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Photo © Denis Dontenville
La Certosa di Pavia
Photo © Luigino C.
Certosa di Pavia is the name of a famous monastery complex in Lombardy, Italy, situated near a small town (in Province of Pavia) with the same name.
Certosa is the Italian name for Charterhouse, which relates to the cloistered monastic order. The late medieval (northern Italian gothic) Certosa of Pavia is noted for a highly decorated facade and church interior.
The Certosa di Pavia contains a detailed bas-relief depiction of the founding on 27 August 1396 of the
structure by Gian Galeazzo Visconti (1351 - 1402).
It contains the tomb of the first
Duke of Milans of Milanese, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, and of despots such as
Ludovico Sforza ("The Moor"), 7th Duke of Milano (1452 - 1508 (46)),
and his wife Beatrice d'Este.
 Ludovico the Moor Tumb - Photo © Marco Bonavoglia
In the church of the chartreuse there are also paintings and frescoes by Perugino, Bergognone, Bernardino Luini, Andrea Solari, Cerano, Morazzone, Guercino, Daniele Crespi and Giulio Cesare Procaccini and sculptures by Giovanni Antonio Amadeo and Cristoforo Solari.
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One of the most magnificent of all monastic structures, the Certosa di Pavia has been
maintained as a national monument since 1866. The church, forming its nucleus, was begun in the style of the Italian Gothic in 1396 by Gian
Galeazzo Visconti, duke of Milano.
 Little more than the nave was executed in this style, since the Renaissance,
diffusing its new taste, quickly dominated the design of the edifice. The
facade seems to have been begun in 1491 by a group of architects and
sculptors under the leadership of Giovanni Antonio Amadeo; it was finished
in the mid-16th cent.
Built of rich marbles and profusely ornamented with fine sculptural
decorations, the facade of the Certosa di Pavia is one of the masterpieces of Renaissance decorative
design. The two large arcaded cloisters are of richly ornamented
terra-cotta. The main choir was badly damaged in World War II but was
restored between 1953 and 1959.
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