Last Try for the Last Supper

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How many years have I been visiting Milan?

And how many years have I tried to get tickets to the Last Supper?

Too many!

Never spending more than twenty four hours each time in Milan, it was a difficult decision to spend money on something that might not happen. Weather might move in. Sickness might strike. A car accident could render me stranded on the roadside. And, I would not make it to Milan.

You get the picture.

So, each time I looked for tickets to see the Last Supper the day before or even the day of, there were none. Even testing my luck, I had gone to the office and inquired, thinking they might feel a bit of pity and suddenly find “one” ticket. Detecting a bit of laughter behind their comments, directing me to come back first thing the next morning, I always walked away defeated.

After a long night in flight, I was riding to my hotel and browsing the internet. Divine intervention must have inspired me and I suddenly felt the need to check for Last Supper Tickets. Imagine my astonishment to find a site that had one ticket left!

Quickly entering my information, I made the purchase and was so excited that I could hardly take my much needed nap!

My admission time was for later in the day, so I did get that much needed nap, even allowing enough time to visit the church next door, Santa Maria delle Grazie, afterward.

Sitting in the piazza, I watched the various tour groups meet their guides, anxiously awaiting the arrival of mine. Of course, I let my imagination get the best of me, thinking that I had stumbled upon a fake web site and no one would be here to greet me. Finally, walking around, I inquired with a couple of the other guides about my tour and started to meet the members of our group…yet still no guide.

Eventually, we were told by the gentleman, who was there to give our guide the audio-earpieces for us to wear, that our guide was running a bit late, but would be here with us for our admission time. Finally, we spotted him quickly walking down the street and we were soon verifying our tickets and receiving our earpieces. We entered the building, passing through security and took our place in the long hall, readying for our time to enter the airlocks which protect the Last Supper from the elements.

First door, last door…we were in.

And nothing prepared me.

Many years ago, I went to the Louvre and was excited to see the Mona Lisa. It was only when I arrived at its location, deep inside the museum, that I found that it is so much smaller than I anticipated.

This was the opposite!

I expected The Last Supper to be quite small, much like the Mona Lisa, and instead found that it took up the entire wall of the right side of the building. And not only that, The Crucifixion by Giovanni Donato da Montorfano takes up the opposite wall! Certainly, I never expected to see two masterpieces in the same room!

Our guide was very informative and explained each of the paintings to us, pointing out every small detail that we may have not noticed on our own.

The Last Supper was commissioned by Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan, to be painted in the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie and was completed in 1498. A representation of the meal that Jesus shared with his apostles, it shows the different reactions that each portrayed when Jesus shared the news that one of them would betray him. It is topped by the Sforza coats of arms painted in the lunettes that are formed by the triple arched ceiling of the refectory. What I found most interesting was that Leonardo da Vinci wandered the streets looking for likenesses to base the figures of the painting on. When the monastery’s prior complained about da Vinci’s laziness about finding someone upon which to base Judas, da Vince responded that the prior would make a great model!

On the opposite end of the building is the Crucifixion, which depicts the crucifixion of Jesus Christ outside of Jerusalem. At the foot of the cross bearing Jesus, is Mary Magdalene, Saint Dominic, founder of the Dominicans, Saint Thomas of Aquinas as well as other saints and leaders from the Dominican order. Figures of the Sforza family are incorporated into the painting.

During World War II, bombings threatened the existence of the church, monastery and the paintings. As Allied Leaders bombed many major European cities, the walls of the refectory were reinforced with sandbags and scaffolding to help protect the two paintings within.

When a high-explosive bomb landed eighty feet away on August 15, 1943, it was thought that all was lost. The building’s roof had caved in, the cloister had collapsed and one whole wall was blown out.

Miraculously, the paintings had survived.

The Last Supper and the Crucifixion have endured for many years since, yet both now are in an extremely fragile state and acute measures have been extended to their care. Both paintings now reside in a climate controlled atmosphere and much work has taken place to restore some of the former glory to the paintings. Only limited viewings are available (twenty-five people every fifteen minutes) each day and a state of the art infiltration system was recently installed. Despite all of these efforts, however, they may not be around for younger generations to appreciate in the coming years.

Some things last a long time, however, nothing lasts forever, so if you can get to Milan sooner than later and get tickets for Leonardo’s masterpiece…run don’t walk! It is one of the most enlightening experiences in all of Italy!

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The Last Supper

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