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Basilica of San Marco
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Show an other treasure of art and history in Milan:
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 Mostly represented styles: Gothic - Renaissance - Baroque
St. Mark's Basilica is another rarely visited Milanese monument, despite its great historical importance and rich artistic heritage. Since the demolition of the Church of San Francesco Grande, with a length of 109 meters, it has become the second largest church in Milan after the Cathedral.
HISTORY
The architectural origins of the church are shrouded in uncertainty. According to tradition, the first stone was laid in 1254 by Lanfranco Settala, first general prior of the Augustinian Order. However, there is evidence that suggests the church was founded before that date.
A Venetian codex states that construction of the church began in 1167 and that the building's name was intended as a tribute to Venice, which aided the city of Milan during the struggle against Frederick Barbarossa. However, it is unlikely that this actually occurred.
It should be noted that when the church was built, it was located outside the city walls. This, however, is not surprising, as having churches outside the walls had been a typical feature of Milan since the time of Ambrose.
In fact, it is thought that the first version of the church dates back to a period before 1254 and corresponds to the presence on site of the Zambonins, penitent followers of the Augustinian rule, which included Lanfranco Settala himself, and who joined the Augustinian Order in 1256.
This first version of the church is thought to have had a structure similar to the late Romanesque one that Basilica of San Simpliciano had at the time, that is, it was a hall church with all the naves of more or less equal height, and with the two arms of the transept comprising two naves, also of equal height. According to some, this first phase could have lasted from the end of the twelfth century to 1254, while others believe it may have begun as early as the thirteenth century.
The second phase, initiated by Settala, brought such a significant change of direction that its beginning (1254) is considered the date of its foundation. Following the Cistercian canons, a large rectangular choir was created (corresponding to the first span of the current presbytery), six chapels were added on the eastern sides of the two arms of the transept with pointed cross vaults, and the windows were moved.
In 1288, the convent of San Marco associated with the church was the third largest in Milan in terms of number of friars.
In the first half of the fourteenth century, it was decided to make the church a three-apse church. This was achieved by transforming the two transept chapels bordering the central apse into lateral apses. The cross vaults of the two transept arms also correspond to this phase.
At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the bell tower was built, over what was then the Chapel of St. Mary or the left lateral apse, depending on the actual sequence of the modifications. At this time, the chapel was divided in two by a partition to support the weight of the bell tower. The front part of this chapel is now the Chapel of San Carlo.
The first chapel on the south side of the main body of the church, the Cusani Chapel, is documented from 1345.
Around 1350 the church must have had a basilica layout comprising three naves, each with at least five spans, two chapels on the south side (corresponding to the sixth and seventh chapels of those present today), three apses, and two additional chapels on the east side of each transept arm. The walls of the central nave featured tall Gothic single-lancet windows. The complex also included a sacristy, two cloisters (the sources disagree here, as some say the second cloister was built in the fifteenth century), guesthouses and dormitories for the friars, a scriptorium, and various armories where the codices owned by the monastery were kept.
In the second half of the fourteenth century, the Church of San Marco benefited from significant donations from the Visconti family and other prominent Milanese families. This made it possible to lengthen the nave by five spans and build the façade (which, however, was never completed), the design of which is attributed to a certain Menclozzo. The new spans, at least those of the central nave, were not vaulted, but rather trussed. Furthermore, the new spans were built slightly longer than the existing ones. The interior of the church thus took on an overall ungainly appearance, with ten spans delimited by round pillars, five of which in the central nave were vaulted and five with exposed trusses.
During the fifteenth century, the second cloister was built, which was unfortunately demolished under Fascism to make way for the new Parini High School.
In 1469, the cemetery in front of the church was deconsecrated to make way for the Martesana canal.
Also in the fifteenth century, the presbytery was expanded with the addition of a second span and the creation of a new polygonal apse, later modernized in the seventeenth century.
The side chapels of the right nave were also standardized, consisting of a square room and a polygonal apse (most of the chapels subsequently lost this structure).
