The Best Museums & Art Galleries in Milan – Mus3ums

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Milan / Italy

Milan ; Italian: Milano [miˈlaːno] ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city in Italy after Rome. Milan served as the capital of the Western Roman Empire, the Duchy of Milan and the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million while its metropolitan city has 3.26 million inhabitants. Its continuously built-up urban area, that stretches well beyond the boundaries of the administrative metropolitan city, is the fourth largest in the EU with 5.27 million inhabitants. The population within the wider Milan metropolitan area, also known as Greater Milan, is estimated at 8.2 million, making it by far the largest metropolitan area in Italy and the 3rd largest in the EU.Milan is considered a leading alpha global city, with strengths in the fields of art, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, services, research and tourism. Its business district hosts Italy's stock exchange , and the headquarters of national and international banks and companies. In terms of GDP, it has the second-largest economy among EU cities after Paris, and is the wealthiest among EU non-capital cities. Milan is considered part of the Blue Banana and one of the "Four Motors for Europe". The city has been recognized as one of the world's four fashion capitals thanks to several international events and fairs, including Milan Fashion Week and the Milan Furniture Fair, which are currently among the world's biggest in terms of revenue, visitors and growth. It hosted the Universal Exposition in 1906 and 2015. The city hosts numerous cultural institutions, academies and universities, with 11% of the national total of enrolled students. Milan is the destination of 8 million overseas visitors every year, attracted by its museums and art galleries that include some of the most important collections in the world, including major works by Leonardo da Vinci. The city is served by many luxury hotels and is the fifth-most starred in the world by Michelin Guide. The city is home to two of Europe's most successful football teams, A.C. Milan and F.C. Internazionale, and one of Europe's main basketball teams, Olimpia Milano. Milan will host the 2026 Winter Olympics together with Cortina d'Ampezzo.

San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore

San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore is a church in Milan, northern Italy. It was originally attached to the most important female convent of the Benedictines in the city, Monastero Maggiore, which is now in use as the Civic Archaeological Museum. The church today is used every Sunday from October to June to celebrate in the Byzantine Rite, in Greek according to the Italo-Albanian tradition. It is also used as concert hall.

Basilica of Sant'Eustorgio

The Basilica of Sant'Eustorgio is a church in Milan in northern Italy, which is in the Basilicas Park city park. It was for many years an important stop for pilgrims on their journey to Rome or to the Holy Land, because it was said to contain the tomb of the Three Magi or Three Kings. Probably founded in the 4th century, its name refers to Eustorgius I, the bishop of Milan to whom is attributed the translation of the supposed relics of the Magi to the city from Constantinople in 344. In 1764, when an ancient pillar was removed, a Christian burial was discovered, housing coins of emperor Constans, the son of Constantine the Great.The church was later rebuilt in Romanesque style. In the 12th century, when Milan was sacked by Frederick Barbarossa, the relics of the Magi were appropriated and subsequently taken to Cologne. It was only in 1903/4 that fragments of the bones and garments were sent back to Sant'Eustorgio's. Nowadays they are in the Three Kings altar nearby the empty Three Kings sarcophagus. Still today, in memory of the Three Kings, the bell tower is surmounted by a star instead of the traditional cross. From the 13th century the church was the main Milanese seat of the Dominican Order, who promoted its rebuilding. The current façade is a 19th-century reconstruction. The interior has a nave and two aisles, covered with groin vaults. Of the Romanesque church only parts of the apse remain, while of the original Early Christian building, remains have been excavated also under the apse. To the right side of the nave, the church has chapels commissioned from the 14th century onwards by the main families of the city. The first from the entrance is of the 15th century and has a Renaissance sepulchre and a triptych by Ambrogio Bergognone. The three others are more ancient, having frescoes of the Giotto school and tombs of members of the Visconti family. The high altar is an imposing marble polyptych of the early 15th century, while a similar work is in the right transept, next to the Early Christian sarcophagus of the Magi. Also noteworthy are a Crucifixion on a table by a Venetian artist of the 13th century and St. Ambrose Defeating Arius by Ambrogio Figino of the late 16th century. Behind the apse is the most striking feature of the church, the Portinari Chapel , one of the most celebrated examples of Renaissance art in Lombardy. It has frescoes by Vincenzo Foppa and a marble sepulchre by Giovanni di Balduccio, a 14th-century pupil of Giovanni Pisano. The Chapel also houses an important Dominican monument, the Ark of Saint Peter of Verona, which is replete with marble bass-relief images by the sculptor, Giovanni di Balduccio.

