Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan
Tuesday, 11 October 2022 - 12:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union General , UNESCO World Heritage
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© Giovanni Dall’Orto
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Santa Maria delle Grazie (“Holy Mary of Grace”) is a
church and Dominican convent in
Milan , northern
Italy , and a
UNESCO World Heritage Site . The church contains the
mural of
The Last Supper by
Leonardo da Vinci , which is in the
refectory of the convent.
Duke of Milan Francesco I Sforza ordered the construction of a
Dominican convent and church at the site of a prior chapel dedicated to the Marian devotion of St Mary of the Graces. The main architect,
Guiniforte Solari , designed the convent (the
Gothic nave ), which was completed by 1469. Construction of the church took decades. Duke
Ludovico Sforza decided to have the church serve as the
Sforza family burial site, and rebuilt the cloister and the
apse , both completed after 1490. Ludovico’s wife
Beatrice was buried in the church in 1497.
The design of the apse of the church has been attributed to Donato Bramante , as his name is inscribed in a piece of marble in the church vaults delivered in 1494. However, some dispute that he worked on the church at all. According to one source, in 1492–1497 Bramante worked on the crossing and the dome as well the transept apses and the coir with apse; this source also attributes a plan and section of the building to Bramante. Some documents mention the name Amadeo, likely Giovanni Antonio Amadeo . There are similarities between this church and Amadeo’s design for Santa Maria alla Fontana .Titian altarpiece depicting Christ receiving the crown of thorns was installed in the Chapel of the Holy Crown, located on the right of the nave. The painting, looted by French troops in 1797, is now in the Louvre . This chapel is frescoed with Stories of the Passion by Gaudenzio Ferrari . In the small cloister adjacent to the tribune near the door that leads to the sacristy is a fresco by Bramantino . The church also contained frescoes depicting the Resurrection and Passion by Bernardo Zenale .
The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci © Joy of Museums/cc-by-sa-4.0
Composer and cellist
Giovanni Perroni served as
maestro di cappella at the cathedral from 1718–1720.
During
World War II , on the night of 15 August 1943, an allied aerial bombardment hit the church and the convent. Much of the refectory was destroyed, but some walls survived, including the one that holds
The Last Supper , which had been sand-bagged in order to protect it. Some preservation works are done to maintain it for the future. It is believed that the current and future preservation works will keep the painting safe for many centuries to come.
Nowadays the
Sacrestia vecchia , or the Old Sacristy, designed and constructed by Donato Bramante, is the seat of a Dominican Cultural Centre (
Centro Culturale alle Grazie ), in which the brethren organize and host conferences on various themes pertaining to spirituality, philosophy, art, literature and sociology, in addition to musical concerts and artistic exhibitions.
Read more on
Basilica di Santa Maria delle Grazie ,
in-lombardia.it – Santa Maria delle Grazie and
Wikipedia Santa Maria delle Grazie (
Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State -
Weather report by weather.com -
Johns Hopkins University & Medicine - Coronavirus Resource Center -
Global Passport Power Rank -
Democracy Index -
GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank -
Global Competitiveness Report -
Corruption Perceptions Index -
Press Freedom Index -
World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index -
UN Human Development Index -
Global Peace Index -
Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index ). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at
comment@wingsch.net . Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.
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