| Church of Santa Maria presso San Celso | |
|---|---|
Chiesa di Santa Maria dei Miracoli presso San Celso (Italian) | |
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| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Province | Milan |
| Status | Active |
| Location | |
| Location | Corso Italia #37,Milan, Italy |
 Interactive map of Church of Santa Maria presso San Celso | |
| Coordinates | 45°27′17″N9°11′16″E / 45.454599°N 9.187647°E /45.454599; 9.187647 |
| Architecture | |
| Architects | Gian Giacomo Dolcebuono;Giovanni Battagio |
| Type | Church |
| Style | Renaissance;Baroque |
| Groundbreaking | 1493 |
| Completed | 16c |
Santa Maria dei Miracoli presso San Celso (St Mary of the Miracles near San Celso) is aRoman Catholic church and a sanctuary inMilan,Lombardy, northernItaly.
Annexed to Santa Maria is theRomanesque church of San Celso, dedicated to the martyrSaint Celsus, which was largely demolished. It was begun circa 396 AD after StAmbrose, bishop of Milan putatively found the tomb of this saint (and of St Nazarius) at this site.
The church of San Celso we see today was erected just before the year 1000 by the bishop of Milan Landulfo II. It was at this time attached to a Benedictine monastery. Initially the facades of Santa Maria and San Celso were in parallel. In the early 19th century, the nave was reduced in length to a third of its original size, and before it now is a small garden. In the 1830s, the monastery was also demolished.
The façade, refurbished in the 19th century, has a gothicrose window and a Romanesque portal with animal figures decoration. Also from the 11th century is the bell tower.
In the year 1430, a small chapel was built to shelter a fading fresco of the Virgin and Child painted on a wall next to San Celso. In 1485, while a plague was afflicting the city, during a crowded mass held on December 30, a curtain that was covering this fresco putatively was parted by an apparition of the Virgin and her child. This miracle was assumed to have led to the waning of the plague.[1]
This miracle led to increased attendance of devotees seeking to see the miraculous icon of the Madonna and Child. This led to the commission of a larger church, first designed in 1493 byGian Giacomo Dolcebuono andGiovanni Battagio in 1493, initially on the central plan. The first part to be built was the octagonal dome, covered externally by atambour with a loggia and arcades decorated by twelve brickwork statues byAgostino De Fondulis, designed in Lombard style byGiovanni Antonio Amadeo (1494-1498). Soon this structure was deemed to small, and by 1506 it was enlarged with two aisles was added to the original edifice, the former covered by a monumentalbarrel vault also by Amadeo; the presbytery received a polygonalambulatory inspired to that in theDuomo.
In the 16th century also the squareportico in classical style was added, perhaps designed byCesare Cesariano orCristoforo Lombardo (il Lombardino). The massive eclectic andMannerist style façade was designed byGaleazzo Alessi in the late 16th century and was realized byMartino Bassi; it is decorated by numerous statues and reliefs. The statues of Adam and Eve were sculpted byStoldo Lorenzi and the sybyls byAnnibale Fontana. Before the facade is a porticoed courtyard; the street front has a stone wall with two doors.
From 1595 the organist was the keyboard virtuosoGiovanni Paolo Cima.
The interior houses numerous works by Milanese Renaissance and Baroque artists, such asGiovan Battista Crespi (il Cerano),Carlo Francesco Nuvolone,Antonio Campi,Bergognone,Callisto Piazza and others.The second chapel altarpiece on the right depicts theMartyrdom of St Nazarius and Celsus (1606) byGiulio Cesare Procaccini. The spandrels below the dome were frescoed with the evangelists Luke and John byDaniele Crespi, while Mark and Matthew were frescoed byGuglielmo Caccia (il Moncalvo).
Notable are theBaptism of Jesus byGaudenzio Ferrari andGiovan Battista della Cerva, theFall of St Paul byMoretto and on the altar of the right transept, an altarpiece byParis Bordone. The lectern of the choir is byGiuseppe Meda.
In the left transept, within an altar designed by Martino Bassi, is the venerated marble statue of theAssunta byAnnibale Fontana (1586) with two later angels by Giulio Cesare Procaccini.
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