19.5.5 Journey to Italy-Milan

When it comes to Italy, Milan is the first city that many people think of, because it is the city of football, the capital of fashion and design. Europe's four major economic centers, the world opera center, the world art capital, and the world historical and cultural city. The next series of Italian travels begins in Milan.

Italy, the full name of Italy and China, is a European country, which is mainly composed of the Apennine Peninsula in southern Europe and two islands in the Mediterranean, Sicily and Sardinia. With a land area of 31,333 square kilometers and a population of 6.2 million, the Alps in the north are bordered by France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia, and its territory is also surrounded by two micro-countries-San Marino and Vatican.

Milan, known as Mediolanium in ancient Rome, is the second largest city in Italy, the capital of Milan province and lombardia, located on the Lombardy Plain. Milan is also one of the world-famous international metropolises, one of the eight metropolitan areas in the world, the most developed city in Italy and one of the four economic centers in Europe (Paris, London, Berlin, Italy), the world fashion and design capital and the most influential city in the fashion industry, the world historical and cultural city, the world opera holy land and the world art capital.

Milan is an important transportation point in southern Europe, with a long history. It is famous for its architecture, fashion, art, painting, opera, football, tourism and so on. The GDP of Milan Metropolitan Area accounts for 4.8% of Italy's GDP, and it is the most densely populated and industrially developed area in Europe.

The first thing that catches people's eyes is the Alps Snow Mountain seen on the plane.

The first day after arriving in Milan, we started with an authentic Italian breakfast.

However, as the essence of Espresso, this flavor is rather strong, and not everyone can get used to it.

Espresso is known as the "soul of coffee". With a perfect cup of Espresso, all kinds of coffee like Cappuccino, Mocha and Latte can be brewed.

about the origin of Espresso, it is said that "at the beginning of the 2th century, there lived an engineer who loved coffee near Napoli, Italy, but at that time, he had to make coffee with drip, which was very slow and required a long wait to enjoy a small cup of coffee. The impatient engineer was very impatient, so he tried to study a method to shorten the time of making coffee with high temperature and high pressure, and invented a unique Italian fast coffee preparation in memory.

its biggest feature is the cohesion of fragrance and taste. Generally, the orthodox drinking method is to add sugar, stir it slightly, and then start drinking when the temperature reaches the level of drinking. While enjoying the fragrant taste, the intake of caffeine is greatly reduced.

at present, "Espresso" has almost become a representative symbol of Italy.

When talking about the famous scenic spots in Milan, most people naturally think of Milan Cathedral. As the center of Milan, Milan Cathedral is naturally the most important tourist distribution center. After standing out from DUOMO, there is a "? The magnificent Emanuele II Gallery (La Galleria Vittorio Emanuele 2), known as the Milan parlor. The north side of the cloister is similar to the arcade in Guangzhou. There are many famous brand stores such as H&; M, Givenchy, GUCCI, etc.

above the promenade is a glass roof with a steel frame. The two intersecting streets are cross-shaped, with a length of 196 meters from north to south and 15 meters from east to west.

The center of the octagon has a mosaic depicting the four continents of the earth: Europe, America, Africa and Asia. It is said that Giuseppe Mengoni, 1829-1877), the architect who designed this arcade, was very dedicated. Every day, he climbed a very high vault to check the quality of the project and see if the covered glass process was seamless. Finally, one day when the project was about to be completed, I unfortunately fell down and gave my precious life to my beloved architectural art. Emmanuel arcade has also become his masterpiece, which is admired by the world.

The ground of the whole promenade is a mosaic pattern paved with marble, the central pattern is the national emblem of the Kingdom of Italy, and the white cross with red background originated from the Principality of Savoy.

It is surrounded by emblems of four important Italian cities: the bull in Torino, the female wolf in Rome, the lily in Florence and the Red Cross on a white background in Milan.

flocks of pigeons rise and fall in the square in front of the cathedral, and the bronze statue of Vittorio Emanuele II, the first Italian king, riding a horse faces Milan Cathedral? . This bronze statue of riding a horse was carved by Ercole Rosa in 1896, depicting his riding to inspire soldiers to charge in the Battle of San Martino. There are four groups of sculptures showing the war around here. There is a lion sitting on the south side and a lion sitting on the north side. Under the claws are shields and olive branches. There is a bronze wreath on the east side.

