museum of the city

Thais Mar)ns Valente Museum of the City of Milan – Historical Content

MASTER PLAN – loca=on of the buildings

The theaters and the mediateque are just next to the Lance8 Sta)on, so people can access the buildings easy through public transporta)on system. There is a clear pedestrian path that leads to this entrance to the museums area and the commercial ac)vi)es. The housing complex is integrated with the open market, but at the same )me, more isolated, so it can be more private. In a connec)on with the monumental cemitery, there is a sculpture garden, that creates a big open space for gathering and a connec)on between the private and the public area.

Lance8

Theaters

Museums

Mediateque

Housing

Housing

Ins)tu)on

Open market

MASTER PLAN

PLAN – Level 1

foyer

conference

staff

shop

directory

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research

administra)on

PLAN – Level 2

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PLAN – Level 3

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PLAN – Level 4

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PLAN – Level 5

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CONTENTS

Around 400 BC, the Cel)c Insubres inhabited Milan and the surrounding region. In 222 BC, the Romans conquered this sePlement, which imposed the name Mediolanum, even though the name used by the local people was Milàn, from the cel)c Medhlan. ARer several centuries of Roman control, Milan was declared the capital of the Western Roman Empire by Emperor Diocle)an in 293 AC. Diocle)an chose to stay in the Eastern Roman Empire (capital Nicomedia) and his colleague Maximianus the Western one. Immediately Maximian built several gigan)c monuments, like a large circus 470 × 85 m, the Thermae Erculee, a large complex of imperial palaces and several other services and buildings. Only a few traces of the Roman period remain in the city. The Columns of San Lorenzo, the ruins in Via Circo and under the Stock Exchange,

Cel)c and Roman )mes

and those in the Monastero Maggiore are, nevertheless, evidence of the fact that the public buildings were those of a large city. In the Edict of Milan of 313, Emperor Constan)ne I guaranteed freedom of religion for Chris)ans. The city was besieged by the Visigoths in 402, and the imperial residence was moved to Ravenna. FiRy years later (in 452), the Huns overran the city. In 539, the Ostrogoths conquered and destroyed Milan in the course of the so-‐called Gothic War against Byzan)ne Emperor Jus)nian I. In the summer of 569, the Longobards (from which the name of the Italian region Lombardy derives) conquered Milan, overpowering the small Byzan)ne army leR for its defence. Some Roman structures remained in use in Milan under Lombard rule. Milan surrendered to the Franks in 774 when Charlemagne, in an uPerly novel decision, took the )tle "King of the Lombards" as well (before then the Germanic kingdoms had frequently conquered each other, but none had adopted the )tle of King of another people). The Iron Crown of Lombardy dates from this period. Subsequently Milan was part of the Holy Roman Empire.

Ruins of the Emperor's palace in Milan. Here Costan)nus and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan.

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Cel)c and Roman )mes Exposi)on

Grammy Museum. Projectors use rear projec)on to highlight a U.S. map cutout. Visitors can prompt sound and video files dis)nct to musical hotspots around the country by way of the touch-‐screens. Photo courtesy Gallagher & Associates.

• Show an interac)ve map of the increasing border of Milan over )me, in a ver)cal projec)on, also explaining the different domina)ons regarding the different )mes in touch screens. • Show an interac)ve map with archeological findings throughout the city, also in a ver)cal projec)on.

CONTENTS

Cel)c and Roman )mes Exposi)on

Edimensional 3D glasses, commonly used for flight simula)on games

• Digital models showing and explaining the construc)ons of the period. Using edimensional 3D glasses and track ir technology, the visitor will be able to “get inside” the buildings, to see how the city looked like on the roman empire era.

Track ir technology, commonly used for flight simula)on games, allows you to “get inside” the computer display by moving your head.

