Museo Nazionale di San Martino

The Museo Nazionale di San Martino occupies the former Carthusian monastery, the Certosa di San Martino, on Largo San Martino at the top of the Vomero hill in Naples, Campania, beside Castel Sant'Elmo. The monastery was founded in 1325 under Charles of Anjou, duke of Calabria, and was largely rebuilt in the 16th and 17th centuries, when the architects Giovanni Antonio Dosio and later Cosimo Fanzago gave it its Baroque form. The monks decorated the church and cloisters with works by leading Neapolitan artists, including Jusepe de Ribera, Massimo Stanzione and Luca Giordano. The Carthusians left in the early 19th century, and the complex became a museum in 1866. Its collections illustrate the history, art and traditions of Naples and the former kingdom. The Large Cloister, with its marble statues and Fanzago's design, is the centrepiece of the architecture, and the church contains a series of Baroque paintings, inlaid marble and frescoes. The museum's sections include the Bourbon-era naval and military history rooms with royal barges, the topographical views of the city, and the historical prints and paintings. The Section of Presepi houses one of the finest collections of Neapolitan nativity scenes, including the large 18th-century Cuciniello crib with hundreds of figures. The curatorial approach combines the monastery's own religious spaces with thematic galleries on Neapolitan history, art and customs. Restoration has repaired the church and cloisters over the 20th century, and the terrace offers a wide panorama of the bay, the city and Vesuvius. The visit is typically combined with Castel Sant'Elmo next door.