Duomo of Milan - The Church That Took 600 Years to Finish

The Milan Cathedral, or as it's called in Italian, the Duomo di Milano, is the Cathedral of Milan, Italy. It's dedicated to the nativity of Saint Mary, and has some seriously interesting lore behind it. There's no other cathedral quite like it in the world. Construction officially began over 630 years ago, in 1386. Bishop Antonio de Saluzzo and the ruler of Milan at the time, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, had grand plans for the cathedral. They originally started building with terracotta stone, but switched to Condolian marble when they realized just how big this thing was going to end up being. The entire building is now made of this unique, pink-hued marble. Today, Italian marble is often still considered to be the best, even if you're making a kitchen counter instead of a towering cathedral. They needed so much marble that in order to bring it all from the quarries of Condolia, they built canals specifically for that purpose. Apparently, normal roads were just not going to cut it, so a designated waterway was needed. You can still see the evidence of this channel today along the famous Navigli. This cathedral was a huge, collaborative effort. Thousands of artists and sculptors were involved in its construction. 78 different architects from all over Europe were invited to come work on it over the years. Some of the most famous architects of the time were involved. Leonardo da Vinci, for instance, submitted a model as part of a contest to see who would design the central cupola, or dome. However, he ended up taking back his submission. Because so many different architects worked on the project, the cathedral is a blend of a variety of different styles. Neoclassic, Baroque, and decorative Gothic. If you were to look down at Milan from a plane, you would be able to see that the cathedral is the center point of the city. The whole layout of Milan is based around the cathedral. From the air, it's also easier to tell that the Duomo, like many medieval cathedrals, is shaped like a cross. This isn't always obvious from the ground, due to its enormous size. Perhaps in due part to just how many people ended up being involved, construction really dragged on. To say that the cathedral was behind schedule would be a bit of an understatement. It was officially consecrated in 1418, but only the nave was really finished at that time. The cathedral was far from finished. In fact, it wouldn't be officially finished for another 547 years. Generations of people worked on this building without ever seeing it completed, which is a strange thing to imagine for the modern mind. As you may have guessed, construction didn't exactly run for 547 years uninterrupted. Changes in leadership and logistical issues slowed things down. As new architects were brought in, they would bring their own ideas, and even more would get added to the project. Certainly a case of too many cooks in the cathedral. For instance, Jean Minot, a famous French architect, was brought in to consult in 1399. They hoped he would be able to help them with an issue the stonemasons were having. They needed some sort of new device to help them lift stones higher than they had ever had to lift them for construction before. Instead of proposing some sort of helpful machine, Minot just declared that everything they had done up until that point was in pericolo di ruina, meaning peril of ruin. I'm sure all the workers appreciated being told that their life's work could collapse at any moment. Minot also told them that their work had been done sanciencia, meaning without science. Although Minot's assessment ended up being totally wrong, and the structure didn't fall apart, his criticism scared the builders into improving their instruments and techniques. So in a way, he was actually helpful in the long run. Another reason construction took forever is simply due to the cathedral's sheer size. There are only four churches bigger than it in the world – St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil, Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, and Seville's Cathedral. The Milan Cathedral is older than all of those churches, something which makes its size all the more impressive. It covers over 100,000 square feet and an entire city block. It's 354 feet tall and can fit 40,000 people. Not only is the cathedral a work of art in and of itself, it contains even more art within its walls. It's said that there are more statues inside of it than any other building in the world. There are 3,400 statues inside, as well as 135 gargoyles on the outside. The most well-known statue is a particularly disturbing one of St. Bartholomew. Bartholomew was one of the twelve apostles and was skinned alive by Rome as a punishment for spreading the gospel. The statue depicts Bartholomew holding his own skin over his shoulders, as if it were a jacket. The most popular thing to see at the cathedral is not the statues, but the view from the rooftop. The roof is available to the public and lets you look out over Milan. On a clear day, you can even see the snowy peaks of the Alps 173 miles away. You can also see the Madonna, a gold-colored statue of Mary that stands on top of the cathedral's tallest spire. If you ever visit the cathedral, don't get your hopes up for the view too much. Milan is notoriously cloudy and foggy. The Milanese consider it to be a nice day when the Madonnina is visible from a distance, since it's frequently covered by mist. The Madonnina is the most famous spire, but far from the only one. The cathedral has 135 spires, which is more than any other church. Each one is topped by a different statue of a biblical figure. Mark Twain was so impressed with the view from the cathedral that after visiting in 1867, he wrote, They say that the Cathedral of Milan is second only to St. Peter's at Rome. I cannot understand how it can be second to anything made by human hands. Oscar Wilde, however, wasn't as enthusiastic. When he visited in 1875, he wrote, The cathedral is an awful failure. However, it seems more people agree with Twain than Wilde. But the view and the statues are not the only unique things about this church. Near the main entrance, there is a sundial on the floor. The building was designed in such a way that a ray of sunlight from a hole in the wall hits the clock. It was made in 1768 by astronomers from the Accademia di Brera, but it's still surprisingly accurate, despite being installed some 254 years ago. Another unique feature of the church is marked by a red light bulb above the altar at the front of the church. The bulb marks the spot where one of the nails that was allegedly used in Jesus' crucifixion is kept. Once a year, on the Saturday closest to September 14th, the Archbishop of Milan ascends up to the nail in a wooden basket that's decorated with angels. This tradition is called the Rite of the Nivola and dates all the way back to the 1500s. Oddly enough, this ceremony is not named after the nail, which is the point of the whole thing. Nivola, which comes from the term Nimula, which is Lombard for cloud, is what the basket is called. Some historians think that it was Leonardo da Vinci who designed the device, which uses a system of pulleys to move people up to the top of the church. The story of how the cathedral eventually got finished is as interesting as how it got made in the first place, after being in various stages of development over the course of hundreds of Eventually, someone ordered it to just be finished already. That someone was not an Italian. It was Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1805. Having recently won a war, he was about to be crowned King of Italy. He ordered the Italians to finally wrap this project up. He told them that the French treasurer would reimburse them for the cost. This never actually happened, and France never paid them back like Napoleon said they would. But nevertheless, the cathedral's facade was at last completed. A statue of Napoleon was put at the top of one of the spires, and Napoleon was crowned King of Italy at the Duomo. But even this wasn't quite the end. Over the course of the next few years, most of the missing arches and spires were constructed. The cathedral is a very intricate building with a lot of detail, so even when it looked done, it wasn't fully done. Some statues on the southern wall were finally finished, and in the late 1800s, new stained glass windows were added. The real final endpoint is considered to be January 6th, 1965. That's when the last gate was inaugurated. However, even today, there are uncarved blocks that were clearly meant to be turned into statues, but are just sitting there. Some of this delay was partially due to the Allied bombing of Milan in World War II. Like some of the other cathedrals and cities that got bombed by the Allies, the Duomo suffered some damage. Although overall, it got off pretty easy. It was repaired relatively quickly, and became a place where displaced citizens would gather during the war. The Duomo was worth the wait. It is an amazing accomplishment, both in terms of architecture and beauty, as well as in the incredible length of time and the magnitude of generations across history that it took to be completed. For more videos on the most amazing forgotten parts of our history, be sure to subscribe to the Intrigued Mind channel, like the video, and leave your suggestions in the comments below.