Vittorio Emanuele II (March 14th, 182 ~ January 9th, 1878), Italian: Vittorio Emanuele II. From 1849 to 1861, he was king of Sardinia-Piedmont. When the Apennine Peninsula was reunified, many different groups could not reach a consensus on the system that should be implemented in reunifying the country. One of the suggestions is that a confederation system should be established under the rule of the Pope. But many major revolutionary groups want to establish a Republic. In the end, vittorio Emmanuel II, the king, and Gafur, the prime minister, mastered the power to unify the monarchy and became the first king after risorgimento (1861-1878).

Next, we came to Milan Cathedral, the highlight of this trip.

As a famous Catholic church in Italy, it is also called "Dumo Cathedral", Duomo Cathedral and Duomo Cathedral. It is the largest Gothic building in the world, one of the five largest churches in the world, and the second largest in overall scale in the world, second only to St. Peter's Church in the Vatican, and also one of the most influential churches in the world.

construction started in 1386, the vault was completed in 15, and the gilded statue of the Virgin Mary was put in place on the central tower in 1774. It was finally completed in 1897 and lasted for five centuries.

Milan Cathedral plays an extremely important role in religious circles, and the famous Milan Pardon was promulgated here, which legalized Christianity and became the state religion of the Roman Empire. Here, Leonardo da Vinci bramante has painted countless design drafts for him, in order to make the cathedral more magnificent.

Napoleon was crowned in Milan Cathedral in 185. And Leonardo da Vinci invented the elevator for this building. Milan Cathedral is also the main church of the Catholic Diocese of Milan, which is the largest diocese in the world. Milan Cathedral is not only a church and a building, but also a spiritual symbol and symbol of Milan, and a miracle in the history of world architecture and world civilization.

This church is made of white marble, which American writer Mark Twain called "the poem of marble". The whole building is Latin cross, and its length is greater than its width. The church is 158 meters long and 93 meters wide at its widest point. It has a total area of 11,7 square meters and can accommodate 35, people.

the characteristic of the church is its appearance. Pointed arches, pilaster, flower window lattice, there are 135 spires, which pierce the sky like dense Tallinn, and there is a statue of God on each spire. There are more than 2 statues outside the church, which is very strange. If there are more than 6, statues in the interior, it is the Gothic church with the most statues in the world. Therefore, the church building is particularly gorgeous and lively. This church has a steeple with a height of 17 meters, which was created by the Italian architect Berunoleski in the 15th century. There is a statue of the Virgin Mary on the top of the tower, which is golden, dazzling, magical and magnificent in the sun.

The west side of the church is divided into five bronze doors by six huge square columns (buttresses), which were completed from 1896 to 1965. Each bronze door is divided into many squares, and each square is carved with church history, myths and Bible stories.

The first bronze gate outside the church was completed in 1948, which shows the edict of Milan issued by the Roman emperors Constantine I and Lisini in Milan, Italy in 313. This imperial edict declared the freedom to believe in Christianity in the Roman Empire, returned the confiscated church property, and recognized the legal status of Christianity.

The edict of Milan is a turning point in the history of Christianity, which indicates that the rulers of the Roman Empire changed from a policy of combining repression and tolerance to a policy of protection and utilization, and from a persecuted "underground religion" to a recognized religion. The sculpture on the bronze gate reproduces the scene before the promulgation of the Decree of Milan. Early Christians were persecuted, and they were sentenced to various horrible punishments, their property was confiscated and their situation was miserable.

the second bronze gate is the entrance to visit, which was made in 195 and tells the life of San ambrogio. The predecessor of the cathedral is the shrine of Milan patron saint San Ambroggio.

The third largest bronze gate, located in the center, was completed in 196 and weighed 37 tons, depicting the life of the Virgin Mary.

The fourth bronze gate was completed in 195, and it tells the history of Milan from the fall of German emperor Frederick II to the Battle of Leniano.

The fifth bronze gate was completed in 1965, showing the history of the cathedral since the time of San Carlo Polomayo.

The lobby of Milan Cathedral has obvious characteristics of Gothic architecture: the lobby is about 13 meters long and 59 meters wide, and the distance between the pillars on both sides is not large, forming a strong momentum from the entrance to the altar. Sixty-two huge and towering cylindrical marble columns are arranged in four rows, which support an arched roof with a weight of 14, tons, and there are metal bars between the columns. Marble columns form five areas inside the church. The small black squares in the picture represent stone pillars.

