Milan II

On our first full day in Milan, we spent a lot of time exploring the Duomo in the centre of the historic part of the city.

One of the really unique things you can do here is climb up to the roof of the Duomo and look out over the city. We have climbed up to the towers of churches before, but I don’t think we’ve ever been up on top of the roof. It was so cool to be up there and see the architecture up close. The Duomo took 400 years to build, so there were a number of different styles incorporated into the final design and it was kind of a lot to take in. I doubt the original builders imagined that people would be walking up there one day, but they still put in such incredible detail throughout the entire roof. It really was amazing.

After exploring the roof, we went inside the Duomo to look around. The first thing we noticed was how beautiful the mosaic tiles were on the floor. The inside of the Duomo was massive – it’s the third largest church in the world – and there was a lot to look at.

We spent the rest of the day wandering other parts of the city, but I’ll save those photos for another post.

Matt climbing the stairs to get to the roof of the Duomo

 

A small sampling of some of the intricate details on the roof

Looking out over Milan on a cloudy morning

 

Matt taking in the view

 

Part of the roof where you can a number of sections have been restored more recently

 

Looking towards the golden statue of the Madonna at the very top of the Duomo

 

The front of the Duomo – we were lucky we avoided the rain this morning!

 

Inside the church

 

The mosaic floors. It his this pattern running throughout the entire interior of the building.

 

An altar in the church

 

Looking towards the organ in the middle of the Duomo

 

Another view of the floor, columns, and the stained glass windows

 

We ended our visit at this creepy statue. This is a flayed Saint Bartholomew, with his skin draped over his body like a stole. It definitely had a very unpleasant Game of Thrones vibe!