Certosa Of Pavia

The Certosa di Pavia is a monastery and complex in Lombardy, Northern Italy, situated near a small town of the same name in the Province of Pavia, north of Pavia. Built in 1396–1495, it was once located on the border of a large hunting park belonging to the Visconti family of Milan, of which today only scattered parts remain. It is one of the largest monasteries in Italy.

''Certosa'' is the Italian name for a house of the cloistered monastic order of Carthusians founded by St. Bruno in 1044 at Grande Chartreuse. Though the Carthusians in their early centuries were known for their seclusion and asceticism and the plainness of their architecture, the Certosa is renowned for the exuberance of its architecture, in both the Gothic and Renaissance styles, and for its collection of artworks which are particularly representative of the region.

History

Gian Galeazzo Visconti, hereditary lord and first Duke of Milan, commissioned the building of the Certosa to the architect Marco Solari, inaugurating the works and laying the foundation stone on August 27, 1396, as recorded by a bas-relief on the facade. The location was strategically chosen midway between Milan and Pavia, the second city of the Duchy, where the Duke held his court, at the end of the Visconti Park, which connected the Certosa to the castle of Pavia.

The Certosa is also the result of linked political tensions created by the new aspirations and political ideals of Gian Galeazzo, now oriented in a monarchical sense. In 1385 Gian Galeazzo with a coup d'etat deposed his uncle Bernabò and reunited the Visconti domains under himself, however the new lord of Milan, like his father Galeazzo II, resided and maintained his court in Pavia, thus recalling the memory (of the which he intended to be heir) of the Lombard kings and of the kingdom of Italy who, in the Royal Palace of Pavia, had placed the center of their royalty. In 1386, wanting to underline its centrality questioned by the choices of the lord, the people of Milan decided to rebuild a new building: the Milan Cathedral. However, relations between Gian Galeazzo and the heads of the factory (chosen by the citizens of Milan) were often tense: the lord intended to transform the cathedral into the mausoleum of the dynasty, inserting the funeral monument of his father Galeazzo II in the central part of the cathedral and this found the fort opposition from both the factory and the Milanese, who wanted to emphasize their autonomy. A clash arose, which forced Gian Galeazzo to decide the foundation of a new construction site intended exclusively for the Visconti dynasty: the Certosa of Pavia, to which, unscrupulously, he assigned many employees of the Duomo factory on several occasions, including high-level ones, such as Giacomo da Campione or Giovannino de 'Grassi. In the intentions of the duke, the Duomo was the church of the nobles, patricians, people, artisan and merchant guilds of Milan, the Certosa was instead the expression of a new state form: the Duchy.
The church, the last edifice of the complex to be built, was to be the family mausoleum of the Visconti. It was designed as a grand structure with a nave and two aisles, a type unusual for the Carthusian Order. The nave, in the Gothic style, was completed in 1465.

Given the absence of marble and stone quarries in the vicinity of the Certosa, around the middle of the fifteenth century, the problem arose of finding the stone material necessary for the continuation of the construction site. The Carthusians, who enjoyed substantial and constant income guaranteed by the vast agricultural funds donated by Gian Galeazzo Visconti and his successors to the Certosa and strong both financial and political support of the Sforza, unlike other large contemporary Lombard factories, such as that of the cathedral of Milan and that of the Cathedral of Pavia, never acquired their own marble quarries, but always relied on private suppliers, relying mainly on the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano. Already in 1463 the Milanese yard supplied the marble for the capitals of the cloisters and in 1473 a contract was stipulated between the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo and the monks of the Certosa, thanks to which the Fabbrica undertook to guarantee continuous supplies of marble and building stone to the Certosa. Control over the marble was entrusted to Guiniforte Solari, who at the time was responsible for both construction sites. The materials, which, similarly to those for the Milan Cathedral, enjoyed the ducal exemption from duties, reached the Certosa via the Navigliaccio and were disembarked in Binasco, from where they continued by cart to the construction site, however, after the restoration of the section navigation between Binasco and Pavia (1473) it was possible to unload the marbles and stones directly at the Certosa. Also in 1473 the work of coating and decoration of the facade of the monastery began, for which the Carthusians decided to use, a unique case in the Lombard area, the Carrara marble, then considered of greater value than that of Candoglia and the cost of which was higher than the other materials available in the Ossola area.
As early as 1476 the Carthusians formed relations with some families of merchants and quarrymen of Carrara, such as the Maffioli, tenants of the quarries of the Marquis Malaspina. The precious marble, after being embarked in Carrara, arrived by ship, after having circumnavigated Italy, at the mouth of the Po, from where it then went up to Pavia. The traffic of Carrara marble towards the Certosa was so voluminous that the Carthusians themselves came to resell it to other Lombard shipyards and in particular to the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano.

