Russia and Italy: Similarities and Differences (Kremlin, Sforza Castle, ceramics). Milan kremlin - sforza castle fortress milan italy

Sforza Castle (Castello Sforzesco) in Milan - Photo

(ital. Castello Sforzesco) - the fortified residence of the Dukes of the Sforza dynasty in Milan (Italy).

The castle in Milan was first built in the 14th century as the residence of the Visconti family, but after the proclamation of the Ambrosian Republic it was destroyed. In the middle of the 15th century, Francesco Sforza restored the castle. In the 16th century, Leonardo da Vinci himself worked on the appearance of the castle. Until now, only a pergola and notes with literary experiments have remained from his works.

The appearance of the Sforza castle was taken as a model by the Milanese architects who built the Kremlin in Moscow, namely: battlements on the walls, the shape of the towers. The main tower of the fortress (Filarete Tower) was designed by Antonio Filarete, who worked together with Aristotle Fioravanti.

During the Italian Wars, Ludovico Sforza left Milan, and King of France Louis XII occupied his castle. In 1521, lightning struck the powder store, which was located in the Filaret tower, as a result of which it was allowed. The Spanish governor Ferrante Gonzaga decided to fortify the city and erected new star-shaped fortifications around the Sforza castle. Barracks for 2 thousand soldiers were located in the palace premises.

During the Revolutionary Wars, Milan was again captured by the French, who were briefly driven out by Suvorov in 1799. After Napoleon arrived in Milan, the locals handed him a petition that the Sforza Castle should be destroyed following the example of the Bastille in France, as a symbol of the hated autocracy. But instead of destroying the castle, Napoleon ordered to build a large square in front of it. In 1833, a large-scale restoration of the fortress was organized, during the restoration of 1900, the Filarete tower was restored.

Now in the Sforza castle there are several museums: prehistoric, ancient Egypt, dishes, musical instruments. Almost nothing remains of da Vinci's frescoes; the ballroom and portico are much better preserved.

In the fortress you can see the last sculpture of Michelangelo - Pieta Rondanini.

One of the symbols of Milan is the Sforza Castle. The townspeople are proud of this building and the fact that it is located right here, in the historical center of this beautiful and ancient city. However, in appearance, the Sforza Castle does not make the proper impression - huge, but rather nondescript. So why is it one of the main attractions of Milan for tourists and why is it so loved by the Milanese themselves?

Centuries-old history

The whole secret of the castle's popularity lies in its centuries-old history. What he did not experience during his existence: destruction, wars, riots and revolutions - all these historical events left their mark on the appearance of the castle. He got it from everyone - both from enemies and from the townspeople themselves.

Initially, the Sforza Castle was intended as a defensive fortress for Milan. Duke Galeazzo II Visconti decided to build a castle-fortress in 1368. However, in 1447, the people of Milan took up arms against a cruel and warlike ruler. The Protestant Ambrosian Republic was created, in which they decided to overthrow the Visconti from the post of ruler and completely destroy the Sforza castle. The stones collected from the ruins of the castle were used by the invaders to restore the city walls.

Castle reconstruction

Later, under Francesco Sforza, the reconstruction of the castle began. After Francesco's death in 1466, his heirs, as well as the architect Bramante and Leonardo da Vinci (whose Museum of Science and Technology is also present in the city) rebuilt the castle into a ducal residence. At the same time, those luxurious interiors of the castle were created, the preserved part of which can still be seen inside the building today. Courtyards and an elegant square appeared, along the edges of which the works of Filarete and Bramante lined up with arcades. The palace became the residence of the Milanese dukes, and soon Galeazzo and his wife, Bona of Savoy, moved into it.

Over the next decades, Sforza Castle underwent many more dramatic events. For example, in 1521 a lightning strike blew up the gunpowder warehouse in the Filarete tower, and it was dismantled.

Sforza Castle today

Today, the Sforza Castle includes several museums:

• Prehistoric;
• Museum of Ancient Egypt;
• musical instruments;
• Museum of dishes and a number of others.

For many art connoisseurs, this amazing landmark of Italy will find works to their liking. For example, here are the works of artists such as Giovanni Bellini and Filippino Lippi, as well as Michelangelo's latest work - the unfinished sculpture "Pieta Rondanini".

