Scrovegni Chapel
Fourteenth-century chapel holding Giotto's complete fresco cycle, visited in timed groups.
The Scrovegni Chapel was built beside the Roman arena of Padua by the banker Enrico Scrovegni and consecrated on 25 March 1305. The plain brick building is a single barrel-vaulted hall, deliberately simple so that its interior surfaces could carry an unbroken painted scheme. Giotto di Bondone frescoed the whole space between about 1303 and 1305, arranging scenes from the lives of Joachim, Anna, the Virgin and Christ in three registers, with a Last Judgement across the west wall and a starry blue vault above.
The cycle is regarded as a turning point in European painting for its modelled figures, measured architectural settings and restrained emotion. Conservation concerns led to a long restoration completed in 2002 and to a climate-controlled entry system: visitors wait in a sealed acclimatisation chamber before a timed slot of fifteen or twenty minutes inside. The chapel is run by the Musei Civici di Padova and was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2021 as part of Padua's fourteenth-century fresco cycles.
Highlights
- Giotto's complete fresco cycle of around 1303-1305
- Blue starry vault over the single barrel-vaulted hall
- Last Judgement covering the entire west wall
- Acclimatisation chamber controlling humidity before each timed visit
