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Bergamo Alta: La Cappella Colleoni - Colleoni Chapel
The Cappella Colleoni was built in 1472 when Bartolomeo
Colleoni, famous “condottiero”
of the Serenissima and Captain
of the Venetian army, decided to build his own mausoleum. Colleoni made
demolished by his soldiers the sacristy of S. Maria Maggiore, in spite of
the refuse of the canonical people of the basilica.
A cultured and modern man,
Colleoni designed a monument that, placed in the heart of the
urban space, would have determined new perspectives (for this
reason since 1474 the demolition of the Palazzo della Ragione
was established. The achievement of the project was in charge
of Giovanni Antonio Amadeo, sculpture-architect that was
engaged with the great project of the Certosa di Pavia.
Anyway, the task was very complicated: he had to organize a
sacred space that would have preserved the Captain bare, that
would have been apt to the sacred celebrations and that would
have found at least a formal harmony with the basilica beside
it. Thus, the octagonal tambour of the chapel and the pointed
pinnacle of the lantern refer to the fanciful end of the
basilica, while the exuberant polychromy of the façade
recalls, for the colors and the materials, the portal of the
basilica by Giovanni da Campione of the fourteenth-century.
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The intellectual interests of
Colleoni meet and integrate the availability to the
figurative experience by giving life to the Colleoni Chapel:
an unique work, made of strictness, transgression, refinements
and exhibitionism. (Walter Barbero)”.
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In the interior, the Colleoni monumental grave presents two overlapped sarcophagi
inserted in a triumphal arch, a re-elaboration of the
monumental gothic graves whose characters, that belong more
distinctly to the Renaissance are in any case recognizable in
the bas relieves and in the sculptures, a testimony of the
extraordinary plastic capacities of Amadeo. In the second
sarcophagus, a wooden equestrian
statue of Colleoni
by Sisto and Siry da
Norimberga (1501). In the cupola, in the lunette of the vault,
splendid frescoes of G.B. Tiepolo
(1733) that represent the Virtue and some episodes of the life
of S. Giovanni Battista.
On the left wall the Tomb of Medea,
preferred daughter of Colleoni, work of Amadeo; on the front a
high relief, the Pietà
(1470). Below: wooden bench containing biblical inlay by
G.Caniana (1785). In the presbytery, thealtar by B. Manni (1676) by
L.Pollsk; in the lunette the Martirio di
S. Bartolomeo (S .Bartolomeo Martyrdom) by G.B. Tiepolo and
S. Marco Evangelista by Tiepolo. On
the walls: the Sacra Famiglia(Sacred Family)
by M.A. Kauffmann; wooden pews with carvings by
G.A Sanz and biblical marquetries by Caniana (1773)
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Bergamo Alta - Cappella Colleoni: Information
Address:
Piazza Duomo, tel. 035 210 061
Opening times:
From March to October: everyday, 9a.m-12.30a.m; 2:00p.m – 6.30p.m.
From November to
February: 9a.m-12.30a.m; 2:00p.m – 4.30p.m. Closed on Monday.
Bergamo Alta - Piazza Vecchia - Piazza del Duomo: Information
How to reach the upper town:
from Piazzale Marconi (Train/Coach/Bus Station) and from Porta Nuova
autobus 1 + funicular
autobus 1 Colle Aperto
by car following these directions: V.le Papa Giovanni XXIII -
V.le V. Emanuele - Porta S. Agostino - Viale delle mura - Colle aperto
Text and
Photos (c) courtesy of
Provincia di Bergamo – Settore
cultura, sport e turismo
Bergamo Alta: Piazza Vecchia |
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore |
Le mura venete
Bergamo accommodations |
Getting in and around
(c) 1997-2008 E. Massetti
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