However, since the foundation, the Renaissance had spread in Italy, and the rest of the edifice was built according to the new style, redesigned by Giovanni Solari, continued by his son Guiniforte Solari, and including some new cloisters. Solari was followed as director of the works by Giovanni Antonio Amadeo, (1481–1499). The church was consecrated on May 3, 1497. The lower part of the façade was not completed until 1507.

The construction contract obliged the monks to use part of the revenue of the lands held in benefice to the monastery to continue to improve the edifice. Consequently, the Certosa includes a huge collection of artworks of all centuries from the 15th to the 18th.

The Carthusian monks who lived there were initially twelve, in total cloistered life, and bound by a contract that provided for the use of part of their proceeds (fields, land, income, etc.) for the construction of the monastery itself. In the eighteenth century the monastery was the owner of large estates (in part already donated by Gian Galeazzo and his successors) scattered in the fertile countryside between Pavia and Milan, such as Badile, Battuda, Bernate, Binasco, Boffalora, Borgarello, Carpiano (it was the property of the monks also the castle of Carpiano and the church of San Martino), Carpignano, Milan, Giovenzano, Graffignana, Landriano, Magenta, Marcignago, Opera, Pairana, Pasturago, Quintosole, San Colombano (where they also controlled the castle of San Colombano) Torre del Mangano , Trezzano, Velezzo, Vidigulfo, Vigano Certosino, Vigentino, Villamaggiore, Villanterio, Villareggio and Zeccone, which added up to 2,325 hectares (5,745 acres)of irrigated land. In addition, the Certosa also owned a large palace, with a garden and oratory in Milan, in the parish of San Michele alla Chiusa, a palace and the church of Santa Maria d'Ognissanti in Pavia and, from the second half of the 17th century, of a large farm specialized in the production of wine, with a building (called Certosa Cantù), in Casteggio.
In 1560, the Prior General of the Carthusians, a certain Piero Sarde, authorized the installation of suitable equipment for the printing of missals and choirbooks, and on 28 August he invited all the Carthusian monasteries of Italy to supply themselves exclusively with the products of the new printing house (the first book ''Breviarium Carthusiensis'' was printed in 1561).

In 1782, the Carthusians were expelled by the Emperor Joseph II of Austria, and were succeeded at the Certosa by the Cistercians in 1784 and then by the Carmelites in 1789. In 1796, in retaliation for the revolt in Pavia, the lead covering of the church roof was removed by the French against Napoleon's army, as well as the liturgical silverware and the large canopy, covered with gold flakes and stones precious, used for the '' Corpus Domini'' procession. In 1810 the monastery was closed until the Carthusians reacquired it in 1843. In 1866 it was declared a National Monument and sequestrated by the Italian State, although some Benedictines resided there until 1880. The monks currently living in the monastery are Cistercians admitted to it in the 1960s.

In August 1946 the illegally exhumed body of Benito Mussolini was discovered in the complex. Two Franciscan friars were charged with assisting in the concealment of the body.

The church

Access to the monastic complex is through a Renaissance-era vestibule, frescoed both inside and out. In the faded entrance lunette, two angels hold the coat of arms of the client Gian Galeazzo, with the Visconti snake and the imperial eagle. The upper decoration, drawn by Bernardino de 'Rossi in 1508, is better preserved. Inside, a marble arch with plant motifs bears tondi with the effigies of Gian Galeazzo and Filippo Maria Visconti. On the sides, the saints Christopher and Sebastian by Bernardino Luini, a follower of Leonardo. The whole interior is covered with Renaissance motifs in bright colors and decorated with the GRA-CAR monogram (''Gratiarum Chartusia'', Charterhouse of Grace).
The church is built on a Latin cross plan, with a nave, two aisles and transept, typical of Gothic architecture. The chancel terminates with an apse. It is covered by crossed vaults on Gothic arches and is inspired, on a reduced scale, by the Duomo of Milan. The vaults are alternatively decorated with geometrical shapes and starry skies. The transept and the main chapel end with square-plan chapels with smaller, semi-circular apses on three sides.

The façade of the church is famous for its exuberant decorations, typical of Lombard architecture, every part being decorated with reliefs, inlaid marble and statues. Sculptors who worked on it include Cristoforo Mantegazza and Giovanni Antonio Amadeo himself and Benedetto Briosco. In addition to applied sculpture, the facade itself has a rich sculptural quality because of the contrast between richly textured surfaces, projecting buttresses, horizontal courses and arched openings, some of which are shadowed, while those in the small belfries are open to the sky. The façade, created by superimposing simple rectangles, is loaded with decorations, a typical procedure of Lombard Renaissance architecture and is made of Carrara marble and to a lesser extent Candoglia marble, stone of Varenna, Saltrio stone and Egyptian red porphyry (probably derived from architectural finds from the Roman age).

