Bellpuig Mausoleum: tomb of Ramon Folc de Cardona-Anglesola (1467-1522). Located in the Sant Nicolau de Bellpuig church in the small town of Bellpuig, Ponent, Catalonia.
Ramon Folc III was a Catalan noble born in Bellpuig, who served as an admiral and later as a viceroy of Sicily and viceroy of Naples. He was part of the Cambrai League of allies against the Kingdom of Venice, commanded the Potifician army when it sieged Bologna after this city had rebelled against the Pope, restored the Medici to Florence, and expelled France from Northern Italy, among other events. When he was viceroy of Naples, he managed to convince the king Ferdinand the Catholic not to introduce the Inquisition to the Kingdom of Naples.
Ramon Folc III died when he was viceroy of Naples. His tomb was sculpted by one of the most important Neapolitan artists of the time: Giovanni Merliano da Nola. The artist sculpted this marble monument based on a triumph arch and allegories of Ramon Folc’s virtues.
The tomb was built in Naples, taken down piece by piece, and carried on a ship and later on a carriage all the way from Naples to Bellpuig, Ramon Folc's hometown.
Photo by Luciano Pedicini. Info: Damià Amorós Albareda / Cultura i Paisatge.
