A glass and steel box set inside the nave of the former church of San Marco at Vercelli, so that the medieval vaults can be seen through its crystal roof.
At a glance
- Type
- Exhibition centre in a deconsecrated church
- Where
- Piazza San Marco, Vercelli, Piedmont, Italy
- Coordinates
- 45.3269444° N, 8.4192002° E
- Structure
- Glass and steel, inside the central nave
Overview
L’Arca stands in the central nave of the former church of San Marco at Vercelli, in Piedmont: a wholly modern structure of glass and steel, a parallelepiped that has become one of the emblems of the town and a statement of the will to hold old and new together.
The crystal vaults of the structure let the visitor look up at the great medieval vaults of San Marco; the former church, in its turn, is giving back to the town the fifteenth-century frescoes uncovered by the young restorers of the Centro Conservazione e Restauro of Venaria Reale.
History
The archive entry records no date for the conversion, and none has been added here.
The building is used for events and exhibitions. Among the most important the archive entry lists the shows held with the Guggenheim foundation, Il Rinascimento di Gaudenzio Ferrari, and the exhibition devoted to the Magna Carta and to the eight hundred years of the abbey of Sant’Andrea.
What you see
The contrast is the point: a transparent modern volume standing inside a Gothic nave, with the restored frescoes on the walls around it.
Practical information
- Address: Piazza San Marco 1, 13100 Vercelli, Piedmont.
- Opening depends on the exhibition programme.
Sources
- Cultural Heritage Online historical archive — original Italian entry (beniculturalionline.it), transposed and corrected 2026.
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