The plant and its symbolic meaning

The fusion of the classical heritage with that of the Christian world

In the Sacred Chapel of the Saviour, Diego de Siloé makes a evocation of the architecture of antiquityHe was able to learn from both his classical references and the assimilation of the modern models of the Italian Renaissance, which he knew at first hand from his stay in Italy. In this way, he participated in the humanist ambition to merge the classical heritage with that of the Christian worldThis aspiration is also present in the iconographic programme of this chapel, and could be the concept that best defines this temple.

Its floor plan is an exemplary solution to the articulation of two different spaces in use and function: a single-nave longitudinal body, a place of prayer for the faithful, modelled on the Roman basilicaand a roundabout at its head, a funerary symbol whose archetype is the Pantheon in Rome. Siloé, as in the imperial mausoleum at Granada, thus makes a ideal evocation of the Holy Sepulchre in JerusalemThe two that used to make up this Constantinian temple in isolation, the basilica and the funerary chapel, were integrated into a single space. This floor plan, in the words of Professor Chueca Goitia, "The resulting spaces produce an effect of interior grandeur and at the same time of surprise scenography, as the eye is drawn in by the attraction of the large rotunda, which widens after the strangulation of the triumphal arch with the effect of a theatre.".

The reference: Leon Batttista Alberti

This general plan has traditionally been considered either as a reduction of the model of Granada Cathedral or as a reiteration of that of the Neapolitan Caracciolo Chapel on which Diego de Siloé was working around 1517. However, the harmonious and perfect concatenation of geometric forms in this plan, which purifies the funerary symbolism of that of Granada, evokes much more immediately some foreign precedents that the architect from Burgos may have known in Italy. The clearest reference point is the model of the roundabout that Leon Battista Alberti commissioned by the Gonzaga family, the lords of Mantua, to design the Church of the Santissima Anunziata, Florence in which, with the limitations imposed by the pre-existing constructions, he took up the general outline of his ill-fated project of funeral chapel for Sigismund Malatestawhose ground plan has striking similarities with that of this chapel.