PLAN – Level 4

CONTENTS

During the Middle Ages, Milan prospered as a centre of trade due to its command of the rich plain of the Po and routes from Italy across the Alps. The war of conquest by Frederick I Barbarossa against the Lombard ci)es brought the destruc)on of much of Milan in 1162. ARer the founding of the Lombard League in 1167, Milan took the leading role in this alliance. As a result of the independence that the Lombard ci)es gained in the Peace of Constance in 1183, Milan became a duchy. In 1208 Ramber)no Buvalelli served a term as podestà of the city, in 1242 Luca Grimaldi, and in 1282 LuchePo Ga8lusio. The posi)on could be fraught with personal dangers in the violent poli)cal life of the medieval commune: in 1252 Milanese here)cs assassinated the Church's Inquisitor, later known as Saint Peter Martyr, at a ford in the nearby contado; the killers bribed their way to freedom, and in the ensuing riot the podestà was very nearly lynched. In 1256 the archbishop and leading nobles were expelled from the city. In 1259 Mar)no della Torre was elected Capitano del Popolo by members of the guilds; he took the city by force, expelled his enemies, and ruled by dictatorial powers, paving streets, digging canals, successfully taxing the countryside. His policy, however, brought the Milanese treasure to collapse; the use of oRen reckless mercenary units further angered the popula)on, gran)ng an increasing support for the Della Torre's tradi)onal enemies, the Viscon). On 22 July 1262 OPone Viscon) was created archbishop of Milan by Pope Urban IV, against the Della Torre candidate, Raimondo della Torre, Bishop of Como. The laPer thus started to publicize a allega)ons of the Viscon)'s nearness to the here)c Cathars and charged them of high treason: the Viscon), who accused the Della Torre of the same crimes, were then banned from Milan and their proper)es confiscated.

Middle Ages

The Biscione: the coat of arms of the House of Viscon), from the Archbishops’ palace in Piazza Duomo. The initals IO<HANNES> stand for archbishop Giovanni Viscon) (1342-‐1354).

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The civil war which ensued caused more damage to Milan's popula)on and economy, las)ng for more than a decade. OPone Viscon) led a group of exiles unsuccessfully against the city in 1263, but aRer years of escala)ng violence on all sides, finally, aRer the victory in the BaPle of Desio (1277), he won the city for his family. The Viscon) succeeded in ous)ng the della Torre forever, ruling the city and its possession un)l the 15th century. Much of the prior history of Milan was the tale of the struggle between two poli)cal fac)ons—the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. Most of the )me the Guelphs were successful in the city of Milan. However, the Viscon) family was able to seize power (signoria) in Milan, based on their "Ghibelline" friendship with the German Emperors. In 1395, one of these emperors, Wenceslas (1378–1400), raised the Milanese to the dignity of a duchy. Also in 1395, Gian Galeazzo Viscon) became duke of Milan. The Ghibelline Viscon) family was to retain power in Milan for a century and a half from the early fourteenth century un)l the middle of the fiReenth century. In 1447 Filippo Maria Viscon), Duke of Milan, died without a male heir; following the end of the Viscon) line, the Ambrosian Republic was enacted. The Ambrosian Republic took its name from St. Ambrose, popular patron saint of the city of Milan. Both the Guelph and the Ghibelline fac)ons worked together to bring about the Ambrosian Republic in Milan. However, the Republic collapsed when in 1450, Milan was conquered by Francesco Sforza, of the House of Sforza, which made Milan one of the leading ci)es of the Italian Renaissance. The Sforza family's rule coincided with the Renaissance years in Italy and with one of Milan's moments of major ar)s)c crea)vity. Among others, Donato Bramante and Leonardo da Vinci came to work for the city. It was during this period that the Duomo and the Castle were being built, along with the hospital which is today's the State University and with the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie.

Middle Ages

The Castello Sforzesco, symbol of the power of the House of Sforza.

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Middle Ages Exposi)on

Portuguese Language Museum, São Paulo, Brazil

• Pictures and informa)on about the importance of Milan as a center of trade in Italy and outside Italy • The wars for the power un)l the rule of Mar)no della Torre

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Grammy Museum, LA, USA. Videos show the evolu)on of music throughout )me.

