The Grand Gallery of the Royal Palace of Caserta

The Grand Gallery of the Royal Palace of Caserta, the largest room in the Palace, is now part of the 3000 square meters of exhibition space

AUTH. Salvatore Scarfone

History of the Grand Gallery of the Royal Palace of Caserta

The original project by Luigi Vanvitelli

The Grand Gallery of the Royal Palace of Caserta is approximately 50 meters long and 15 meters wide. According to the design, it was intended to be not only the largest room in the Palace, but also the connecting room between the King’s Quarter and the Queen’s Quarter. However, due to various events at the Palace, it was never realized. According to Vanvitelli’s plans, it was intended to have Baroque-style decoration, but no actual plans for it survive.

Following cuts in funding for the completion of the Royal Palace, following the Napoleonic period and the Bourbon restoration, this room, the largest in the entire palace, remained incomplete and was initially used as the Racquet Room, due to its specific use for this game, and later as the Rustic Room.

Imaginary reconstruction of a part of the short wall of the Gallery

This is how Luigi Vanvitelli described it: “Grand Gallery of correspondence to the Queen’s apartment, which in every way resembles that of the King, as is marked in the letters.”

Taken from the original projects of the Declaration of Drawings

The decoration of the short side of the room as it appears in Vanvitelli’s designs. Note the Baroque decoration.

The Gallery in the original projects of the Declaration of Drawings

The era of the Air Force School

On October 1, 1948, the Italian Air Force Specialist School was reestablished at the Royal Palace of Caserta. However, starting in 2016, the Air Force began a gradual relocation to other facilities, with the aim of completely freeing up the museum spaces.In 1937, the Superintendency granted the Air Force permission to construct new reinforced concrete floors in the double-height spaces of the former Queen’s apartment, in the Grand Gallery and in the main hall on the north side, which were similar in size. This led to a complete modification of the proportions and volume of the rooms, detaching the vaulted ceiling from the side walls. The Grand Gallery was divided into several sections to create a cinema for the academy’s students.The Ministry of Culture institute, in implementation of the commissioner’s plan and at the conclusion of the interventions carried out with the Pon Cultura e Sviluppo 2014-2020 funds thanks to the collaboration of Service V of the General Secretariat of the MiC, has recovered the spaces of the Grand Gallery returned by the Air Force Specialists School and destined for the important function of space for temporary exhibitions.

The Grand Gallery was divided and even a cinema was created inside for Air Force students.

The new Grand Gallery

On March 1, 2024, a new wing of the Royal Palace of Caserta was inaugurated, expanding the Museum by 3,000 square meters. The Ministry of Culture’s institute, implementing the commissioner’s plan and thanks to funding from the 2014-2020 Pon Cultura e Sviluppo (Culture and Development Program), has restored the spaces of the Grand Gallery, now dedicated to temporary exhibitions. This restoration of the visuals desired by the Master of the Royal Palace is presented to the public during the Vanvitelli Celebrations. The Royal Palace is enhancing its cultural offerings and expanding its visitor experience: the west wing will become a museum area with educational activities, a conference room, and a bookshop on the ground floor, while the second floor will house spaces for temporary exhibitions.