Milan Museums

Milan today is the capital of Lombardy and the second-largest city in Italy. Milan has a long, rich history, having been founded around 600 BC by a Celtic tribe, the Romans, captured the city in 222 BC. In 286 AD. Diocletian moved the capital of the Western Roman Empire from Rome to Milan. It was from Milan that Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, granting tolerance to all religions within the Empire, thus paving the way for Christianity to become the dominant religion of the Empire. In 402, the city was invaded by the Goths, and the Imperial residence moved to Ravenna.

In its more recent history, following Austrian rule, Italian nationalists formed an alliance and defeated Austria and incorporated Milan into the Kingdom of Sardinia, which soon gained control of most of Italy and in 1861 was rechristened as the Kingdom of Italy. The political unification of Italy cemented Milan’s commercial dominance over northern Italy, which continues to today.

Milan is a beautiful city and famous for its fashion culture, as is its art and architecture and monuments. Milan has many museums and art galleries. The following museums will be featured on the “Joy of Museums.”

Museums in Milan

Santa Maria Delle Grazie
Sforza Castle Museums
Brera Art Gallery, Pinacoteca di Brera
Museo Poldi Pezzoli

Museums in Milan

Santa Maria Delle Grazie
- Santa Maria Delle Grazie (“Holy Mary of Grace”) is a church and Dominican convent in Milan, northern Italy. The church contains the mural of The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, which is in the refectory of the convent. The Duke of Milan, Francesco I Sforza, ordered the construction of a Dominican convent and a church that took decades and was completed by 1469. The church served as the Sforza family burial site and rebuilt the cloister and the apse, were both completed after 1490.
Sforza Castle Museums
- Sforza Castle in Milan was built in the 15th century by Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, on the remnants of a 14th-century fortification. Later renovated and enlarged, in the 16th and 17th centuries, it was one of the largest citadels in Europe. Extensively rebuilt in 1891–1905, it now houses several of the city’s museums and art collections.
Brera Art Gallery, Pinacoteca di Brera
- The Pinacoteca di Brera is the central public gallery for paintings in Milan, Italy. It contains one of the foremost collections of Italian paintings, an outgrowth of the cultural program of the Brera Academy, which shares the site in the Palazzo Brera.
Museo Poldi Pezzoli
- The Museo Poldi Pezzoli is an art museum that originated in the 19th century as a private collection. Many of the rooms in the palace were redecorated, starting in 1846. The rooms were often decorated and furnished to match the paintings hung on the walls. The architect rebuilt the palace in its present Neoclassical style with an English-style interior garden. The museum’s collection includes a broad collection of Northern Italian and Netherlandish/Flemish artists plus exhibits of weaponry, glassworks, ceramics, jewelry, and furnishings.