BUILDING HIGHER BUILDING CONSTRUCTION THE ROYAL PALACE OF VENARIA The Royal Palace of Venaria near Turin is a spectacular Baroque residence dating from the mid-17th century. The estate consists of an 80,000 square metres palace, 60 hectares of gardens, 3,000 hectares of fenced and protected parkland and the adjacent old town. Commissioned by Carlo Emanuele II Duke of Savoy as a residence of pleasure and hunting , the palace, gardens and surrounding park of La Mandria were designed by the architect Amedeo di Castellamonte. However, the royal residence, as we see it today, was almost entirely the work of Filippo Juvarra, who inherited the project in 1716 after Castellamonte s death. Juvarra designed some of the masterpieces of the complex such as the Gallery of Diana, the Church of St Hubert, the Great Stables and the Orangerie. 13 In 1820, the complex was transformed into military barracks and adapted for this use until 1950. Then, the complex was abandoned and fell in a state of mean degradation. After years of vandalism, in 1960, the complex of Royal Venaria was given to the care of the Authority for the Architectural Heritage of Piedmont, which began the first work of restoration in 1961. The global restoration of the complex began in 1995 and ended in 2007. The huge restoration project included the whole palace and the gardens. The Royal Palace of Venaria is considered an architectural and landscape masterpiece with some of the finest expressions of traditional Baroque. It was declared part of the World Heritage by UNESCO in 1997 and today the complex includes museums, cultural centres and exhibition spaces. Answer the following questions. Adapted from: https://www.lavenaria.it/en/ explore/reggia/history-brief Filippo Juvarra 1. What is the Royal Palace of Venaria? 2. What does the estate consist of? 3. Who was the first architect to design the complex? 4. What parts of the palace did Filippo Juvarra design? 5. What happened in 1820? 6. Who was the palace given care to in 1960? 7. What did the huge restoration project include? 8. When did the palace become a UNESCO site and what does it include today? ONLINE RESOURCES Filippo Juvarra BUILDING CONSTRUCTION 169