St. Maria delle Grazie in Milan

Piazza Santa Maria delle Grazie, 2 (Corso Magenta) 20123 Milano

Opening hours: 07:30 to 12:15 / 15:30 to 21:00; 07:00 to 12:00 / 15:00 to 19:00 (July, August)
Info: Phone 02 89421146

Restoration works

The architectural complex is the evidence of the conflict evolution of humanistic and architectural thought in Milan along the '400. You can see, as a matter of fact, both the presence of Solari’s architectural thinking, still strongly influenced by the Romanesque-Gothic style, and Bramante’s turning point, particularly developed in the well-known solution of the apse. The complex has undergone major restoration interventions since the end of '800, with emblematic solutions suggested by Beltrami. The buildings are however the result of historical layers whose study is still to be completed: tampered by war damage, the most important stages of its historical evolution are still evident. The last interventions, mostly conservative, not only allowed to work once again on the conservation of the original materials, but also to rediscover the original and sometimes unknown solutions and finishes, such as the decorations of the "small sacristy." Always following the criteria of 'conservative intervention’, designers had to deal with problems represented by replacements of damaged parts with particular attention. In addition to this, some interventions emphasized, taking into consideration the important restoration works carried out in the past, the need to work maintaining the original features by adopting kind of "restoration of the restoration" principles.

By Libero Corrieri