• Videos explaining the war between della Torre family and the Viscon) family

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Interac)ve Model of Lower ManhaPan for Wall Street Rising’s Downtown Informa)on Center Users navigate the model’s informa)on with a gyro-‐mouse.

• Digital models showing and explaining the construc)ons of the period

Short documentaries are projected onto the model’s table.

Projec)on angles were refined to mesh the anima)on into a seamless display.

Buildings can be highlighted for further informa)on.


Renaissance Exposi)on

CONTENTS

beMerlin of Atracsys – interac)ve solu)ons.

• Show the ar)s)c produc)ons in Milan of that period.

PLAN – Level 4

CONTENTS

The French king Louis XII first laid claim to the duchy in 1492. At that )me, Milan was defended by Swiss mercenaries. ARer the victory of Louis's successor Francis I over the Swiss at the BaPle of Marignano, the duchy was promised to the French king Francis I. When the Habsburg Charles V defeated Francis I at the BaPle of Pavia in 1525, northern Italy, including Milan, passed to the House of Habsburg. In 1556, Charles V abdicated in favour of his son Philip II and his brother Ferdinand I. Charles's Italian possessions, including Milan, passed to Philip II and the Spanish line of Habsburgs, while Ferdinand's Austrian line of Habsburgs ruled the Holy Roman Empire. The Great Plague of Milan in 1629–31 killed an es)mated 60,000 people out of a popula)on of 130,000. This episode is considered one of the last outbreaks of the centuries-‐long pandemic of plague which began with the Black Death. In 1700 the Spanish line of Habsburgs was ex)nguished with the death of Charles II. ARer his death, the War of the Spanish Succession began in 1701 with the occupa)on of all Spanish possessions by French troops backing the claim of the French Philippe of Anjou to the Spanish throne. In 1706, the French were defeated in Ramillies and Turin and were forced to yield northern Italy to the Austrian Habsburgs. In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht formally confirmed Austrian sovereignty over most of Spain's Italian possessions including Lombardy and its capital, Milan.

Periods of French, Spanish and Austrian domina)on

Milan in the 17th century

CONTENTS

Periods of French, Spanish and Austrian domina)on Exposi)on

Portuguese Language Museum, São Paulo, Brazil.

• Mul)media boards e x p l a i n i n g t h e domina)ons of the period

PLAN – Level 3

CONTENTS

Napoleon conquered Lombardy in 1796, and Milan was declared capital of the Cisalpine Republic. Later, he declared Milan capital of the Kingdom of Italy and was crowned in the Duomo. Once Napoleon's occupa)on ended, the Congress of Vienna returned Lombardy, and Milan, along with Veneto, to Austrian control in 1815. During this period, Milan became a centre of lyric opera. Here in the 1770s Mozart had premiered three operas at the Teatro Regio Ducal. Later La Scala became the reference theatre in the world, with its premières of Bellini, Donize8, Rossini and Verdi. Verdi himself is interred in the Casa di Riposo per Musicis), his present to Milan. In the 19th century other important theatres were La Cannobiana and the Teatro Carcano. On March 18, 1848, the Milanese rebelled against Austrian rule, during the so-‐called "Five Days" (Italian: Le Cinque Giornate), and Field Marshal Radetzky was forced to withdraw from the city temporarily. However, aRer defea)ng Italian forces at Custoza on July 24, Radetzky was able to reassert Austrian control over Milan and northern Italy. However, Italian na)onalists, championed by the Kingdom of Sardinia, called for the removal of Austria in the interest of Italian unifica)on. Sardinia and France formed an alliance and defeated Austria at the BaPle of Solferino in 1859. Following this baPle, Milan and the rest of Lombardy were incorporated into the Kingdom of Sardinia, which soon gained control of most of Italy and in 1861 was rechristened as the Kingdom of Italy.

19th century

Milanese patriots fight Austrian troops during the Five Days.