Many of the modifications made to the church during the fifteenth century are attributed to the brothers Pietro and Giovanni Solari, who left a significant mark on Milanese architecture of the period.
In the sixteenth century, the convent of San Marco underwent a period of crisis, which was overcome only with the transition to the second half of the century. Between 1555 and 1557, the first cloister was rebuilt. The Gothic single-lancet windows in the walls of the central nave were replaced by tall, low-arched openings.
The octagonal domes that replaced the original Solarian roofs in the square spaces of the first five chapels also date back to this century. The first chapel to be modernized (and brought to its current form) was the Foppa Chapel, completed in 1520, the first one starting from the entrance.
It should be noted that in the sixteenth century, the left side of the church contained only altars with their associated painted wall decorations, not proper chapels.
The seventeenth century was a century of important changes for the Church of San Marco.
In 1618, the dedication of the third chapel in the right transept was changed from Saint Stephen to the new Augustinian saint Thomas of Villanova. In the same year, the fresco decoration of the vault was redone by the Fiamminghini Brothers.
In the first half of the seventeenth century, the pictorial decoration of the presbytery and choir was completely redone, with Bartolomeo Roverio, known as Genovesino, and the Fiamminghini Brothers responsible for the frescoes, and Camillo Procaccini, Giovanni Battista Crespi, known as Cerano, and Genovesino again responsible for the large paintings on the walls.
During this period, the Fiamminghini Brothers also had the first cloister frescoed. Unfortunately very little of these frescoes, still quite visible in 1935, remain today.
During the same period, the large Chapel of the Crucifix, now known as the Chapel of the Pietà, was also built by merging the two outermost chapels of the northern transept. It had been commissioned half a century earlier by Tommaso Marini, Duke of Terranova, and for a long time it was home to an important Confraternity of the Crucifix. Its decoration was completed in the 1650s and 1660s.
The carved solid wood choir stalls in the apse were installed between 1620 and 1630.
In 1635, construction began on the new, large, monumental sacristy, the current one, which was completed around 1645.
The period between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, between 1690 and 1714, saw the implementation of many important changes to the general structure of the church, which gave it its current appearance. The interior was radically modernized in Baroque style. The circular Gothic pillars were enlarged to form cruciform pillars. All the spans were covered with vaults. Furthermore, the two pillars closest to the presbytery were demolished to create a large, slightly oval dome (with its major axis running transversely) above the two joined spans. These changes were designed by architects Castelli and Quarantini and carried out by master builders Fontana and Ratto.
The modifications were completed by widening the sixteenth-century windows, replacing the rose window on the façade with a lower rectangular window (because the original rose window was now above the vaults and therefore no longer able to illuminate the interior of the church), adding a cornice along the entire interior perimeter and creating the rich stucco decorations.
The entrance arches to the side chapels were also symmetrical, dividing them into bays, and for the same reason, squares were painted on the left wall around the various altars.
In 1787, the Church of San Marco became a parish church, but the structure of the convent remained intact.
With the arrival of Napoleon's French forces in 1796, the monastery was suppressed, and the Augustinians abandoned the church. The convent was transformed first into barracks, then into a military hospital. The church, however, was even used as a stable.
The last major renovation of the church dates back to the second half of the nineteenth century, when architect Carlo Maciachini, in keeping with the fashions of the time, wanted to restore the façade to the original late medieval style in which Menclozzo had conceived it, also because the façade appeared rather ungainly and untidy. Maciachini thus created a neo-Gothic façade (completed in 1873), approximately four meters taller than the previous one and pleasing to the eye, although a bit overdone. The large central rose window and the mullioned windows alongside it were restored, and triple lancet windows were created above the two side entrances. Above, the façade was given a triple cornice with intertwined flame arches underneath, inspired by the original medieval ones above the central portal.
In 1885, thanks to Giuseppe Mongeri, the bell tower, which had remained unfinished since its construction, was finally completed. It was lengthened by adding a tall Neo-Gothic cornice similar to those added to the façade by Maciachini and a conical spire imitating those typical of Lombard Gothic architecture.
