Description of the attraction
The Monastery Complex of Saint Augustine is located 200 meters east of the Reggia di Caserta Royal Palace in Caserta, in Piazza Largo San Sebastiano. Previously, this building belonged to a monastery, and today a museum is open in it.
For the first time, the Augustinian order appeared in the Kingdom of Naples in the 13th century - it immediately received the support of King Charles II of Anjou, who even granted the monks the privilege of trading in grain. In 1441, the first building of the Augustinian monastery was built in Caserta, to which additional rooms for monks and a courtyard with a colonnade were later added. However, already in 1652, by order of the Pope, the monastery of Sant'Agostino was closed, and the monks were dispersed. The then ruler of Caserta, Count Aquaviva, handed over the building of the religious complex to the Dominican Order, who founded a music school at the monastery for girls from poor families. In the 18th century, with the support of King Charles III, Sant'Agostino experienced a flourishing period: a new one was erected on the site of an old 15th century church, on the project of which the court architect Luigi Vanvitelli probably worked, and in 1767 it was expanded and anew the monastery building itself is decorated. The current neoclassical façade of the church was completed in the mid-19th century. Inside it has a single nave with a cylindrical vault. On the side walls are niches with altars and canvases from the 18th century by the artists of the Neapolitan school. On the left wall is a fragment of a 16th century fresco depicting Mary Magdalene. The main altar of the temple was made in the 19th century. I must say that today the church is dedicated to Saint Sebastian, the patron saint of Caserta. And in the building of the monastery, after the restoration, a cultural center was opened, consisting of the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Holidays and Traditions, a library and drawing classes.