CONTENTS

The poli)cal unifica)on of Italy cemented Milan's commercial dominance over northern Italy. It also led to a flurry of railway construc)on that made Milan the rail hub of northern Italy. Rapid industrializa)on put Milan at the centre of Italy's leading industrial region, though in the 1890s Milan was shaken by the Bava-‐Beccaris massacre, a riot related to a high infla)on rate. Meanwhile, as Milanese banks dominated Italy's financial sphere, the city became the country's leading financial centre. Milan's economic growth brought a rapid expansion in the city's area and popula)on during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A great number of grandiose building projects were undertaken, for example the construc)on of the great Galleria ViPorio Emanuele II, the San ViPore prison, the Cimitero Monumentale and the San GoPardo tunnel.

19th century

An image of the Galleria ViPorio Emanuele in the fin-‐de-‐siecle period. It was one of the first buildings in Italy using iron and glass. Milan was by then the most industrialized city in Italy, and boasted several factories, railway sta)ons, aquariums and spor)ng facili)es.

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19th century Exposi)on

Portuguese Language Museum, São Paulo, Brazil.

• Mul)media boards explaining Napoleon’s conquered of Milan and the later austrian rule.

PLAN – Level 3


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The sound museum, Vienna, Austria.

• Videos explaining the origin and the coverage of Milan dialect and teaching the visitors on how to speak it.

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Great War Tables at the Na)onal World War One Museum, Kansas City, MO, USA.


• Touch screen table e x p l a i n i n g t h e unifica)on of I ta ly , Milan’s importance in the process and its consequences to the city.


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The sound museum, Vienna, Austria. Virtual Director installa)on, a game that allows visitors to become an orchestra's director.

• Show the importance of Milan theaters by mul)media devices and offer the opportunity for the visitors to play as an orchestra director.


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• Show an interac)ve map of the construc)on of the railways, in a ver)cal projec)on, also showing the increase of Milan’s popula)on.


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Interac)ve Model of Lower ManhaPan for Wall Street Rising’s Downtown Informa)on Center Users navigate the model’s informa)on with a gyro-‐mouse.

• Digital models showing a nd e x p l a i n i n g t h e construc)ons of the period

Short documentaries are projected onto the model’s table.

Projec)on angles were refined to mesh the anima)on into a seamless display.

Buildings can be highlighted for further informa)on.

PLAN – Level 3

CONTENTS

In 1919, Benito Mussolini organized the Blackshirts, who formed the core of Italy's Fascist movement, in Milan and, in 1922, the March on Rome began from the city. The popula)on did not try to resist the dictatorship, except some industrial workers and intellectuals. But it was in this period that pompous works and examples of innova)ve architecture were built; the Central Sta)on and the Triennale are two of them. During the Second World War Milan suffered severe damage from Bri)sh and American bombing. Even though Italy quit the war in 1943, the Germans occupied most of Northern Italy un)l 1945. Some of the worst Allied bombing of Milan was in 1944 and much of them focused around Milan's main railway sta)on. In 1943, an)-‐German resistance in occupied Italy increased and there was much figh)ng in Milan. As the war came to an end, the American 1st Armored Division advanced on Milan as part of the Po Valley Campaign. But even before they arrived, members of the Italian resistance movement rose up in open revolt in Milan and liberated the city. Nearby, Mussolini and several members of his Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana, or RSI) were captured by the resistance at Dongo and executed. On 29 April 1945, the bodies of the Fascists were taken to Milan and hanged unceremoniously upside-‐down at Piazzale Loreto, a major public square. ARer the war the city was the site of a refugee camp for Jews fleeing from Austria. During the economic miracle of the 1950s and 1960s a large wave of internal immigra)on, especially from Southern Italy, moved to Milan and the popula)on peaked at 1,723,000 in 1971.

20th century

View of Piazza del Duomo, Milan in the early 20th century.

