A recent trip to Milan took us to the Milan Cathedral, known as the Duomo di Milano.
In the past, we had seen photos of the cathedral and knew it was a large building. However, we did not think the building was exceptionally large. Instead, the detailed, delicate decoration of the exterior somehow made us think the building was somewhat modest in size.
When we saw the building in person, our thinking was unchanged. The cathedral, with its thin spires and elaborate decoration, still looked somewhat small.
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| Façade of Il Duomo di Milano |
After braving a long wait outside in a frigid wind, we walked into the cathedral and were astonished by its immense size. It turns out that the cathedral is one of the largest church buildings in the world, measured by floor area. What we concluded is that the exterior tends to make the building "look" smaller than it is. We were misled.
Some fun facts:
Construction started: 1386
Construction completed: 1965
Number of spires: 135
Capacity: 40,000
Notable fact: The largest church in Italy (St. Peter's, the largest church anywhere, is in Vatican City, not Italy)
Adopt-a-Gargoyle: To fund restoration of the cathedral, you can adopt one of the cathedral's 135 gargoyle's. Your name will be inscribed on the gargoyle. Adoption will cost you about $100K.
If you want to learn more about the Milan Cathedral, click
here.
We toured the cathedral and were amazed by the architecture and the artwork. Here are some photos of our visit.
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| Il Duomo di Milano, during the Christmas season |
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| Il Duomo di Milano, the bright white marble of the cathedral turned a warm color in the late afternoon Winter sun |
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| Il Duomo di Milano, the nave of the church |
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| Il Duomo di Milano, the main altar |
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| Il Duomo di Milano, close up of the star high above the altar |
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| Il Duomo di Milano, the interior of front wall of the church |
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| Il Duomo di Milano, close up of one of the stained-glass windows over the front door |
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| Il Duomo di Milano, close up of the other stained-glass window over the front door |
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| Il Duomo di Milano, one of the many side altars of the cathedral |
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| Il Duomo di Milano, close up of a stained-glass window |
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| Il Duomo di Milano, one of the many stained-glass windows in the cathedral |
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| Il Duomo di Milano, a replica of the golden statue on the highest spire of the cathedral. The replica is large, over 12 feet tall. |
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| Il Duomo di Milano, a statue of Saint Bartholomew by Marco D'Agrate (1562). This statue caught our attention, for obvious reasons. We guessed it was a 19th or 20th century modern depiction of some saintly person. We were off by a few centuries. The state depicts a saint, Saint Bartholomew, one of the 12 apostles. He was martyred by flaying, hence, St. Bart's strange appearance. |
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| During our visit, we saw some restoration work in progress. Check out the next photo. |
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| The restoration was occurring high above the cathedral's floor. Very high , indeed. |
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| Il Duomo di Milano, the floor of the cathedral is decorated with beautiful designs. One design is depicted in the photo above. |
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| A couple of tourists who have not yet learned how to take a selfie. |
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