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Church of Saint Mary of the Healthcare
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Show an other treasure of art and history in Milan:
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 Mostly represented styles: Baroque
The Church of St. Mary of Health or of the Crosscarriers (Chiesa di Santa Maria della Sanità o dei Crociferi) is one of the few examples in Milan (along with the Church of St. Francis of Paola (San Francesco da Paola) in Manzoni street ) of a church with elliptical nave convex and façade.
HISTORY
The church was built by the Crociferi (Crosscarriers) or, otherwise said, the Congregation of Ministers of the Sick founded by St. Camillus de Lellis, starting from 1694, on a project by Giovan Battista Quadrio in collaboration with Carlo Federico Pietrasanta.
The façade was started only in the second decade of the eighteenth century, but it was never finished, and it is still in simple brick.
The completion of the church continued throughout the first half of the eighteenth century, with the marble altar and colorful accessory parts (1713-1726), the frescoing of the dome by Pietro Maggi (1717), the completion of the side chapels including one dedicated to St. Camillus de Lellis and decorated with colorful marbles and gilded bronzes. The decoration of the chapel of St. Joseph, the first right, was completed only in 1760.
At the same time the Crociferi church fathers provided also, since 1729, the building of the adjacent convent.
Between 1966 and 1985, the church underwent a period of decline, even remaining sometimes closed to the public. Fortunately it was lates extensively restored and reopened to the public in 1996.
STRUCTURE
The Church of St. Mary of Health is characterized by the presence of a single nave, elliptical, with two side chapels on each side and a large presbytery.
The ellipticity of the interior is already announced on the outside by the markedly convex facade which, as mentioned, was never finished. It is divided into two orders seprated by a marked cornice. At the top a large curved pediment. Both in the lower order and in the upper one there are frames of baroque shapes, evidently destined to accommodate plaques and bas-reliefs. However, they have all remained empty, as have the two niches on the side of the entrance door.
Between the two chapels, on each side, at the wall, a pulpit.
The internal walls have, as mentioned, two chapels on each side. They are placed side by side before and after (along the longitudinal axis) from two walls endowed with a blind balcony over arches with inside passages towards other rooms.
The vault is elliptical with lunettes. In the center, inside an mixtilinear frame, an Assumption painted by Pietro Maggi in 1717.
The four side chapels have marble altars and elegant balustrades.
The first chapel on the left (with respect to the entrance) is dedicated to Camillo de Lellis and was finished in 1742, when it was equipped with a precious altar in marble and gilded bronze on which is a painting of the saint.
The second chapel on the left is dedicated to Saint Joseph, whose deadth is depicted in the altarpiece painted by Ferdinando Porta in the second decade of the eighteenth century. The decoration of this chapel was not completed until 1760.
The chapels on the right are dedicated to the Crowned Virgin (the first, fig. 9) and to the Sacred Heart (the second, fig. 10).
The high altar was built in 1713 and is of black Varenna marble and a red marble of France. In 1724 the marble balustrade was added and in 1726 the retable, also in marble. This last one houses a sixteenth-century painting, probably coming from the ancient church present where the current one was built, a partial copy of the Madonna of the canopy by Raphael, a copy of a late imitator of the Leonardo school, probably Cesare Magni.
If you are interested in a guided tour of this monument send an email!
Categories: Churches / Religious buildings
Via Durini 20 - 20122 Milano |
Further pictures of the Church of Saint Mary of the Healthcare in the section Photography |