Miniature Buildings

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Models in Milan

In February 2026 we re-visited Milan as part of our 2026 Spring tour.  The star turn was a giant model of the stunning Duomo in the cathedral museum.  

It was not made by a single modeller and was modified over nearly four centuries:

More on this model ,and on others of the cathedral displayed in the same room, is in a separate Milan Cathedral page.  And, naturally, it gets an honourable mention in my introductory Churches article.  But others in the city caught my eye as well.

It's the cathedral again but so much smaller this time.  The distinctive facade outline used for a cuckoo clock on display in a shop window:

Not strictly a building but it does include miniature architectural elements; so it creeps in. On the grounds of its beauty and precision workmanship.  Maybe 6 or 8 inches high, it is of gided silver and engraved rock crystal with gold leafing made by a Milanese workshop at the end of the 16th century.

The next two items are low relief reproductions of earlier versions of the cathedral's facade.  IThey appear on the coat of arms of the 'Veneranda Fabbrica', the organsiation responsible for building the Duomo in the middle ages and, to this this day, maintaining it.  You will see how the facade, and thus the coat of arms, develops over time.

The next piece of sculpture will also go in my article on 'Saints with Buildings', but it is not actually of a saint.  It is a statue of the allegorical figure 'Fortitude' by a Lombard sculptor from the beginning of the 16th century.  Holding, presumably, a fort!

Not so much left field as off field.  Not a model at all but a representation in stained glass of the Tower of Babel.  But hey, this is my site.  It was made by Corrado de Mochis, a master glassworker of the 1550s, from a drawing (a 'cartoon' ) by Giuseppe Arcimboldi.

One of the central elements of the museum is that it contains hundreds of models of sculpture forming part of the structure of the Duomo.  But not miniature reproductions of the finished pieces.  The other way around.  They were models produced as samples, proposals, of what might be created in full size - presented for prior approval.

This one is an interior for a change.  I was really impressed by the detail. Just another saint with a building!
Part of the design for the early 20th century bronze doors - a panel commemorating the work of the 'Veneranda Fabbrica', including another version of their coat of arms.

From the gift shop.  These card models are on postcard sized cards!  I bought the one of the cathedral but have yet to try my hand at putting it together.

Moving from the cathedral to the Castle of the Dukes of Milan - the Sforza family - I found several other miniature building related items hidden among all the other artwork.  The frst of these is a votive statuette of someone ( a saint?) offering the city (or the castle) to the Madonna and child.  There were several such pieces, attributed to Giovanni di Balduccio ( and his workshop?) from the mid 14th century.

The next simple looking piece, about 60cm tall if I recall correctly, dates from even earlier.  Made in the 13th century by an unknown Lombardy sculptor the slab is part of the Torriani family coat of arms.

A much more unusual object is the item illustreted below.  The label described it as a 'contorno di ciborio' from the 15th century.  Which as far as I can make out means it is a side part of a canopy covering an altar.  The architectural elements are just incidental to the angels of course but the use of forced perspective in sculpting an interior struck me as interesting.  And for something 5 to 6 hundred years old it looked so fresh and crisp.

I'm not sure what the next piece is!  But I liked it.  Not just for the tower but for the figures as well.

Although it really belongs in one of my nativity articles, I thought I would slip it in here as it includes a bit of brickwork.  It is carved wood from the 15th century, attributed to the renowned Milanese Donati brothers, and comes from the church of Sant'Antonio in Gallarate.  Although it just looks like polished wood the label says "The relativly subdued polychrome was achieved using a very sophisticated technique that had been very common in Lombardy ever since the early fifteenth century using gold leaf with a light covering of coloured lacquers."

These however do not fit here at all, but I liked them.  They are miniatures after all.

Whereas this one is right on point.  It is a Renaissance chest, an object described as"the most charectaristic piece of Renaissance furnishing.  Hidden inside are a large number of drawers for precious objects and documents.  But no details of who made this one unfortunatly.

A second chest did have a rough date to it, the second half of the 16th century.

Although it has a modern art feel to it ( at least the top landscape part does) this 'Family in a landscape' dates from around 1650. It is three domensional, not just a painting.

From the castle we moved to the Basilica of St Ambrogio ( St Ambrose) - the patron saint of the city.  Totally different to the Duomo - Romanesque rather than Gothic - it is consderably older.  Within the basilica is a lovely model, in two halves, showing stages of its development.

And that was Milan from a models point of view.