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Showing posts from December, 2015

Certosa di Pavia

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23 Nov 2014 (Sunday) It was a gloomy day and we set on to visit Certose di Pavia in the afternoon as it opened at 14.30.  The opening time was only two hours.  Or you can start the visit at 9am.  We took the train from Milano.  The Certose appeared right in front of us.  The walk outside the wall lasted about 20 minutes.   Certose di Pavia is a one of the largest monasteries in Italy. It was built by order of Gian Galeazzo Visconti as the funeral chapel of the family.  The construction started in 1396 and ended 1452.  The church and the facade were built in 1473 and 16th century respectively. Certose in Italian means a house of the cloistered monastic order of Carthusians .  They were known for their seclusion and asceticism and plainness of their architecture.  But the Certosa is famous for the exuberance. The white marble facade infused with mottled pink and green is stunningly beautiful.  Sculpture and reliefs dotted the facade intricately, complicated but stil