The Pavilion of the Holy See in the Venice Architecture Biennale was inaugurated on Friday May 25th, in the late afternoon of a splendid sunny day.
Immersed in the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, the “Vatican Chapels” installation consists of ten chapels designed by ten different architects, of heterogeneous provenience and faith, that give birth to a sort of simultaneously religious and secular pilgrimage, rediscovering the relationship between art and faith, nature and silence.
The construction of the Vatican Chapels entailed the use of various recyclable and removable materials: ceramics, lightweight and reinforced concrete, steel, wood, glass, titanium zinc. The architects (Andrew Berman, Francesco Cellini, Javier Corvalàn Espínola, Ricardo Flores & Eva Prats, Norman Foster, Terunobu Fujimori, Sean Godsell, Carla Juaçaba, Smiljan Radic Clarke, Eduardo Souto de Moura) received a series of indications regarding the dimensions and layout, along with the task of studying the insertion of their construction within the naturalistic context of the wood facing the lagoon.
Zintek had the honor of collaborating in the construction of the chapel designed by Australian architect Sean Godsell, supplying the rolled zintek® titanium zinc product that clads both the entire structure and its internal altar.
The sole administrator of the company, Gianni Schiavon, attended the presentation ceremony, in the presence of Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture and Commissioner of the Pavilion, and of the Patriarch of Venice Francesco Moraglia.
During the meeting, Zintek was awarded the official medal of the pontificate of His Holiness Pope Francis.
The inauguration of the Pavilion was also attended by the President and the Chief Executive Officer of the Cordifin Group, which Zintek is part of, who met with the many prestigious guests gathering for the occasion.
