World Heritage Identification Number: 93
World Heritage since: 1980
Category: Cultural Heritage
WHE Type: Religious Sites & Sacred Architecture
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇮🇹 Italy
Continent: Europe
UNESCO World Region: Europe and North America
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The Church and Dominican Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie: A Cultural Treasure Trove Housing Leonardo da Vinci's Masterpiece, "The Last Supper"
The Church and Dominican Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, nestled in the heart of Milan, Italy, stands as a testament to the harmonious fusion of art, architecture, and spirituality. This architectural complex, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980, offers a captivating glimpse into the rich cultural heritage of Renaissance Italy.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
The refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie forms an integral part of this architectural complex, begun in Milan in 1463 and reworked at the end of the 15th century by Bramante. On the north wall is The Last Supper, the unrivalled masterpiece painted between 1495 and 1497 by Leonardo da Vinci, whose work was to herald a new era in the history of art.
UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site
Criterion (i): The Last Supper is a timeless and unique artistic achievement of Outstanding Universal Value.
Criterion (ii): This work has highly influenced not only the development of one iconographic theme, but also the entire development of painting. Heydenreich wrote about the “superdimension” of its painted bodies in relation to space. It is one of the first classic paintings that focuses on a precise and very short moment of time, instead of a long one. After five centuries, the Last Supper is one of most reproduced and copied paintings, and its creation in 1495-1497 is considered to have heralded a new phase in the history of art.
Encyclopedia Record: Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan
Santa Maria delle Grazie is a church and Dominican convent in Milan, northern Italy, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The convent contains the mural of The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, which is in the refectory.Additional Site Details
Area: 1.5 hectares
Number of Components: 1
(ii) — Significant interchange of human values
Coordinates: 45.466 , 9.171
Image
© Marcin Białek, CC BY-SA 3.0 Resized from original. (This derivative is under the same CC BY-SA license.)
