Bolger Family Travels: After The Roof And St. Bartholomeo Statue, The Rest Of The Duomo Isn't Quite As Interesting

Tuesday, May 14, 2024

After The Roof And St. Bartholomeo Statue, The Rest Of The Duomo Isn't Quite As Interesting

Don't get me wrong. The rest of the Duomo is interesting to see. The stained glass, the apse, the nave, the pillars are all well worth seeing.

So the headline is NOT a knock on the rest of the Duomo. Instead it is more of recognition that the roof and the statue are so superb, stunning, and stupendous that the rest isn't quite as much the Wow! factor.

Veronica took us along the south side of the inside of the church, focusing on the stained glass. One piece of stained glass is modern, while the rest are quite old, dating from as far back as the 15th century. As per usual, the windows tell stories of the Old and New Testament to the peasants.

The nave is more than 500 feet from the massive, intricately carved doors at the entrance to the rose window past the altar.

There is a little red light on the cross above the altar, indicating the location where a nail from the cross of Jesus is kept. It is on display for just three days in the year, in mid-September.

(Whether the nail is actually from the cross is way, way beyond my abilities to divine. It was brought to Milan in the fourth century by Emperor Constantine's mom, St. Helen. Moving on before anyone gets upset.)

At the entrance there is a Zodiac line. At noon, a sunbeam shines in a tiny pinhole and indicates where we are on the zodiac calendar. Maybe it was the lack of lighting, but I couldn't get my camera to focus on the zodiac symbols, so you'll just have to go and see them yourselves.

There's also a 1,000 year old stone coffin of the once powerful, now dead, Archbishop Aribert. I wonder when the last year a boy was named Aribert, but I'd bet money there aren't Ariberts now.

There is also a red coffin belong to the Visconti family who commissioned the building of the church. I don't think they funded all 600 years of construction, but I could be wrong.

The church also has four 16th century pipe organs, which apparently are quite beautiful to hear.

Napoleon crowned himself king of Italy in 1805 under the dome over the altar. One good thing Napoleon did in Italy was to essentially finish construction of the church in 1810.