Duomo, Milan

The construction of this vast Gothic cathedral was started in 1386, and built on a former medieval church of Santa Maria Maggiore. It is one huge mass of marble, containing about 3,500 statues, nearly 100 gargoyles, and far more butresses, pinnacles, pillars and arches than necessary. The vastness, covering an area of nearly 12,000 square meters, has to be seen to be appreciated. It is third only in size, after St. Peter's cathedral in Rome, and the Cathedral of Seville. Its highest pinnacle, at 109 meters, is topped by the golden statue of the Virgin Mary, covered in nearly 4,000 gold leaves. This towers over the cathedral's roof, which you can climb up and admire the views of Milan from, and also wonder at how they ever managed to put all those statues on all those pinnacles without either falling to their deaths, or getting a really bad bout of vertigo.

You can also go inside the cathedral. Entry is free, but you will have to go through fairly strict security.

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The sheer size and scale of the Duomo becomes more apparent when you walk through the front doors - it apparently can hold 40,000 people.

The floorplan is a central nave with four side-aisles, crossed approximately two thirds down by a transept, beyond which is the choir and apse. The highest point of the nave is 45 metres and even the transept has aisles.

So the Duomo is seriously big.

Having been built over several centuries, the interior is a miasma of styles and influence, although the original Gothic is by far the most dominant - it's more the detail than the basic structure that have been added to over time.

As one would expect for a cathedral of its size, age and importance, the Duomo has numerous monuments, sarcophagi, artwork from several centuries, with one of the nails reputedly from the cross placed in the apse.

The interior is probably the least interesting part of the Cathedral – a somewhat dark place which is actually quite difficult to see things. So, once over the enormity and scale of the place....

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The Gothic splendour of the Duomo is enhanced by thousands of beautiful statues and reliefs, highly decorated spires, menacing gargoyles, carved front doors offsetting the Candoglia marble of the main facade.

It's a stunning sight, almost impossible to see everything - the detail and craftsmanship quite extraordinary.

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There's the exterior, the interior and then there's the roof top terraces of the Duomo. Walk or take the lift - clambering around up there gives you the opportunity to get up close to the central spire (not that easily seen from ground level), some extraordinary detail, spires galore and geat views over the city and the distance landscape.

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Milan cathedral is the third largest church in the world (after St Peter's in Rome and Sevilla).

Begun in the 14th century, it wasn't completed until 1805 and was consecrated by Napoleon. The scale is extraordinary - the stunningly beautiful and ornate exterior and its host of statues with a relatively 'plain' interior (plain by comparison with some of the other catholic cathedrals/churches of the Baroque period).

An ornate monolith, it sits proudly in the huge piazza alongside the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele.

And, because of the open space of the piazza, the varying light of day/night impacts on the facade.

Walking (or taking the lift) up to the roof of the Duomo is a must! The tickets are not bought from the Duomo itself but instead from the info center behind and down the right street, the people inside are very cranky and most don't speak any English so just smile and hand over your money. If you are going at a very busy time then you should know that the stair case is for both up and down, and its not quite big enough for people to pass so you will need to be patient and polite while climbing either way. When you reach the top make sure you get a picture (or 10) of the Piazza Duomo through the plastic windows to your right, and take some shots of the galleria! and of course make friends with the gargoyles :)

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One of my fav buildings in Milano..Duomo Cathedral
the largest Gothic cathedral in the world...
.try to visit early morning ...

Life in Milan centers around the area of the Duomo, a huge Gothic cathedral,
with more than 2,000 statues and over 140 spires, with a large gold Madonna
at the top. Constructed in the late 1300's, Milan’s Duomo Cathedral is the world’s
largest Gothic cathedral, and has become the premier landscape feature and
symbol of Milan. The best time to visit the Cathedral is on a sunny day, when the light
penetrating the windows creates a kaleidoscope of colour throughout the interior of the
church.

History

Begun in the 1380's on a site where several churches had existed earlier,
the building of this cathedral was fraught with difficulties. Over a number of years
several different architects and consultants (including Leonardo and Bramante) were
asked to work on the design.

The cathedral is white marble, over a brick core, and has a cruciform plan.
One of the largest cathedrals in the world (14,000 square yards) it was designed to
accommodate 40,000 worshippers. The forest of pinnacles, the tracery panels, and the rich embellishment with statuary identifies it as Late Gothic. Closer to France than most Italian cathedrals, it borrows more directly from the French "rayonnant" style.

On a marble slab placed in the Milan Cathedral the following remark is inscribed :" Il principio del domo fu nell’anno 1386" [The beginning of the Cathedral goes back to the year 1386]. But the initial date is unknown.

The Cathedral was the grandiose achievement of the Lombard skilled workers being aware of the european technical progress. There was the clearly expressed solidarity and generous help of all the citizens who since the beginning had considered the Duomo as their own