The Church of San Babila

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The Church of San Babila is to be found in the square that bears the same name and, according to a legend that says that many of the churches in Milan were built on land where there was once an antique Pagan Temple, it seems that it was built where there was once a Pagan Temple dedicated to the Sun. Of this Temple, however, there is no longer any trace. It was then called "Concilio dei Santi" as it seems that it is where the first Christian burials in Milan were carried out.

The church we find nowadays reflects some Romanesque and Baroque architectural details: it was rebuilt after 1575 with the addition of a span; at the beginning of 1600 the monumental facade was completed, and later destroyed, and the Romanesque apses were realised by Aurelio Trezzi.

In 1880 a general restoration was commissioned to architect Cesa-Bianchi who carried out the recovery of the original Romanesque structure.

The work to the facade was carried out by Cesare Nava and finished in 1905, whilst the bell tower, which was originally on the facade, was moved to the side, made higher, and transformed according to the Romanesque-Lombardy style in 1926.

The internal structure of the church has three naves divided by beamed pillars and the central nave has a barrel vaulted ceiling and three apses. The paintings in the lateral apses and the mosaic in the central one are work of Luigi Cavenaghi (1915) and represent various Saints. The main alter with its relative statues was realised by Gaetano Moretti and Ludovico Pogliaghi (1917).

Successively, other work was carried out: the baptistry by architect Orombelli (1937), and the new Chapel of the Grieving Madonna in the left-hand nave, work of architect Ambrogio Annoni, substituted the alter that was destroyed by bombing.

In the right-hand nave there is a painting of the Madonna which dates back to the 17th century and is greatly worshiped.

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