Thursday, 24 September 2009 
The celebration of the Nemi Crucifix
Nemi (Roma), morning of September 2009
During the weekend of September 12 - 13 I was in Nemi, one of the "Castelli Romani" towns on the outskirts of Rome, to relax for a couple of days. Sunday the 13th, however, I had the chance to document a religious ceremony: the removal of the Crucifix from the niche of the apse of the church that houses it, the procession that unfolded on the streets of the village, and its temporary colocation into the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Pozzo.
The event was organized on the occasion of the 340th anniversary of the completion of the wooden sculpture by the friar Vincenzo da Bassiano in 1669.
The statue, which, as mentioned above, resides in the Church of the Crucifix, was moved until September 27th to the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Pozzo. The event is repeated only every few years, for the most significant anniversaries. The subject of all these photos is the crucifix: from the moment when it has been laid out and made available to the faithful for adoration, until its arrival at its new and temporary accommodation.
It is said that the sculptor was seized with despair, unable to finish the representation of the face of the artwork as desired. According to legend, however, "One day he found its face made perfectly by an invisible hand" (Father Casimiro Rome, 1744). There is no documentary evidence to back up this statement, fueled perhaps by the great suffering that the expressive and dramatic face communicates to its observers, by the hand of a simple friar who devoted himself to sculpture occasionally.
On the back of the statue there is a cavity used as a reliquary. I was asked to put this photo essay into the crucifix.
The event was organized on the occasion of the 340th anniversary of the completion of the wooden sculpture by the friar Vincenzo da Bassiano in 1669.
The statue, which, as mentioned above, resides in the Church of the Crucifix, was moved until September 27th to the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Pozzo. The event is repeated only every few years, for the most significant anniversaries. The subject of all these photos is the crucifix: from the moment when it has been laid out and made available to the faithful for adoration, until its arrival at its new and temporary accommodation.
It is said that the sculptor was seized with despair, unable to finish the representation of the face of the artwork as desired. According to legend, however, "One day he found its face made perfectly by an invisible hand" (Father Casimiro Rome, 1744). There is no documentary evidence to back up this statement, fueled perhaps by the great suffering that the expressive and dramatic face communicates to its observers, by the hand of a simple friar who devoted himself to sculpture occasionally.
On the back of the statue there is a cavity used as a reliquary. I was asked to put this photo essay into the crucifix.
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