The Bramante Sacristy

The Bramante Sacristy was built during the last decade of the fifteenth century, when Ludovico il Moro, Duke of Milan, decided to start an ambitious expansion and renovation of the Dominican convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, the Basilica of which would become the Sforza family mausoleum. For this purpose he called for, side by side, two of the greatest living artists, which for some time were in the service of his court: Bramante and Leonardo. To the first he gave the task of expanding the Basilica with the construction of the grandstand and the new sacristy, while to the second he commissioned the Last Supper on the north wall of the refectory.

The decision to build the Sacristy in an isolated position in relation to the Church was probably due to the little available land and the desire to give maximum emphasis to the imposing Basilica of the grandstand, designed by Bramante himself, connecting the two parts by a small cloister. The interior of the Bramante Sacristy hides many curiosities and fine works, like the vault decorated with a fake blue sky studded with stars of gold, the same motif that originally decorated the ceiling of the room of the Last Supper (lost after the bombing the Second World War).

The cloister is commonly known as “il chiostro delle rane” (cloister of frogs) for the curious statues of frogs that adorn the fountain in the middle of the garden. Since 2009, the charming Bramante Sacristy and the Federiciana Hall of the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana host the Codex Atlanticus exhibition.

Last Supper Tickets  – Santa Maria delle Grazie Tickets – Milan Museums