Church of Holy Mary of Grace (1482)

Santa Maria delle Grazie ("Holy Mary of Grace") is a church and Dominican convent in Milan.   

This historic building is located in the very Piazza Santa Maria delle Grazie and Corso Magenta, in the historic center of Milan. 

The church has seven chapels square on each side.    The most important families of Milan sought to sponsor each chapel in exchange for use as a their family burial place. 

  

Brief History

The construction of the church and convent  complex was ordered by  Duke of Milan Francesco I Sforza in 1463, with Guiniforte Solari as the architect.  Construction of convent completed in 1469, the church in 1482.

Donato Bramante made a great expansion of the structure, adding large semicircular apses, a majestic dome surrounded by columns, a beautiful cloister and the refectory.

The building was restored 4 times: in 1908, 1924, 1953 ( post WW2 ) and 1977.

Renaissance Art

Despite its great architectural value, the complex houses invaluable work of arts of the renaissance period.

In 1543, the Titian altarpiece depicting Christ receiving the crown of thorns was installed in the Chapel of the Holy Crown, located on the right of the nave. The painting, looted by French troops in 1797, is now in the Louvre.

This chapel is frescoed with Stories of the Passion by Gaudenzio Ferrari. In the small cloister adjacent to the tribune near the door that leads to the sacristy is a fresco by Bramantino.

The church also contained frescoes depicting the Resurrection and Passion by Bernardo Zenale

Perhaps  the most  famous of all is the work by  Leonardo Da Vinci, a fresco of  The Last Supper, preserved inside its refectory, painted between 1495 – 1498.