The cappella dei Mercanti, Negozianti e Banchieri ('chapel of merchants, shopkeepers, and bankers') is a Catholic chapel in the historic city center of Turin.
The chapel, whose construction was authorized during the 16th century, was built at the end of the 1600s and most of the artwork it contains originated in the 1600 and 1700s, in the baroque style.
The walls of the chapel present numerous seventeenth-century paintings, all inspired by the theme of the Biblical Magi. The altar dates back to 1797 and is the work of Michele Emanuele Buscaglione. On either side there are two reliquaries, while on the wall there are three paintings by the Jesuit painter Andrea Pozzo. The baroque frescoed ceiling by Legnanino depicts Heaven, prophets, sibyls and biblical episodes and dates to 1694-1695. The organ on the wall opposite the altar dates back to the eighteenth century.
The sacristy contains several sacred objects, but above all the famous Perpetual Calendar by Giovanni Plana, one of the oldest calculator machines (it is equipped with rotating drums and a transmission system that allows the correct combination of the various information contained in the system) which allows precise calendrical calculation over a period of 4000 years starting from year zero (including the calculation of lunations, days of the week and Christian holidays).
References:The Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg is situated in a strategic area on a rocky spur overlooking the Upper Rhine Plain, it was used by successive powers from the Middle Ages until the Thirty Years' War when it was abandoned. From 1900 to 1908 it was rebuilt at the behest of the German kaiser Wilhelm II. Today it is a major tourist site, attracting more than 500,000 visitors a year.
The first records of a castle built by the Hohenstaufens date back to 1147. The fortress changed its name to Koenigsburg (royal castle) around 1157. The castle was handed over to the Tiersteins by the Habsburgs following its destruction in 1462. They rebuilt and enlarged it, installing a defensive system designed to withstand artillery fire.
The fortification work accomplished over the 15th century did not suffice to keep the Swedish artillery at bay during the Thirty Years War, and the defences were overrun.