Information for tourists

Sforza castle address: Piazza Castello, Milan.

entrance on the territory of the castle free.

Visiting hours of the Sforza Castle: 7:00 - 19:30.

Museums of the Sforza Castle: 9:00 - 17:30 - from Tuesday to Sunday.

Free admission to museums: every first and third Tuesday of the month from 14.00.

For the convenience of visiting museums, it makes sense to choose a hotel in Milan within walking distance of such popular attractions.

Sforzesco Castle (Castello Sforzesco) was built in the middle of the XIV century at the direction of Galeazzo II Visconti, who ruled at that time in Milan. After the death of the last of the Visconti, who left no male heir, an uprising broke out, as a result of which the Ambrosian Republic was established, and the castle was destroyed. The republic did not last long, as a result, Francesco Sforza, the son-in-law of the latter from the Visconti, seized power. He declared himself Duke of Milan and rebuilt the castle, which now bears his name.

The central tower of the fortress was designed by the architect Antonio Filarete, after whom it was named. Representatives of the Sforza dynasty, who ruled here until the beginning of the 16th century, attracted the best masters to decorate the castle, including Leonardo da Vinci, who painted several rooms with his frescoes. True, they have not reached our days.

After the outbreak of the Italian Wars, the castle was occupied by the French king Louis XII. However, under his successor, the formidable fortress fell into disrepair. In 1521, a powder magazine located in the Filarete Tower exploded due to a lightning strike. Later, under the Spaniards, a soldier's garrison was placed in the castle, and new fortifications in the form of a six-pointed star grew around the old walls of the fortress. After the fall of ducal power and the arrival of French troops in 1799, a spacious square was laid out in front of the castle by order of Napoleon. A large-scale reconstruction of the fortress, within which the moat was restored, was carried out in 1833 by the architect Luca Beltrami, and at the beginning of the 20th century, according to old drawings, the Filarete tower destroyed by the explosion was also restored.

Now the castle is open to the public: tourists can walk around its territory and fortress walls. The main entrance is located under the central clock tower. In addition, there are seven interesting museums in the castle. These are the Pinacoteca, which houses paintings by Titian, Canaletto, Tiepolo, Tintoretto and other great Italian painters, the Museum of Ancient Art, where you can see the last unfinished sculpture of Michelangelo "Pieta Rondanini", the Museum of Musical Instruments, the Egyptian Museum, the prehistoric collection of the Archaeological Museum of Milan, the collection applied arts, the Museum of Antique Furniture and Wooden Sculpture, and the collection of engravings by Achille Bertarelli.

Opening hours: the castle is open daily from 7:00 to 18:00 in winter, from 7:00 to 19:00 in summer. The castle museums are open from Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 to 17:30, museum ticket offices are open until 17:00. Museums are closed on Mondays, as well as on public holidays: December 25, January 1, May 1 and Easter Monday. Ticket price: Entrance to the castle is free. Entrance to museums for an adult visitor costs 3 euros; for students and pensioners over 65 years old - 1.5 euros. Visitors under 25, journalists, disabled people with accompanying persons, museum workers, members of accredited associations have the right to free admission.
Free entrance to museums is carried out on Fridays, from 14:00 to 17:30, on other days from 16:30 to 17:30. You can also purchase a subscription. The cost of visiting for three days is 7 euros (3.5 euros for privileged categories), for a month - 8 euros (4 euros for privileged categories), a season ticket - 25 euros (12.5 euros for privileged categories). Address: Castello Sforzesco, Piazza Castello, 20121, Milano, Italia. www.

Continuing our conversation about the similarities and differences between two so dissimilar - like ice and fire - countries like Russia and Italy, one cannot fail to mention the famous Castello Sforzesco in Milan And Moscow Kremlin b.

And here they are: the snow-covered Moscow Kremlin and the Sforza Castle (Castello Sforzesco) looking into the blue of the sky
Trinity Tower and the Main Entrance to the Sforza Castle

It turns out that the shape Sforza Castle(as, by the way, the Scaliger castle in Verona) was used in the construction of the Moscow Kremlin as a model. In the second half of the 15th century, the Kremlin was just being rebuilt: Italian architects were invited to Moscow, who gave the "heart of Russia" its modern look.

