Message #58088

[Bianca]

Architecture and art



The cathedral of Milano is one of the greatest church in the world, second only to Saint Petros Basilica in Rome and Sevilla cathedral in Spain. The ground plan is of a nave with 5 aisles, crossed by a transept and then followed by choir and apsis. The height of the nave is about 45 meters, the highest Gothic vaults of a complete church (less than the 48 meters of Beauvais cathedral that was never completed).

The roof is open to tourists (for a fee), which allows many a close-up view of some really spectacular sculpture that would otherwise be unappreciated. The roof of the cathedral is renowned for the forest of pinnacles and spires, sitting upon delicate flying buttresses.

The cathedral's five wide naves, divided by forty pillars, are reflected in the hierarchic openings of the facade. Even the transepts have aisles. The roofline dissolves into openwork pinnacles that are punctuated by a grove of spires. The huge building is of brick construction, faced with marble from the quarries which Gian Galeazzo Visconti donated in perpetuity to the cathedral chapter. Its maintenance and repairs are very complicated