Archaeological Museum (Milan)

The Archaeological Museum of Milan is located in the ex-convent of the Monastero Maggiore, alongside the ancient church of San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore, with entrance on Corso Magenta. The first part of the museum, sited in the original site of Corso Magenta, is dedicated to the history of Mediolanum founded in the 4th century BC and conquered by the ancient Romans in 222 BC. In the basement floor there is also a small section about Gandhara's arts. The inner cloister, where Roman remains and two medieval towers are visible, connects the first part of the museum with the new building sited in via Nirone. In this part of the Archaeological Museum of Milan are sited, on four floors, the Early Middle Ages section, the Etruscan section, the Ancient Greek section and the temporary exhibition room. In the Middle Ages polygonal tower sited in the inner cloister are exposed a Domenico Paladino sculpture donated by the artist to the museum that fits in the frescoed medieval structure. Collections of the museum from prehistoric and Egyptian civilisations are housed at the Castello Sforzesco Museums.Statues and tombs from ancient Rome are displayed along the cloisters of the former monastery, and a path leads from the cloisters to a "polygonal tower with early medieval frescoes and comes out in the new museum in Via Nirone where the early medieval section is on the first floor."

Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano

The Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano is a museum in Milan, Italy. It was founded in 1838 when naturalist Giuseppe de Cristoforis donated his collections to the city. Its first director was Giorgio Jan. The Museum is located within a 19th-century building in the Indro Montanelli Garden, near the historic city gate of Porta Venezia. The structure was built between 1888 and 1893 in Neo-Romanesque style with Gothic elements. The museum is divided into five different permanent sections: Mineralogy ; Paleontology ; Natural History of Man ; Invertebrate Zoology ; and Vertebrate Zoology . The museum also exhibits the largest Italian collection of full size dioramas that allow visitors to observe some peculiar aspects of various ecosystems.

San Paolo Converso

San Paolo Converso is a former Roman Catholic church in Milan, region of Lombardy, Italy. Built in 1546-1580 for the convent of the Order of the Angeliche, it has a nave with barrel vault with a wall dividing the church reserved to the nuns to that for the common faithful, like in San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore. The Baroque façade was designed in 1613 by Giovan Battista Crespi. The interior houses canvasses from the Cremonese masters Giulio, Antonio and Vincenzo Campi. The hall of the nuns had once a Pentecost by Simone Peterzano, now in the nearby church of Sant'Eufemia. The church is now privately owned.

Santa Maria presso San Satiro

Santa Maria presso San Satiro is a church in Milan. The Italian Renaissance structure houses the early medieval shrine to Satyrus, brother of Saint Ambrose. The church is known for its false apse, an early example of trompe l'œil, attributed to Donato Bramante.

The Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera , also known as the Accademia di Brera or Brera Academy, is a state-run tertiary public academy of fine arts in Milan, Italy. It shares its history, and its main building, with the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan's main public museum for art. In 2010 an agreement was signed to move the accademia to a former military barracks, the Caserma Magenta in via Mascheroni, but the move had not happened by early 2017.

Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio

The Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio is a church in the centre of Milan, northern Italy.

Casa di Riposo per Musicisti

The Casa di Riposo per Musicisti is a home for retired opera singers and musicians in Milan, northern Italy, founded by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi in 1896. The building was designed in the neo-Gothic style by Italian architect, Camillo Boito. Both Verdi and his wife, Giuseppina Strepponi are buried there. A documentary film about life in the Casa di Riposo, Il Bacio di Tosca , was made in 1984 by the Swiss director Daniel Schmid.