It is worth noting that the structures corresponding to the convent of San Marco were long used to provide assistance to the poor and needy. In 1784, the Austrian government transformed parts of the convent into the Casa del Lavoro Volontario (House of Volunteer Labor), which later became the Casa d'Industria (House of Industry) from 1808 to 1815, and later the Pia Casa San Marco (Pious House of San Marco) until 1930, when the second cloister and half of the first were demolished to build the Parini High School. From 1839, the former Convent of San Marco was also the temporary headquarters of the Institute of the Blinds of Milan.
STRUCTURE
The Basilica of San Marco has a complex structure, the result of its history, and is part of an even more riculated complex that includes what remains of what was once the Convent of San Marco.
The church itself has a main body divided into three naves, a transept with very broad, projecting arms, and a very long choir ending in a polygonal apse. The south side features numerous chapels of varying sizes and shapes.
Above the intersection between the main body and the transept, protecting the Baroque dome, is a circular tiburium with a lantern.
Much of the basilica is made of exposed brick. The exceptions are the chapels on the south side, whose walls are plastered.
The bell tower is located at the rear of the north arm of the transept, on the side adjacent to the choir. It has a square plan and is divided into sections decorated at the top by cornices of hanging arches. The bell chamber has a large mullioned window on each side. As previously explained, the bell tower was extensively remodeled in the nineteenth century, and the tall spire is recent.
The choir and the southern transept are characterized by high external buttresses (the northern transept, however, is incorporated into other structures).
The façade of the southern transept features two groups of windows. At the top, a central bifor flanked by two single-lancet windows. Below, in the western half, are two single-lancet windows and an oculus above them. Note that the upper windows are located above the internal vaults and therefore do not illuminate the interior. This demonstrates that they were created before the vaults, after which the lower windows were added.
The left side of the church is flat and is visible only from inside what remains of the first cloister. The facade of the northern arm of the transept was instead erased by the construction of the monumental sacristy, which doubles the length of the transept arm, and of other service buildings.
The basilica's current façade can be described as a blend of original Gothic elements and Neo-Gothic elements resulting from Maciachini's restoration. Vertically, it is punctuated by four pilasters, whose position reflects the internal division into naves. Horizontally, the façade is divided into two orders, emphasized by the presence of natural stone on the lower order (at the level of the pilasters, the portal, a horizontal band closing the lower order, and the plinth). The upper order, however, is made entirely of brick. This division was already present originally.
The portal is a Gothic arch, although very shallow. Of great value is the stone architrave, attributed to Bonino da Campione and therefore dating back to the fourteenth century, which features seven panels depicting Christ the Judge (in the center), Saint Augustine (on the far left), Saint Ambrose, and the Four Evangelists in the remaining panels. The mosaic in the lunette, depicting the Madonna and Child between Saint Augustine and Saint Mark, is recent, having been created in 1965.
The two side entrances lack portals. Above them, however, are two large, richly decorated terracotta triforas within rectangular panels.
The upper order is characterized by the large rose window in the center and the two biforas placed below it on the sides. These were also present originally, so much so that some parts of them come from the original ones, which were preserved for a long time. The lower edge of the upper order, in the central section, features a band of original Gothic overlapping arches.
Immediately below the rose window is a terracotta panel with three niches containing three statues depicting Saint Augustine, Saint Mark, and Saint Ambrose. They date back to at least the fourteenth century or may be older than the façade itself, ie come from another structure in the city.
The two oculi within the square terracotta panels in the two lateral sections of the upper order are original, except for the central decoration, an invention of Maciachini.
At the top, the façade terminates with a triple cornice, the fruit of Maciachini's creativity, the lower of which features intertwined flame-shaped arches. At the apex of each pilaster strip and at the top, he placed a small aedicule containing the statue of the Madonna (the one at the top) and of saints. However, the two lateral ones were lost during the war.
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Categories: Churches / Religious buildings
Piazza San Marco, 2, 20121 Milano |
Further pictures of the Basilica of San Marco in the section Photography |