappella Sansevero began to form the odd collection it has today. Head of the Neapolitan masonic lodge, Raimondo di Sangro was an ardent disciple of alchemy, mechanics and the sciences, as well as a mystic, polyglot, and inventor.

The prince spoke numerous languages including Arabic and Hebrew, and invented among others a hydraulic device, an "eternal flame" using chemical compounds of his own invention, and a carriage with wooden horses which could travel on both land and water. Local rumors flew about the prince saying that he could create blood out of nothing, that he was a Rosicrucian, and that he had people killed for his experiments. (It only added to his dark reputation that a grizzly murder, with which the Prince had nothing to do, took place at his family home.)

In addition to all this the Prince also collected an interesting set of artistic and scientific objects. Among these are two "anatomical machines" a man and a pregnant woman. (There was once a anatomical fetus displayed as well, before it was stolen from the museum.) Built on real skeletons the fleshless bodies represent the veins, arteries and musculature in amazing detail. Long thought to be made by plastination, they were recently discovered to be made of beeswax, iron wire, and silk.

The anatomical "Adam and Eve," made by anatomist Giuseppe Salerno, were meant to elegantly and accurately illustrate the skeletal structure, viscera, arterial systems but they also furthered the "black legend" around the prince, and many believed that the prince had his servants killed to use their bodies in the construction of the models.

Other interesting objects in the Crypt include the sculptures "Veiled Truth" and a bizarre looking sculpture made from a marble, called the Veiled Christ. Distinctly resembling Han Solo encased in Carbonite, the Veiled Christ inspired numerous of its own "Black legends" including that the Prince had invented a process of process of “marblisation” of real bodies.

Between the crypt covered in masonic symbols, the anatomical machines, and the distinctly creepy "veiled" sculptures it is not difficult to understand why the Prince was surrounded a "black legend." Then again, this may have been just how the mysterious alchemist Prince wanted it.