The complex of the Certosa (Charterhouse) of Pavia includes a church with adjacent monastery and is located 8km outside the city of Pavia.
Construction on the church began in 1396, commissioned by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, who intended it to become the family tomb. As work finally ended in the late 15th century, the complex conserves a mixture of architectural styles, from late Gothic to Renaissance. Once the home of various religious communities, it became property of the State in 1896.
The façade, designed by various architects, is made of white and coloured marble with additional Renaissance decoration work. Inside, the three naves have crossed vaults on Gothic arches, alternately decorated with geometrical shapes and golden stars on cobalt blue ceilings. The church conserves several paintings of great prestige, including a famous Polyptych by Pietro Perugino, wall and transept ceiling frescoes by Bergognone and an ivory and bone triptych in the old sacristy created by the Florentine Baldassarre di Simone di Aliotto.
Unusually, the Certosa has two cloisters. The smaller connected the monastery rooms while the other (125m long, 100m wide) offered access to the 36 monks cells. The wide porticoes of the cloisters, set around a lawn, feature columns of white or pink marble from Verona, terracotta decorations, tondos and statues of saints, prophets and angels.
The nearby Palazzo Ducale, which served as the noble guesthouse of the Certosa di Pavia, houses the Museo della Certosa, which contains a Gipsoteca and exhibition rooms dedicated to Renaissance statuary and late fifteenth-century painting.
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