BAROQUE art was one of the great MEANS of reform for Christianity, lasting more than due centuries. The extraordinary development connected to the new forms of DEVOTION brought an impressive production of objects of worship. This involves the EPHIMERAL APPARATUSES, known today as “applied arts”. 

From the cathedral to the most humble chapel, every place of worship is equipped with remarkable artisan objects, centuries of history reproduced in great number yet never simply mass-produced… Innumerous alter chandeliers, monstrances, decorative crowns, dozens of meters of exquisite fabrics, statues and other objects expressly created in relation to places or moments of worship, which are seen even only for a few days during the year on the occasions of festivities, processions, Forty Hours’ Devotion, funerals… They are never merely aesthetical objects, but rather functional objects which suffer greatly in significance when removed from their context... The expert hands of generations of sacristans and thousands of anonymous people have handled them for centuries, uniting them with precious embroidery, candles, flowers and fragrant incense, creating a breathtaking scenery for only a few hours, heavenly glances and emotions intended to enrapture all five senses in the encounter with God. The same hands preserved them for centuries, placing them in depositories and warehouses, curing the “wounds”, avoiding any dispersion… Then a poorly interpreted renewal and pauperism of the Church, the liturgy reformed by the Second Vatican Council, the decrease and crisis of religious and hundred-year-old institutions, the exuberance of objects, the reduction of “specialized” personnel, the economic boom and thousands of other causes jeopardized an uncontrollable dispersion of this noteworthy heritage accumulated over the centuries. Finally a renewed sensibility of the Christian communities, the drafting of computer inventories and the safeguarding of the assets demanded by the governing authorities have brought a halt to such regrettable situations today...

The entire liturgy is by nature oriented to involve the human being completely in the encounter with the divine, beginning with the five senses: taste, touch, sight, hearing and smell are fully stimulated in every celebration. In this sense, the processions become an a collection of samples of excellent content, a true triumph of lights, sounds, tastes and colors: bells are rung, musical instruments are played, apparatuses of chandeliers, vestments, flowers, paintings and displayed, precious incense is burned, flowers are strewn, houses and streets are decorated with colored fabrics... The saints participate, exhibited through their rich images, worshippers of every age and social status, laden with insignias, gifts, typical costumes and garments and even the dead are present (hanging the portraits of the various benefactors on the processional routes). Numerous sacred objects are created specifically for such moments (musical organs, banners, insignias, statues and machines to transport them, relics) while the streets and squares flourish for the duration of a few hours of out-and-out  monuments of grandiose majesty (triumphal arches, altars and chapels, wall hangings for windows and balconies). Although the duration of the events is very limited in time (called “ephemeral” apparatuses, destined to being used within the space of a few days during the year), the quality of the “procession” objects is anything but poor: silver, gold, inlaid and decorated wood, paintings, silk, brocades, linens and yarns of extremely high quality are entrusted to the skills of talented artisans and artists, while their “choreographic” arrangement is often planned by great masters (in Rome the processional routes outside and inside the churches are even entrusted to Bernini and Borromini). The inside of the same churches varies dynamically based on the various celebrations: rugs, canopies, wall hangings of various shapes and colors, chandeliers and curtains require long hours of work to hang them and upholster meters and meters of large frames, pilasters and altars of various colors: red, white, silver... In the funeral processions, however, the churches covered in black drapes and the “catafalques” are mounted, rich and complex ephemeral monuments (even several meters high) where a gleaming macabre symbolism often enhances the Faith in the Resurrection and the Christian piety for the dead. The Baroque creativity then explodes, becoming machines suitable for raising statues and images (with complex pulley and winch mechanisms) able to lower the canopies, chandeliers and drapes. In anticipation of the next event, all the apparatuses are put away with great care, marked with plates and indications to relocated their place, maintained regularly and efficiently by generations of sacristans and personnel who, for various reasons and very often voluntarily have handed down an out-and-out “world” of very rich objects to be rediscovered.