Basilica di San Lorenzo di Milano
The Basilica of San Lorenzo ( Italian: Chiesa di San Lorenzo Maggiore ) in the Italian city of Milan is an early Christian church of the 4th century, which is consecrated to Saint Lawrence . It was started in Roman times and, despite redesigning since the Romanesque, still shows the original structure as a tetraconchus , i.e. a central building with four apses and four corner towers from the Romanesque period.
Building history
The beginnings are uncertain. Some researchers assume that construction began under the Arian bishop Auxentius (355–372), others suspect a function as an imperial burial place . A corresponding use for the army master Stilicho , who would also come into question as the builder of the church, was considered. Around 400, spoils from the amphitheater that had been in use until then were still being built . The church was first mentioned in a document around 500. Fires (1071 and 1104) prompted extensive reconstruction. The four towers that serve as abutments for the dome date from this time . In 1573 the dome collapsed, it was renewed in late Renaissance forms and completed with the lantern in 1619 . The vestibule set in front of the building with its facade made of high portal arches was built in 1894 in the spirit of the neo-Renaissance. Restorations in the 20th century exposed early Christian and Romanesque parts of the wall.
Building design
space
On the square in front of the facade, which takes up the area of an early Christian atrium (see S. Ambrogio ), there is a monument to Emperor Constantine I , a more recent bronze copy of the Roman original in the Lateran . In 313, with the so-called Edict of Milan, Constantine first allowed the practice of Christian worship in the Western Roman Empire. The square is closed by 16 columns, the so-called “Colonne di San Lorenzo”, one of the few remains from the time of the Roman Mediolanum , which were moved here in the 4th century from a thermal bath or theater building from the 2nd to 3rd centuries . The 9.5 m high fluted columns with Attic bases and composite capitals carry an architrave with a central arch.
Exterior construction
The main building is surrounded by some chapels . From the southeast you have the best view of the oldest components: the towers placed between the apses and the early Christian chapel extensions. The octagonal baptistery was added to the south conche in the late 4th or early 5th century , as a chapel of St. Aquilinus (Cappella di Sant'Aquilino ), said Milanese saint († 1015), but only dedicated in the 16th century. The apex chapel is dedicated to St. Hippolytus of Rome (S. Ippolito).
Interior
Inside, the early Christian building character with the four apses and the two-story gallery arcades can be seen better. The building is one of the oldest central structures in Western art. The term basilica refers to the ecclesiastical rank, not the type of building . The original spatial impression of the central building has been significantly changed by the renovations of the 16th century. For the early Christian-medieval period, one has to imagine a square instead of an octagonal position of the separating arches that delimit the room . The two-storey arcades, however, belong to the oldest stock of motifs and point to similar solutions as in Hagia Sophia , in San Vitale in Ravenna or the Aachen Cathedral .
The former baptistery (S. Aquilino) attached to the south contains significant remains of furnishings from the early period. A passage with marble reliefs from Roman times forms the connection. The mosaics of Christ teaching between the apostles in the southern apse and a fragment depicting the Old Testament prophet Elijah on the chariot give an idea of the original furnishings, and not only in this chapel room.
organ
The large organ in the apse was built in 1870 by the organ builder Pietro Bernasconi (Milan). In the instrument, pipe material was reused that had been built in 1840 by the organ builder Felice Bossi (Bergamo), which in turn contained pipe material from previous instruments. The purely mechanical instrument has three manual works (Grand'Organo, Organo Secondo, Concerto), playable from two manuals and pedal .
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- Coupling: II / II / P, Terza mano
Individual evidence
- ↑ Markus Löx: The Church of San Lorenzo in Milan: A Foundation of Stilicho? In: Communications of the German Archaeological Institute, Roman Department . Volume 114, 2008, pp. 407-438.
- ↑ Information on the organ ( Memento from November 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (Italian)
literature
- Heinz Schomann: Lombardy. Art monuments and museums (Reclam's art guide vol. 1,1), Stuttgart: Reclam, 1981, pp. 301–308.
Web links
Coordinates: 45 ° 27 '29.1 " N , 9 ° 10' 55" E