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| Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II |
The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is an elegant nineteenth-century shopping arcade. It was built between 1865 and 1877 and is formed by two arcades shaped like a Latin cross covered by a glass and iron dome.
It houses some of the most luxurious boutiques in Milan.
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| Prada |
At the Galleria there is an innovative museum entirely devoted to Leonardo da Vinci. The Leonardo3 Museum: The World of Leonardo da Vinci provides over 200 interactive 3D reconstructions and working models of his machines as well as digital restoration of his paintings.
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| Leonardo3 Museum |
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| The Flying Machine of Milan |
I especially enjoyed using the interactive display to learn about the Mechanical Lion. The display allows you to see how the Lion is assembled, how it works and provides a video of it actually moving.
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| The Mechanical Lion |
Our next visit was to a hidden gem! We were lucky to get a private tour at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, which is an art gallery within the
Biblioteca Ambrosiana.
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| Pinacoteca Ambrosiana |
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| Biblioteca Ambrosiana |
The Biblioteca Ambrosiana is a historic library in Milan. It was founded in 1609 by Cardinal Federico Borromeo to house the cardinal's 15,000 manuscripts and approximately 30,000 printed books. When its first reading room opened to the public on December 8, 1609 it was one of the earliest public libraries!
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| Historic Reading Room |
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| Illuminated manuscript |
The Library also owns several original manuscripts of Leonardo's drawings which are on a rotating display.
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| "Mathematics and Geometry: Exercises on Hippocrates' lunulae" |
The building has been expanded over the years to house the growing collections. Here is a lovely view of the courtyard:
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| Museum courtyard |
Here is a stunning mosaic that represents one of the oldest works in the Museum, a manuscript of Virgil's works that had been owned by the poet Francesco Petrarca:
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| Mosaic of the Exedra |
The artwork at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana includes Leonardo da Vinci's Portrait of a Musician, Luini's The Infant Jesus with a Lamb, Caravaggio's Basket of Fruit, and Raphael's cartoon of The School of Athens, to name a few!
The only painting on panel by Leonardo to have remained in Milan:
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| "Portrait of a Musician" by Leonardo |
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| "The Infant Jesus with a Lamb" by Bernardino Luini |
Probably the most famous painting in the collection is this work by Caravaggio. It is considered to be a prototype of the “still life” genre.
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| "Basket of Fruit" by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio |
"The School of Athens" represents the most famous philosophers of ancient times. The original work was created by Raphael for a room in the Vatican. This preliminary cartoon (large paper sheets) is the largest renaissance cartoon that has survived to this day.
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| "The School of Athens" cartoon by Raphael |
We ended our tour with a trip down into the San Sepolcro Crypt.
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| San Sepolcro Crypt |
Hopefully I didn’t bore you with too much Leonardo! 😀
More of Milan yet to come ...