The Chiesa del Santo Volto is one of the most recent churches of Torino: it is the work of the Lugano-based architect Mario Botta and was inaugurated in December 2006 in a former industrial area which has been modernised. The church presents itself from the outside like a body surrounded by seven surrounding towers, all 35 metres high and without any apparent architectural hierarchy. After each tower, the chapels shrink in size one by one on the outside. Both the towers and the chapels, thanks to their cut-off tops, act like skylights and therefore emit the light from outside indirectly into the hall. The choice of a heptagonal form has allowed for the inner hall to be orientated in the direction towards the city along the axis of the entrance to the altar. This choice of locating the entrance inside the church courtyard rather than facing the city centre has given rise to numerous disputes with the authorities. The inner hall, which is very well illuminated, has a capacity of around 1,000. The Santo Volto della Sindone is situated behind the altar, which is illuminated by the stunning effect provided by the natural light flooding in from above. The effect occurs thanks to a particular use of ‘Verona red’ bricks which are mounted in a way to show a wedge for creating an area of shade combined with a flat side to reflect the light.
