Information on the Cathedral Church

Milan Cathedral, as the Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Milan, welcomes anyone who wishes to enter it to pray and contemplate its beauty and the works of art it contains. The presence of large numbers of tourists however make it necessary to comply with a number of rules regarding behaviour, propriety of dress and observance of silence.

Everyday, from 8.00 am to 7.00 pm (last admission at 6.30 pm), the access through the Holy Door (the farthest north portal – Porta Minerbi, on the left side of the Cathedral) is reserved to worshippers.

From 7.00 am to 8.00 pm everyday, worshippers are able to enter also through the Cathedral side doors (Piazza del Duomo, Arcivescovado side).

The Cathedral numbers

– 108.50 m – the height of the Madonnina from the ground

– 4.16 m – the height of the Madonnina

– 158.50 m – the external length

– 93 m – the external length

– 11,700 mq – the internal surface area

– 325,000 tons – the total weight of the 3,400 statues

– 200 bas-reliefs, over 3,600 characters in the 55 stained glass windows, 135 spires, 96 gargoyles

Visitor data

– 6,000,000 – total number of visitors per year

– 75% – percentage of foreign visitors that come to Milan for the Duomo

– 4,500 – opening hours per year

– 110,000 – hours per year spent in restoration works

The Madonnina

The symbol of the city and patroness of the Milanese people, the Madonnina was raised onto the main spire of Milan Cathedral in late December 1774: the huge statue is composed of embossed and gilded copper plates, supported by a framework which is now in stainless steel. Origin and history

The first record of a proposal to place a statue of the Virgin Mary on the main spire can be found in a drawing by the architect Cesare Cesariano dated 1521, in which a central spire surmounted by a statue of Our Lady of the Assumption appears.

Francesco Croce, architect to the Veneranda Fabbrica, received the commission to build the main spire on 21 June 1762. In 1765, Croce suggested that the Great Spire should be decorated with a statue of the Virgin Mary carried up to heaven by angels.

The commission to make the statue was entrusted to the sculptor Giuseppe Perego, who in 1769 proposed several models; the first was rejected by the Fabbrica del Duomo due to the enormous size of the composition, in particular of the tall base composed of angels and cherubs amid clouds; the second was rejected because of the figures of angels at its foot; the third model was on the contrary approved and made with the addition of tiny heads of little angels amid clouds.

There are still terracotta models of the first and third proposals and these can be admired in the Madonnina Room of the Grande Museo del Duomo, where the full-sized model for the head carved from a single piece of walnut wood and the original interior structure of the Madonnina, replaced during the restoration work in 1967, are also on show.

The resolution to commission the statue was passed on 17 June 1769, entrusting the work for the model to the sculptor and model maker Giuseppe Antignati, while the blacksmith Varino made the supporting framework.

The goldsmith Giuseppe Bini was chosen to model and beat the copper plates onto the wooden model, while the gilding was accomplished using 156 books, each with 2 leafs of pure gold, at the suggestion of the painter Anton Raphael Mengs.

No particular ceremonies were held to mark the positioning of the Madonnina, which was completed in 1773, but remained in the Veneranda Fabbrica building until 30 October 1774 due to initial fear of thunderbolts and wind.

In August 1939, on the eve of World War II, the Madonnina was covered with a grey-green cloth and remained covered for five years, to avoid providing an easy target for fighter-bombers.

It was once again uncovered on 6 May 1945 with a solemn ceremony by Cardinal Schuster, then archbishop of Milan.

From 9 June to 27 July 1967, restoration of the Madonnina involved total dismantling of the copper plates and mordant regilding, as well as replacement of the original inner iron structure, which was dangerously corroded, with a new one in stainless steel.

The most recent work to regild the Madonnina was conducted in 2012, during restoration work on the Main Spire.

A few numbers:

• 4.16 m: the height of the Madonnina

• 33: the number of copper plates cladding the statue

• 399.200 kg: the weight of the plates

• 584.800 kg: the weight of the stainless steel supporting structure

• 6750: the sheets of pure gold foil used for the latest gilding work

The Duomo Organ

The great organ in the Milan Cathedral was built in 1938 by the Mascioni firm of Cuvio (Varese) and by Tamburini of Crema, and was restored and repositioned entirely in the Presbytery by Tamburini in 1986. It remains firmly in second place in Europe for the number of pipes and ranks (only to the instrument in Passau cathedral in Germany surpasses it), and it is one of the fifteen largest organs in the world.

