The Great Stables
 

JUVARRA'S STABLES: THE CITRONIERA AND THE GREAT STABLES

After 3 years of painstaking work, the restoration promoted and overseen by the Authority for the Architectural Heritage and the Landscape (Soprintendenza per i Beni Architettonici e Paesaggistici) and Regione Piemonte is coming to a close in the new, imposing exhibition spaces of the Citroniera or Orangery (where citrus fruits were stored in the winter) and the Great Stables (Scuderia Grande), two remarkable architectural works built between 1722 and 1727 by Filippo Juvarra. With an impressive overall surface (5,000 sq.m), length (more than 140 meters), height and width (almost 15 m each), this structure has become today the new cultural centre of the complex of Venaria Reale.

The Great Stables once sheltered up to 160 horses. Detailed drawings remain today of the lost wooden boxes designed by ancient woodcarving masters. This space is staggering, much greater than the stables in any other royal residence in Piedmont and similar to the facility built by Jean Auber in 1719 in Chantilly for the Great Condé. Its dimensions are telling of the importance attached to horses in the overall chorography of royal hunting, and of the ambitions of the patrons.

The actual cost to build the stables far exceeded the initial budget, and the contractors of the time complained bitterly to the commissioners, but spared no praise for the imposing complex: “They had us build an edifice of extraordinary height (...) more closely resembling a magnificent temple than a stable and an orangery”.

The Citroniera, originally used to store decorative citrus trees in the winter, provides an imposing backdrop to the Flower Garden and its main entrance opens onto one of the longest alleys of the estate, the Royal Alley. From the inside this structure looks like a vast greenhouse, with windows looking South to ensure maximum sunlight.

The Great Stables
 

The Great Stables