Point of interest
Cimitero Monumentale
in Milan, Italy
A vast open-air museum of a cemetery, filled with elaborate Art Nouveau and modernist tombs and monumental sculpture.
Where it is
The cemetery lies north-west of the centre on Piazzale Cimitero Monumentale, not far from the Porta Garibaldi district.
Address: Municipio 8 di Milano, Milan
What it is
The cemetery is an open-air museum of sculpture, with elaborate tombs of industrialist families created by artists such as Adolfo Wildt, Lucio Fontana, Medardo Rosso and Giacomo Manzù. The central Famedio, a kind of hall of fame, honours distinguished Milanese figures.
History
A competition in 1860 produced the design of architect Carlo Maciachini, who built the complex between 1863 and 1866; it opened in 1866. It replaced the city's many small cemeteries, considered unhealthy, with a single monumental burial ground.