Description
The Basilica of San Lorenzo Maggiore is one of the oldest churches in Milan, on Corso di Porta Ticinese, facing the sixteen Roman columns that stand before it: the building was rebuilt several times, but the plan is still that of the late 4th century.
The Columns of San Lorenzo are the first sight: sixteen Corinthian columns taken from a nearby Roman temple. They once formed the entrance portico to the basilica. Over the centuries, hovels sprang up between one column and the next, and more than once it was proposed to tear them down.
Inside, the plan is a square with four apses, a "tetraconch": a large central space with an octagonal ambulatory and two orders of columns. This form enchanted the Renaissance: Bramante, Leonardo and Giuliano da Sangallo all studied it.
The Chapel of Sant'Aquilino, octagonal and faced with polychrome marble, keeps early Christian mosaics with apostles and patriarchs of the tribes of Israel. At the entrance a Roman portal is decorated with reliefs of plants and animals. A little further on is the smaller Chapel of Sant'Ippolito.
Fires in 1071 and 1075, the dome collapsed in 1103, another fire in 1124. And in 1573, during a Mass, the dome came down again. Yet San Lorenzo is still here, with its Roman-era plan.
It was built between 390 and 410, when Milan was capital of the Western Empire, next to the imperial palace. For the foundations they used blocks from the amphitheater, demolished shortly before, in 401. But who really wanted it remains a mystery.
Perhaps General Stilicho. Around the basilica, once, you could also see the houses of tanners: they were torn down in the 19th century, and after the bombings of 1944-1945 the Parco delle Basiliche was created, from which there is a fine view of the complex.
On the high altar is a painting of the Madonna of the Milk: in 1585 a sick woman was healed before that image, displayed in Piazza della Vetra, and the donations that followed made it possible to rebuild the church more quickly.
The Columns of San Lorenzo are the first sight: sixteen Corinthian columns taken from a nearby Roman temple. They once formed the entrance portico to the basilica. Over the centuries, hovels sprang up between one column and the next, and more than once it was proposed to tear them down.
Inside, the plan is a square with four apses, a "tetraconch": a large central space with an octagonal ambulatory and two orders of columns. This form enchanted the Renaissance: Bramante, Leonardo and Giuliano da Sangallo all studied it.
The Chapel of Sant'Aquilino, octagonal and faced with polychrome marble, keeps early Christian mosaics with apostles and patriarchs of the tribes of Israel. At the entrance a Roman portal is decorated with reliefs of plants and animals. A little further on is the smaller Chapel of Sant'Ippolito.
Fires in 1071 and 1075, the dome collapsed in 1103, another fire in 1124. And in 1573, during a Mass, the dome came down again. Yet San Lorenzo is still here, with its Roman-era plan.
It was built between 390 and 410, when Milan was capital of the Western Empire, next to the imperial palace. For the foundations they used blocks from the amphitheater, demolished shortly before, in 401. But who really wanted it remains a mystery.
Perhaps General Stilicho. Around the basilica, once, you could also see the houses of tanners: they were torn down in the 19th century, and after the bombings of 1944-1945 the Parco delle Basiliche was created, from which there is a fine view of the complex.
On the high altar is a painting of the Madonna of the Milk: in 1585 a sick woman was healed before that image, displayed in Piazza della Vetra, and the donations that followed made it possible to rebuild the church more quickly.