Da Vinci
in Milan Gallery photo
Taurus the Bull Gallery photo |
Colleen McKay Although I bought my plane ticket for Milan to see Da Vinci's Last Supper in December I did not go online to purchase my ticket to for the museum. On March 11 they were sold out until May 17th. Luckily my California Mom Gloria has a cousin working in the tourist business in Milan. Elena was able to get either a 1:00 pm tour on Saturday March 28 for 8.00 Euros or a 9:30 am Sunday with an English tour guide for 11.25 Euros. I choose the Sunday morning and would pay for it when I got there. When I arrived on Friday morning the sky was clearing. I wanted to go to the top of the Duomo (cathedral) to take photos. I was lazy and paid the three extra Euros to take the elevator to the roof. It was not clear enough to see the Italian Alps. But I did get some great shots. After that I decided to locate where the Last Supper by Da Vinci was located. I wanted be sure to arrived at last twenty minutes prior to my reservations time of 9:30 am Sunday morning. You are given a timed entry and must be there early. A maximum of 25 people are allowed in for 15 minutes. It was less then fifteen minute walk from my hotel. On Saturday morning the Duomo plaza was cordoned off. It was the 27th annual Catholic Schools Day. Children were there getting goodie bags from corporate sponsors. They had banners indicating their school. The Bishop of Milan was there to bless the children. There was a brass band playing and local TV cameras interviewing the bishop. [Click here for a gallery photo.] Saturday was overcast. I decide to take the streetcar to the Monument Cemetery. The guide books listed it to view the gravesite sculptures. I was surprise by the number of gravesites with a photo of the deceased. The mausoleums were in a variety of styles looking like miniature gothic churches to modernistic columns. It appeared that the families come out and water the plants and flowers planted at graves. There was a rack of watering cans at the front of the cemetery. I came upon a gravesite of a woman who died in December 2008. I had a transit pass. When I saw something interesting a street market, church or a smart car I would get off take photos and wait for the next bus or tram. I did not make it back to my hotel for the 5:30pm Saturday evening Mass. I was not worried since there was one at 7:00 am 8:00 am and 9:00 am on Sunday. My plan was to attend the 7:00am Mass go back to the hotel for breakfast then to the Last Supper museum by 9:00am. I also did one of the very touristy things at the shopping arcade off the Duomo Square. It was the first covered then later lighted shopping streets in Milan. The floor has wonderful tile mosaics. One of these is of Taurus the Bull. You are to place your heel on the bull’s testicles and spin three times. There is an indentation in the mosaic because so many people have done this myself included. The rain woke me at 3:30am, 4:30 and 5:00 am on my watch. I gave up trying to sleep and decided to read until it was time to go to Mass. I went to take a quick shower before Mass. There was no hot water so it was a very quick shower. I got to the church as the opening prayer in Italian was being said. After Mass I purchased a few postcards before going back to the hotel for breakfast. As I approached the museum the sign in Italian and English said sold out. I was glad I had my 9:30 am reservation. The couple in front of me was turned away no tickets. It was 9:00 am on my watch. When I gave my reservation slip the clerk said it’s no good it’s 10:00 am. I then realized that is why the breakfast room that opens at 7:30am was light up at time I went to Mass. I did not attend the 7:00 am but the 8:00 am Mass. I just said you changed your clocks this weekend. They felt sorry for me. They said wait here might be a 10:15 am cancellation. There wasn’t but they told me to come back at 10:50am. I went into the church near by and started praying my rosary. The 10:30am Mass started. I slipped out at 10:50 to check. The sermon was starting. There was not an 11:00am cancellation but one of the clerks said I have a 12:15pm. I purchased it for 6.50 Euros. A Euro is worth about $1.30. I saved the on line fee of 1.50 Euros. I asked about a nearby internet café. Since there wasn’t one I went back into the church. The sermon was still being preached. I said another rosary and waited for Mass to end so I could go to all the side altars and statutes in the church. When I returned at noon the clerk stated there was going to be a guide in the group but she did not know if the language was going to be English or German. I said I don’t speak German. She felt sorry for me and let me have for free instead of 2.50 Euros the hand held audio guide. The audio guide explained the history and composition of the painting. In the waiting area there is a reproduction of the painting to look at while the audio guide is explaining. Da Vinci painted The Last Supper on a dry wall rather than on wet plaster, so it is not a true fresco. Because a fresco cannot be modified as the artist works, Da Vinci instead chose to seal the stone wall with a layer of pitch, gesso and mastic then paint onto the sealing layer with tempura. Because of the method used, the piece has not withstood time very well – within a few years of completion it had already begun showing signs of deterioration. It took over 21 years to do the restoration that opened to the public in May 1999. Glass doors open and you go into a rectangular glassed enclosed waiting area. You can see the courtyard garden. Glass doors at the far end open and you enter a square glass enclosed room. I counted the people. There were only 16 of us. Then the door in the wall opens and we file into the old priory dining hall. The painting covers the wall and literally took my breath away. I thought to myself it was worth the 8 hour flight from New York and the over 2 hour wait. Then the guide begins her lecture in English. She repeated some of the things on the audio guide but also had more to say. She had us go to the middle of the room and observe how it would look like painting was part of the diners in the room. We then look at the wall opposite Da Vinci painting to a fresco by Giovanni Donato Montorfano depicting the Crucifixion. The guide explains that Da Vinci used the same technique on Montorfano fresco to add portraits of the patrons as crowd members on the lowers corners of the fresco. This is why the lower corners have faded and flaking paint. As she is speaking doors by the fresco open and closed two times. The third time the doors open a voice in English and Italian tells us our time is finished and we must exit immediately. We exit into the museum store where I buy a bookmark of The Last Supper. Another successful trip where I stumbled again onto a very local tradition (Catholic Schools Day) while also doing the tourist must see things (Duomo and The Last Supper). |
