11 October 2022 | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage
Reading Time: 8 minutes
© Giovanni Dall’Orto
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.
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