Explorations of a UNESCO world heritage site where the ancient world meets the medieval world and beyond.
Brescia is a fantastic city in Northern Italy. It has many museums and other amazing places to stop. and the Monastic Complex of San Salvatore-Santa Giulia is one of them. Founded in 753 by the Lombards to be a the female Monastery of San Salvatore. The complex was renovated many times and later rededicated San Giulia in the 16th century. (Check out my previous post on Brescia.)
The complex was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011 for its Lombard connection. However, you won’t only find Lombard heritage here at the complex. The monastery complex was built on Ancient Roman houses, expanded over time to include many different architectural and art styles, and now a museum. It’s not just an art gallery, the buildings themselves are part of the museum.
Jana Irving As Santa Giulia was a monastery, there must be cloisters. A bunch of buildings come together in this courtyard.
Jana Irving Basilica di San Salvatore, we’ll be heading in there later.
Jana Irving Heading inside the museum. An Ancient Roman road was found in the monastery garden.
Jana Irving The Renaissance era North Cloister.
Jana Irving It wasn’t only a road found in the Monastery Garden. Two urban houses were found as well. Even though they were labeled, I can’t figure out which sections belong to each house. So, here’s a jumble of two houses.
Jana Irving A very fancy room, complete with frescos and a mosaic floor.
Jana Irving The holes in the ground were basins and fountains. So a very fancy house.
Jana Irving Another fancy room with a fountain.
Jana Irving Fine mosaic floor.
Jana Irving A larger room with three different mosaics that I couldn’t get into one picture.
Jana Irving These people had some money.
Jana Irving During 1980 and 1992, while excavating below the early monastery, they found the remnants of more town houses.
Jana Irving The Basilica of San Salvatore as seen from the Nun’s Choir.
Jana Irving Which looks nothing like the basilica.
Jana Irving All fancy and just for the ladies.
Jana Irving Construction on the choir began in 1466. The frescoes may date from that time or a few decades later.
Jana Irving That’s a strange looking dragon.
Jana Irving Back down stairs in the basilica. Even though it’s fairly plain now, it was once highly decorated as well. They also reused Ancient Roman and Byzantine columns for the church.
Jana Irving The church entrance is still frescoed. The Nuns’ Choir is on the other side of those windows.
Jana Irving The chapels are also covered in frescoes.
Jana Irving Down in the crypt, which was constructed in 762ish to house the relics of Saint Julia.
Jana Irving A very ornate marble slab that once was part of an pulpit probably made by the Lombards.
Jana Irving Next stop, Santa Maria in Solario, a 12th century church in the Santa Giulia complex.
Jana Irving It’s also covered in frescos. These are from the 16th century.
Jana Irving The church is extremely small, which made photographing it a hard task. Plus, the lights went bright for a couple of minutes and switched back off and then on again to help preserve the frescos.
Jana Irving Tying the visit up with the Cross of Desire. It’s a 9th century Lombard wooden processional cross. It has 211 pieces of stones, cameos, and colored glass. Some of the cameos and stones are Ancient Roman.
If you ever find yourself in Brescia, you must visit the Santa Giulia Museum. However, prepare yourself and eat something before going in. I got a Brescia museum pass and they suggested to spend 1.5 hours in the museum. I went in at 11:00, thinking I will be getting out about 1:00, just in time for lunch. I didn’t get out until after 3:00. I ended up having to eat the snacks I had in my bag in one of the cloisters. So eat something before hand, and expect a long visit. It’s definitely worth it.
An awesome look at the museum with Google.
Tune in for my next update where I head to small city of Pavia, south of Milan!
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Start at the beginning of this adventure.