CONTENTS

During this period, Milan saw a re-‐construc)on of most of its destroyed buildings and factories, and was affected by a rapid post-‐war economic growth, called Il boom in Italy. The city saw the construc)on of several innova)ve and modernist buildings and skyscrapers, such as the Torre Velasca and the Pirelli Tower. Milan was, however, in the late-‐1960s un)l the late-‐1970s seriously affected by the Marxist/Leninist/Communist Italian group called Brigate Rosse, or Red Brigades, and the city was oRen filled with poli)cal manifesta)ons and protests. A major event of this period of turmoil, known as the Years of Lead occurred in Milan on December 12, 1969, when a bomb exploded in the Na)onal Agrarian Bank in the Piazza Fontana, killing seventeen people and injuring eighty-‐eight. The popula)on of Milan begun to shrink during the late 1970s, so in the last 30 years almost one third of the total city popula)on moved to the outer belt of new suburbs and small ci)es that grew around Milan proper. At the same )me the city become to aPract also increasing fluxes of foreign immigra)on. Emblema)c of the new phenomenon is the quick and great extension of a "Milanese Chinatown", a district in the area around Via Paolo Sarpi, Via Bramante, Via Messina and Via Rosmini, populated by Chinese immigrants from Zhejiang, one of today's most picturesque districts in the city. Milan is also home to one-‐third of all Filipinos in Italy, harbouring a sizeable and steadily growing popula)on that numbers just over 33,000 with a birth rate averaging 1000 births a year.

20th century

The Pirelli Tower under construc)on, symbol of the post-‐war Italian economic miracle.

CONTENTS

In the 1980s, Milan's industry began to be extremely successful. As it became a major exporter of tex)les and several clothing labels headquartered in the city began to become interna)onally renowned (such as Armani, Versace and Dolce & Gabbana), Milan began to be recognized interna)onally as a major fashion capital, and the tradi)onally affordable and prac)cal, yet stylish and chic a8re produced by the city's stylists made it a serious global compe)tor, threatening Paris' century-‐long status as the world capital haute couture or high-‐fashion. The city also saw a rise in the number of interna)onal tourists, notably from China, Japan or other Far-‐Eastern countries. This period of prosperity and the new interna)onal image of the city being a "capital of fashion" led many journalists to call the metropolis during the period "Milano da bere", literally "Milan to drink". In the 1990s, Milan was badly affected by Tangentopoli, a serious poli)cal scandal centered in the Palazzo delle Stelline complex, in which several poli)cians and businessmen were tried for alleged corrup)on. The city also underwent a financial crisis, and faced sluggish industrial growth, compared to that of the 1950s and 1980s. Despite this, Milan ripened its image as a fashion and design capital, with new labels such as Miu Miu se8ng up. By the late-‐1990s, Milan regained some slight industrial and economic s)mulus to grow.

20th century

A model displays an ou}it as part of the Milan Fashion Week in September 29, 2006. Photo Credit: REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini


Interac)ve touch table in the Grammy Museum, LA, USA. Four Digital projectors embedded in the ceiling, then redirected by way of installed mirrors, bring the museum’s Touch table to life. Photo courtesy Gallagher & Associates.

CONTENTS

• A touch interac)ve table explaining the fascist movement.


CONTENTS

The Urban Planning Museum, Shangai

• Digital models showing a nd e x p l a i n i n g t h e construc)ons of the period


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• Show an interac)ve map of the effects of the Second World War in the c i t y , e xp l a i n i n g i n displays the baPles and consequences of it.


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Porsche Museum – StuPgart The museum has some intriguing audio displays. In these you are in a sound-‐cone and can hear the revving of the engines of different car models.

• Audio displays with s t a t emen t s o f t h e Second World War

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Launch of Ross Lovegrove’s new speakers for KEF. The installa)on, held in a chapel at Milan’s Science and Technology Museum, featured a pair of Lovegroves Muon speakers mounted on a floor containing a matrix of LEDs, which displayed a moving paPern that responded to the music.

• Map showing the immigra)on to Milan in the floor

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Museum of Croydon, UK

• Mul)media boards explaining the poli)c and economic role of Milan in the world.

PLAN – Level 2

REFERENCES

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South Façade

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West Façade

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museum of the city

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