The Catholic Chapel of Mercy is standing in the center of the Cours Saleya, the main pedestrian streets of the old town. Around forever noisy market, people view the counters or sit at café tables. Some admire the sun-yellow building of the chapel, but do not go inside. They have a lot to lose: the temple - a recognized masterpiece of Baroque architecture. Critics reckon it to the top ten most beautiful baroque buildings in the world.

The church, dedicated initially to St. Caetano, was built between the years 1747 and 1770 on the site of a former salt warehouse King of Sardinia. Then Cours Saleya has been the focus of the houses of wealthy people, the land here was a road, and this explains why the chapel, on the one hand, so small, and on the other - so beautiful.

Design buildings and supervise the construction of the Turin commissioned the architect Bernardo Antonio Vuitton, has already been built by that time several famous churches in Italy. Vuitton was a disciple of the great architect Filippo Juvara Baroque and inherited his love for this style. Despite the fact that the space was limited, and the bell tower was unable to build a chapel of Mercy with the smooth lines of its facade, elliptical nave and rich decor embodies now the Baroque style of Piedmont.

The luxurious interior of the church, settled in the mainly gray-blue tones, a real feast for lovers of religious architecture: a plurality of curved lines typical of Baroque frescoes, gilding, marble columns. In the sacristy are preserved two masterpieces by artists of Nice: "The Virgin of Mercy" Jean Mirele (1429) and "The Virgin of Mercy" Louis Brea (1515).

To save all this beauty, it took almost a million euros - in many cost the complete restoration and reconstruction of the chapel after the walls of the building went threatening cracks due to construction of the underground car park nearby. Saved the chapel was inaugurated in 2010, and three years later was restored and the organ works of the XIX century Swiss master Florentina Martel.

Despite its small size, the Chapel of Mercy is actively involved in the cultural life of the region. Here, excellent acoustics, so often hosts concerts. In addition, the exhibition takes a chapel in the international biennale "Art ceramics of Vallauris" (small town of Vallauris, where in the fifties of the XX century, Pablo Picasso learned to work with ceramics, is still famous for its products).