Spasskaya Tower and the Main Entrance to the Sforza Castle

The central tower of the Milanese castle (torre del Filarete, Filarete Tower) was designed by Antonio di Pietro Averlino (or Averulino, nicknamed Filarete). A colleague of Antonio Filarete in Milan for a long time was Aristotele Fioravanti, the author of the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Sophia Paleolog, the wife of Ivan III, then personally asked the Duke of Milan Galeazzo Maria Sforza and the wife of Aristotle to release this talented vassal and husband to distant Russia.

most towers Moscow Kremlin, as well as the Faceted Chamber, were built by the compatriots of Aristotle Fioravanti (who, by the way, died in Moscow, and did not achieve, despite numerous petitions, permission to return to his homeland) - Italian architects Pietro Antonio Solari (Pietro Antonio Solari) and Marco Ruffo (Marco Ruffo), previously also working in Milan. Marco Ruffo - in Russia referred to as Mark Fryazin (that is, a foreigner) - built the Moskvoretskaya, Spasskaya and Nikolskaya towers of the Moscow Kremlin, while Pietro Antonio Solari built Konstantin-Eleninskaya, Borovitskaya, Arsenalnaya. Needless to say, these natives of Italy were never destined to return to their homeland: still, would the king begin to scatter such masters! In addition to the listed names, the Moscow Kremlin was erected by many more architects ordered from Italy ...

Pay attention to the battlements of the walls of the Moscow Kremlin: did you know that these are the so-called battlements of the Ghibellines? For the whole 3 centuries - from the 12th to the 15th - Italy was torn apart by the war between the adherents of the pope (Guelphs) and the supporters of the German Emperor (Ghibellines). Castles of the Guelphs and Ghibellines differed in the shape of battlements (merlons) on the fortress walls: swallow-tailed battlements (reminiscent of the flapping of the wings of an eagle on the imperial coat of arms) meant that the castle belonged to the Ghibellines, and square or rectangular battlements, similar in shape to the headdress of the Pope, were preferred Guelphs. (It is believed that this form of teeth depicts the flapping of the wings of an eagle, which was the imperial coat of arms).

Italian architects wisely reasoned that in Orthodox Russia, "papal" symbols would look out of place, and therefore now I decorate the walls of the Moscow Kremlin with prongs in the form of a swallow's nest, which Russian architects later loved so much.

Looks like it, doesn't it?

Russian Gzhel and Italian ceramics Deruta- the history of the glorious pottery goes head to head.

gzhel- this is one of the largest pottery crafts not only in the Moscow region, but throughout Russia. The first annalistic references to these regions date back to the reign of Ivan Kalita (XIII century). From the clays mined here, everything could be made, from porcelain to bricks. Mikhail Lomonosov also admired the unusual properties of local clays: “... There is hardly any land the purest and without admixture anywhere in the world, which chemists call a virgin, except among the clays used for porcelain, such is our Gzhel one ... which I have never seen with superior whiteness ... »

Start of ceramics production in Derute(Region of Umbria) is officially documented in the archives of the Cathedral of Perugia in the 13th century, although some historians believe that in fact the first products began to be made at least a century earlier.

Yes, and they paint dishes, both in Italy and in Russia, on similar topics: mythological and fairy-tale characters, hunting scenes, images of animals, birds and flowers, geometric patterns.

In both Russia and Italy in the 18th century, the production of the famous painted ceramics was on the decline: gradual in Russia, and sharp in Italy.

And if at the beginning of the 18th century Gzhel gained fame as one of the largest regions for the (manual!) production of artistic majolica with fancy molding and multi-color painting, then by the end of the century, with the start of importing cheap English porcelain with printed (!) Patterns to Russia, Gzhel was losing former popularity. Gzhel craftsmen begin to produce semi-faience, and it gradually replaces majolica. The painting itself is also changing: instead of multi-color patterns, preference is given to cobalt. By the middle of the 19th century, the Gzhel factories switched to the production of faience, so successfully that the products are exported, and the products of some factories compete with such "giants" as Meissen porcelain (Meissen). By the end of the 19th century, with general industrialization and the transition to mass industrial production, the popularity of the factory, but in many ways remained handicraft, Gzhel was falling.

So in Italy, having gone through the heyday of the Renaissance, which also influenced the ceramic production in Deruta, by the second half of the 18th century only 5 factories remained in Deruta: in order to survive, they completely switch to the production of dishes and kitchen utensils, leaving behind masterpieces that until still decorate the floor in the church of St. Francis (S.Francesco), the sanctuary of the Madonna dei Bagni.