There are dozens of rows of brown benches in the center of the hall, arranged in four rows, for believers to sit on when praying. The white marble floor is inlaid with black and red marble baroque patterns, realizing the fantasy of the famous Italian painter pellegrino Tibaldi.

The front of the cathedral is the Great Altar, a "little red dot" above its head. This is a small red light. It is said that it shines on an iron nail that nailed Jesus, and this nail is taken down to worship for three days every year. Leonardo da Vinci specially invented an elevator (the predecessor of modern elevators) for this purpose.

Four pillars supporting the central tower around the altar in the hall, each 4 meters high and 1 meters in diameter, are made of massive granite and covered with marble. 12 smaller columns, with total height of 26 meters and diameter of 3.5 meters. In the middle is the Eucharist niche, and on both sides of the Eucharist niche are the silver statues of Milan guardian saints Carlo and Amber.

Five meters away from the entrance gate, a Capricorn is painted on the north wall, which is called "Pole". The corresponding ground is inlaid with brass strips (that is, meridians), which are parallel to the gate.

there is a round hole near the first vault on the south side of the same line. The sun shines into the church from the small hole on the south side, and the winter solstice (December 21) just shines on the "pole" of the north wall. The summer solstice (June 21) shines at a specific position on the meridian. The specific position is represented by the corresponding constellation on the meridian. In order to let the sun enter the small hole, a gap is left in the carved stone fence on the south side of the church.

There are many paintings hanging inside the church.

Jesus chapel. The wooden crucifix of Christ was carried by St. Carlo during the parade in 1576 when the plague was prevalent.

"Trivulzio candlestick", five meters high and with seven branches, is exquisitely made. It was donated to the church by Father Giovanni Batista Trivulzio in 1562. It is a work by French craftsman Nicola da Weldon at the end of the 12th century.

The body of the Archbishop of Milan, whose face is covered with a silver mask, is the bishop's real body.

On the south side is The altar of Saint Giovanni Bono, which sculpts the bishop who leads Christianity in Milan.

His achievements are engraved in six marble bas-reliefs on the left and right.

There are other altars and sculptures on the south side.

There is one of the most famous sculptures in the church-the statue of Saint Bartholomew, which depicts the martyred saint Bartholomew. Before Christianity was recognized, the saint was skinned alive in order to preach, and the muscles, veins and bones on the statue were clearly visible. He held the Bible in his right hand and covered his shoulders with his own skin. The saint's facial expression is not a kind of pain, but a kind of compassion for all beings.

When you come out of the church, look outside. There are dozens of large reliefs and hundreds of figures carved on the front obelisk.

The whole church has six stone stairs and two elevators leading to the roof. There are 33 stone bridges criss-crossing the roof, connecting all parts of the roof. You can have a bird's eye view of the whole city when you climb the roof, and you can also see the scenery of the Alps stretching to Matterhorn in the distance on a clear day.

There are 135 Gothic marble minarets at the top of the church, each with a statue, 15 waterways and 41 marble supports, all decorated with reliefs. The steeple stands upright, giving people a sense of soaring, sublimation and detachment from the world. Lawrence, an English novelist, called the Cathedral "The Central Tower" the tallest, with a height of 18 meters, which is also the highest point of the cathedral. It was built in the 15th century and was built by the Italian architectural master Burunoleski.

The statue of the Lady of Assumption on the central tower was only built in 1774. It is a bronze statue with a height of 4.2 meters. The Madonna is wrapped in more than 3,9 gold leaves and weighs more than 7 kilograms. The whole statue shines brightly in the sun, representing love, and is the symbol of all Milanese. Like a hedgehog. "

As it is near Christmas, there is a Christmas market outside the church. It's quite festive.

There is also a performance by action art on the roadside.

Walking along the road, the building facing us is the Cathedral of Santo Stefano, also known as "Milan Bones Church", which is famous for its internal Bones Bank.

There are many bone churches in Europe, but the church of Santo Stefano is one of the earliest. The Czech bone church, the Polish bone church, the Portuguese bone church and the Austrian bone church were all built later than it. Tracing back to its history, in 1127, the local people built a hospital for the treatment of leprosy patients and a cemetery for burying the dead in front of San Tosfano Cathedral. Later, due to the sudden increase in the number of deaths and the lack of more cemeteries, a small house was built next to the church in 121 to store the remains. Later, in 1269, in order to comfort the dead, a small church was built next to this hut, which was the earliest human bone church.

In the 15th century, this church was requisitioned by Catholicism, which also became the origin of the name of the church. 16