The specifications of this “giant” instrument are truly impressive:

• 15,800 pipes, the longest being over nine metres long, and the smallest just a few centimetres

• Five organs (Great organ North and South sides – Positive and Recitative North side – Solo and Echo South side – Choir level with altar)

• Five consoles (principal five-manual console, altar-side three-manual console, choir two-manual console, two single-manual apse consoles)

Although these figures are amazing in themselves, the artistic characteristics are even more outstanding: the great cathedral organ was built by two of the most significant families of 20th century organ-makers. It combines the incomparable voice of Italian tradition with a decidedly eclectic range of stops, which guarantee the perfect interpretation of most works written for the organ, an instrument with a truly exceptional timbre for the execution of a Romantic and symphonic repertoire, on a par with Europe’s most important cathedral organs.

To this we must add the excellent craftsmanship of the processes and technologies employed by the organ-makers: there is nothing standardised or “industrial” in this organ, and every element was designed to create a unique instrument for a unique environment.

The organ was conceived in 1938 with a truly grandiose plan: seven organs were positioned in different points about the cathedral, in this order:

• Positive organ – corresponding to the 1st manual, high up in the large window above the altar of St. Tecla.

• Great organ – corresponding to the 2nd manual, in the two artistic cases on either side of the high altar.

• Recitative organ – corresponding to the 3rd manual, high up in the large window overlooking the ambulatory behind the choir (on the mass Sacristy side).

• Choir organ – corresponding to the 3rd manual, on the choir stall platform at the end of the Chapter choir; the principal five-manual console was located on the same choir stall, while the single-manual “choir” console was placed behind the high altar where it could be used to accompany the services of the Canons,

• Solo organ – corresponding to the 4th manual, high up in the window that overlooks the statue of St. Bartholomew.

• Echo organ – corresponding to the 5th manual, high up in the window that overlooks the ambulatory behind the choir (Chapter sacristy side).

The organ had its first performance on November 4, 1938 (the quatercentenary of the birth of St. Carlo Borromeo), with a performance of Lorenzo Perosi’s “Missa Sancti Caroli”. It was officially inaugurated in two memorable concerts on November 17 and 22 that same year by some of the best Italian organists of the day, Adolfo Bossi, Luigi Ferrari Trecate, Santo Spinelli, Ulisse Matthey and Fernando Germani. It lent itself superbly to the needs of the liturgy in the following decades until the mid-1960s when it became necessary to dismantle it completely so that unavoidable work could be carried out to reinforce the structure of the Duomo itself.

To compensate for a temporary lack of an organ, the Tamburini firm built a new choir organ with mechanical action, mounted on a motorised mobile trolley, which could be moved around to positions not affected by the building work.

When the conditions for the relocation of the original body of the organ were realised in 1984, the proposal was analysed carefully and an ambitious technical-architectural solution was adopted, grouping the various organ elements in the Presbytery. The many thousands of pipes formerly “scattered” around the cathedral were positioned behind the large windows above the sacristies. Two completely new cases were created, one on either side of the 16th century cases which, although perhaps aesthetically questionable, do have the advantage of grouping the sound material together, avoiding the significant problems of controlling the whole instrument and the stability of the tuning that were commonplace with the previous arrangement.

The large five-manual console (a true masterpiece) was positioned on the right side of the Presbytery, where it was the same distance from all the sound sections, while a secondary console with three manuals was positioned at ground level, on the left side of the altar opposite the choir organ, which it is linked to electro-mechanically This solution made it easier to accompany the choir, intervening in the case of solo performances or when a large sound was necessary, with part of the Presbytery divisions (Great organ North – 1st manual and Great organ South – 3rd manual).

The entire structure of the restored organ was ceremoniously inaugurated on September 8, 1986 with a concert by Luigi Benedetti, who was then the principal organist at the Milan Cathedral.

In the hands of the two principal cathedral organists, the instrument enhances all the services on the eve and the day of religious holidays, but has also proved its worth for concert performances given by some of the world’s most outstanding musicians.