This is an excerpt from an email that I wrote back home to my family and friends while I was on my five-month solo European journey. It was written September 3, 2004, more than four months into my trip, although I made a few modifications to the original email for this blog.
Friday was spent touring around Milan, Italy. My first stop was the enormously huge and lavish Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral). The third largest cathedral in the Europe (only behind Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, and the Cathedral of Seville in Spain), and one of the biggest in the world, with 135 spires, 3200 statues, 150 gargoyles, 164 windows, 52 internal pillars, and it can hold a congregation of 40,000 people. Construction began in 1386 on this Cathedral, and continued over the next several hundred centuries. Yes, several hundred, being mostly completed in the 1800’s. (Almost taking as long as the freeway construction in Seattle.) But, the cathedral has been added to, modified, reconstructed, and renovated even well into the 20th century. Even as I was there, the front of the Duomo was covered with scaffolding.
Milan Cathedral (Wikipedia)
Roof with Scaffolding
What absolutely fascinated me about this cathedral was its size. It took me 11 minutes just to walk around the structure! Yes, I was walking slowly so that I could look at the detail of the statues, gargoyles, and architecture in awe, and also so that I could take many pictures. But nonetheless, it took that long to walk around it, and any less time spent walking around it would not have given it the time and attention it deserved.
Looking up at a Large Wall
Detail of Outside Wall
When I inside the Cathedral, I felt tiny, compared to how spacious it was. The ambiance inside was just as spectacular as the outside. It had some of the largest stained glass windows, and lots of beautiful and amazing sculptures and artwork. A spectacular combination of Renaissance, Baroque, and Gothic styles of art and architecture. Inside was also an organ with 15,000 pipes, which is almost twice as many as those in the Notre Dame in Paris, which “only” has 7800. I heard amazing music in the Notre Dame; how wonderful it would have been to have heard music in the Duomo! And, finally, the spirituality I felt inside the Duomo was calming, peaceful, and powerful for myself.
Me on the Roof
The Roof
The funnest part of my visit to this Cathedral was walking on the roof! After climbing 165 stairs (or if you prefer the elevator, you have that option; me, I chose the stairs), you can literally walk on the roof of the Duomo. Now, I have been up many bell towers in cathedrals before, but usually, you just are confined to the tower to see the views. But here, you can roam around on various parts of the roof, from one end to the other. Pretty incredible and surprising to be this close, face to face, with the architecture, statues, and gargoyles. It feels like you are on top of the world. Well, not really, but pretty close. At least, you are on top of Milan. They even say that on a clear day (which it wasn’t for me) you can see the Alps from up there, and if you are in certain areas of the Alps, you can actually see the Duomo. Now, that just shows how large this building is.
View of Milan from the Roof
After all this, and then thinking about the manpower and creativity it took to build such a work of art and architecture, I have now decided who my new heroes are….the dozens of architects and builders, the hundreds of sculptures (around 300, I read), the plenty of painters and artists who created this mind boggling, fascinating masterpiece. And all of the other many, many architects, builders, sculptures, painters, and artists who have made all the other hundreds of churches and cathedrals that I have seen thus far on my journey throughout Europe! And to think…this had been done without the modern equipment, machinery, or computers we have today…brilliant…
Details of the Art
About a week later, I was in Rome and visited the Saint Peter’s Basilica. I have yet to get to Spain to visit the Cathedral of Seville.
Sweet Travels!