The sober form of the roughly finished brick front can be seen in a fresco by Ambrogio Bergognone in the apse of the right transept, painted in 1492–1495, when work was commencing on the new facade, portraying Gian Galeazzo Visconti offering the model of the Certosa to the Blessed Virgin. Its profile, with roofs on three levels, has been compared to the churches of Santa Maria del Carmine in Pavia and San Petronio in Bologna; among the architects in close correspondence at all three projects, Borlini ascribes the form of the original facade at the Certosa to Giacomo da Campione, who was working at Pavia while his uncle Matteo was completing San Giovanni in Monza.

The architect Giovanni Solari, in building the double row of arcades down the flanks of the church, modified its appearance. After his death he was succeeded in Pavia by his son Guiniforte Solari, but work came to a halt with the death of Guiniforte in 1478.

In 1492 Gian Giacomo Dolcebuono took up the construction, assisted on site, for he was concurrently occupied with the cathedrals at Pavia and at Milan and other churches, by his inseparable collaborator on both cathedrals, Giovanni Antonio Amadeo. In their hands the project was thoroughly redesigned. Scores of artists were involved. The classicist style portal is by Benedetto Briosco (1501). The porch has a large arch of classicist form resting on paired Corinthian columns which are each surmounted by a very strongly modelled cornice on which the arch rests, the construction being derived from the Classical, used by Brunelleschi, and employed here for a bold and striking effect. The decoration is of bas-reliefs illustrating the ''History of the Certosa''. Above the central arch is a shallow balcony of three arches, above which rises the central window.

This campaign was interrupted in 1519 as work was going forward by the condition of French occupation in Lombardy after the War of the League of Cambrai. French troops were encamped round the Certosa. Notations of work on the facade did not resume until 1554, when a revised design under the direction of Cristoforo Lombardo was approved for the completion of the facade above the second arcade; there marble intarsia was substituted for the rich sculptural decorations of the lower area. Some final details were added by Galeazzo Alessi.

Paintings

The frescoes that adorn the walls and vaults of the transept are due, as has been said, to Ambrogio Bergognone assisted by a group of unknown masters, including the very young Bernardo Zenale. A strong imprint of Bramante emerges from these works, in the balance of the proportions and the precision of the perspectives. In the right apse of the transept, Bergognone's fresco with ''Gian Galeazzo Visconti presents the Virgin with the model of the Charterhouse, between Filippo Maria Visconti, Galeazzo Maria Sforza and Gian Galeazzo Sforza'', made between 1490-1495, while the apse on the left represents ''the coronation of Mary between Francesco Sforza and Ludovico Sforza'', with which the latter wanted to celebrate his dynastic succession, obtained not without controversy after the death of his nephew Gian Galeazzo Sforza. The two altarpieces facing each other at opposite ends of the transept are Giovanni Battista Crespi's Baroque masterpieces, the ''Madonna and ss. Charles and Hugues de Grenoble'' painted in 1617-18, as well as the ''Madonna and Saint Bruno''.

The Certosa has painted masterpieces by Bergognone including the panels of ''St. Ambrose '' (1490), and ''San Siro'' (1491) and, most significantly, the ''Crucifixion'' (1490). Other works by Bergognone are now found in other museums of Europe.

Other paintings in the church include a ''Holy Father'', panels by Giovanni Battista Crespi, Il Morazzone, Guercino, Francesco Cairo and Daniele Crespi, and a remnant of a polyptych by Perugino. Originally depicting the '' Madonna and Saints'', it is now disassembled and scattered among museums: the only portion in the Certosa is ''God the Father with cherubim''. An'' Annunciation'' has disappeared; three panels, the'' Virgin Adoring the Infant Christ'', ''St. Michael'' and'' St. Raphael with Tobias'' are on display at the National Gallery of London, in the United Kingdom.

In the southern transept is the tomb of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, begun in 1494–1497 by Giovanni Cristoforo Romano and Benedetto Briosco, but completed only in 1562. The northern transept houses the tomb of Ludovico Sforza, 7th Duke of Milan, and his wife Beatrice d'Este. The sculptures on the tomb were carried here in 1564 from the Milanese church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, the statues generally being considered the masterwork of Cristoforo Solari.

In the Cappella di San Michele (St Michael's Chapel) are frescoes by Carlo Francesco Nuvolone