Milan Cathedral | |
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Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of the Nativity of Saint Mary | |
Basilica cattedrale metropolitana di Santa Maria Nascente (Italian) | |
Milan Cathedral from the Square
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45°27′51″N 9°11′29″E / 45.46417°N 9.19139°ECoordinates: 45°27′51″N 9°11′29″E / 45.46417°N 9.19139°E | |
Location | Via Carlo Maria Martini, 1 20122 Milan |
Country | Italy |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Tradition | Ambrosian Rite |
Website | Milan Duomo |
Architecture | |
Status | Cathedral, minor basilica |
Functional status | Active |
Architect(s) |
Simone da Orsenigo et al. |
Style | Italian Gothic |
Groundbreaking | 1386 (original building) |
Completed | 1965 |
Specifications | |
Capacity | 40,000 |
Length | 158.6 metres (520 ft) |
Width | 92 metres (302 ft) |
Nave width | 16.75 metres (55.0 ft) |
Height | 108 metres (354 ft) |
Other dimensions | Facade facing West |
Dome height (outer) | 65.6 metres (215 ft) |
Number of spires | 135 |
Spire height | 108.5 metres (356 ft) |
Materials | Brick with Candoglia marble |
Administration | |
Archdiocese | Archdiocese of Milan |
Clergy | |
Archbishop | Angelo Scola |
Laity | |
Director of music | Claudio Burgio |
Organist(s) | Emanuele Carlo Vianelli (organista titolare) |
Milan Cathedral (Italian: Duomo di Milano [ˈdwɔːmo di miˈlaːno]; Lombard: Domm de Milan [ˈdɔm de miˈlã]) is the cathedral church of Milan, Italy. Dedicated to St Mary of the Nativity (Santa Maria Nascente), it is the seat of the Archbishop of Milan, currently Cardinal Angelo Scola. The Gothic cathedral took nearly six centuries to complete. It is the largest church in Italy (the larger St. Peter's Basilica is in the State of Vatican City) and the fifth largest in the world.
Milan's layout, with streets either radiating from the Duomo or circling it, reveals that the Duomo occupies what was the most central site in Roman Mediolanum, that of the public basilica facing the forum. The first cathedral, the "new basilica" (basilica nova) dedicated to St Thecla, was completed by 355. It seems to share, on a slightly smaller scale, the plan of the contemporaneous church recently rediscovered beneath Tower Hill in London. An adjoining basilica was erected in 836. The old octagonal baptistery, the Battistero Paleocristiano, dates to 335 and still can be visited under the Milan Cathedral. When a fire damaged the cathedral and basilica in 1075, they were rebuilt as the Duomo.