Only in Italy, colored ceramics will be less forgotten: here they have furnished us. Already at the beginning of the 20th century, thanks to the school of ceramic painting and the museum of ceramics, founded by the lawyer Francesco Briganti, products from Deruta became popular again. Now in Deruta there are more than two hundred factories producing 32% of Italian ceramics.

In Russia, folk craft began to slowly revive only after the Second World War thanks to the efforts of A.B. Saltykov and artist Bessarabova. In the 70-80s, the period of restoration of Gzhel begins. The Gzhel association was created, which became the ceramic center of Russia. Now Gzhel is the same recognizable symbol of Russian folk art in the world as Pavloposad shawls, Khokhloma products and famous nesting dolls.

It is about nesting dolls - in Russia and in the world - that will be discussed next time.

The inner tower was built under Galeazzo II Visconti in 1358-1368. She protected the entrance gates of Port Jovia. In the XIV-XV centuries, the castle was expanded. It became quadrangular in plan with four corner towers. The construction was led by Francesco Sforza (1450-1466). After his death, the fortress became a magnificent residence. The best artists and architects, including Leonardo and Bramante, worked on its main objects - the Armory Square, the Ducal Court and the Elephant Portico, the Rocchetta citadel and the Ponticella bridge.

But the castle today is not only a monument of the past, but also an important cultural center, where the Milanese Pinacoteca and the City Museums with collections of art works are located.

Filarete Tower

This tower houses the main entrance to the castle. Today it is the main symbol of Milan. It was rebuilt in 1905 and is dedicated to Umberto I of Savoy, who was assassinated a few years earlier.

The original tower was destroyed in 1521 by a gunpowder store fire. Engineers and architects from different eras worked on it, including Filarete and possibly Bramante.

During the historical reconstruction of the tower, the engineer Beltrami used the preserved perimeter of the walls, archival documents, iconographic evidence, examples of the castles of Cusago and Viggegnano.

Pinakothek

© Wikimedia Commons

The City Pinakothek is located on the second floor of the Ducal Court (Corte Ducale) of the Sforza Castle. Like the Brera Pinakothek and the Ambrosian Pinakothek, it contains the great artistic heritage of the city. The 1,500 paintings on display allow you to take an artistic journey through the art of different periods, from the Lombard late Gothic to the Renaissance (paintings by Foppa, Bergognone and Bramantino), admire the famous works of Andrea Mantegna and Antonello da Messina.

fresh water tank

Inside the north and south round towers of the castle, fresh water reservoirs have been preserved, which played an important role in the water supply of Milan at the beginning of the 20th century. The installation and adjustment of the tanks was carried out by the architect Luca Beltrami, who was entrusted with the restoration work in the castle.

The first tank was designed and placed in the east tower, on the right when looking at the main entrance. It was metal and served as a pressure regulator in the water supply system. The second tank was placed in the south tower ten years later. At that time, its reinforced concrete structure was considered a bold and innovative solution.

Axis Hall

Sala delle Asse, or Axial Hall, is notable for the fact that Leonardo worked on it during the reign of Sforza. It is part of the route of the Museum of Ancient Art of the castle and is open to the public from Tuesday to Saturday from 9:00 to 19:30 (Thursday until 22:30). Advance booking is not required. The cost of the entrance ticket is 5 euros, reduced - 3.50.

During the EXPO-2015, the restoration work will be suspended for free access to the hall. High-resolution images and holograms will be projected onto the walls and ceiling.

Spanish Hospital - New Pieta Rondanini Museum

The old hospital has never been open to the public before. It was built in the middle of the 16th century for the Spanish garrison of Sforza Castle. And now it exhibits the last statue of Michelangelo.

The last work of the master, "Pieta Rondanini", remained unfinished. But the drama of the composition is striking: the figures of Christ and the Virgin Mary appear from the marble, mourning her dead son. This work is considered the spiritual testament of the great sculptor, who worked on the statue until the last days of his life. The unfinished statue was found in his Roman apartment, and then its traces were lost until it was found in the house of the Marquis Giuseppe Rondanini, a refined Roman art collector. After a series of resales, she finally ended up in the hall of the Sforza castle specially designed for her.