Galleria Umberto I in Naples built in 1890, not a thousand years prior

The posts reference conspiracy narratives that today's "elites" control information

(Reuters) - Roman numerals MDCCCXC at the entrance of Galleria Umberto I in Naples, Italy, read 1890, marking the year the shopping gallery was built, contrary to posts online sharing photos of the building façade with the Roman numeral M missing in one picture to imply the building really dates to 1,000 years earlier.

Experts in Italian history and architecture say it is unclear whether the M on Galleria Umberto I’s facade was missing at some point when one of the photos was taken, but that records show the gallery was completed by 1890, adding that its architectural elements and style are typical of buildings in Italy at the time but would not have been possible a millennium earlier.

A widely shared tweet said: “If we can’t trust the elites that control information today imagine what they did to history” including side-by-side photos of Galleria Umberto I with and without the roman numeral M (here). Another example can be seen on Facebook (here).

The posts reference conspiracy narratives that today’s “elites” control information available to the public and suggest that historical timelines have been falsified. 

PHOTOS, ADS AND MAPS

The photo of the Galleria Umberto I without the “M” circulating in posts can be traced to a French website featuring antique stereoscopic images, which dates the photo between 1900 and 1915 (here). However, a different postcard from the same era (here) shows the building from a similar angle with the “M” clearly visible.

Evidence that the building was constructed in the late 19th century and not before includes an archived page from the March 27, 1890 edition of Italian newspaper La Stampa with an advertisement (bottom third, column 3) announcing that the new building will be open to the public on April 1, 1890 (here).

Galleria Umberto I was built between 1887 and 1890 and dedicated to Umberto I, Italy’s king at the time, said Joshua Arthurs, associate professor of history in the Department of Historical and Cultural Studies at the University of Toronto-Scarborough (here). Such shopping malls became “extremely popular across Europe in the late 19th century,” he added.

The shopping gallery was part of an urban renewal project in the 1880s which included demolishing a cholera-ridden area in Naples. “Prior to that, there would not have been room for a building of that size and scale,” Arthurs said.

A local history organization shows a map of the neighborhood known as Rione Santa Brigida, outlined in red, that was demolished to make way for the new building, and an uncredited photograph of the Galleria Umberto I under construction (here).

Galleria Umberto I stands between Via Santa Brigida, Via Giuseppe Verdi and Via San Carlo and can be seen on Google Maps (goo.gl/maps/bC1CLDxHmExVokzg7). A map of Naples from 1826, prior to the building’s construction, from the Harvard Map Collection shows the same area before it was modernized (here) with smaller buildings near Via San Carlo and Via Medina (imgur.com/a/Pp2BPow) where the Galleria Umberto I is today (see “zoomed in” area).

ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES

Architectural elements seen in Galleria Umberto I could not have been possible a thousand years prior, Arthurs said, and the style is typical of the Renaissance revival in the late 19th century, called “Stile Umbertino,” referring to King Umberto I.

“The statues on the pillars include representations of America, Asia, Africa and Europe - again typical in the era of late 19th century imperialism - and other decorations include representations of steam power, chemistry and the telegraph,” he said. “None of this would have been conceivable in 890 AD.”

Galleria Umberto I was “directly modeled” on Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan, he said, the oldest shopping gallery in Italy that was completed in the 1870s. Similar design elements of the two shopping malls can be seen in Reuters pictures (here), (here).

MISSING ‘M’

Historians interviewed by Reuters could not confirm whether the M was ever missing from the building façade at some point.

Mia Fuller, a professor in the department of Italian studies at the University of California, Berkeley (here), said building ornamentation could have been stolen or fallen off.

“If there was a storm which took the M off, nobody would (have known),” said Cosimo Campani, an architect and lecturer on Italian modern history of architecture at the Syracuse University in Florence (here ).

“It’s possible that the French postcard on the left was photoshopped,” Fuller said. “Or, that the M was replaced after it went missing, if it did.”

She added, “all I can say with certainty is that the building was not built in 890, no matter what a photo looks like.”

VERDICT

Missing context. Galleria Umberto I could not have been built 1,000 years before 1890.