A 10-minute walk from Milan's Duomo is a neighborhood that takes its name from the street of the same name. Sometimes it is even called "Milan's Montmartre". But before that happens, it will be more than a century. We're talking about the Brera district and its main attraction: the Pinacoteca Brera, where we invite you to take a tour.

Once upon a time, in the Middle Ages, the Umillatian monks decided to settle here, built a church and a monastery, worked linen, making fabrics that were famous throughout Europe. The place was on the outskirts of the city, an ungroomed area where the land was uncultivated: hence the name of the area "Brera": from - uncultivated, overgrown area in the form of a field or meadow. A few centuries later, in the 16th century, the Order of the Humiliacs was abolished, and other monks came to take their place: the Jesuits. They were not concerned with flax; their task was to establish schools and colleges. Work on the construction of new premises for the college took a long time: the building was built in the XVII century, but its final appearance only in the second half of the XVIII century.

In 1773, it was the turn of the Jesuits to leave these places: the order was abolished, the building passed into state ownership, and three years later the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria established the Academy of Fine Arts. And next to it in the form of a visual training tool for future artists organized Pinacotheca - gallery, where the collected works of art by Italian masters of different schools. In 1806 the Pinacotheca was separated from the Academy, and its collection was considerably enlarged.

The Brera Picture Gallery is an example not of private but of state collecting. The Pinakothek's extensive collection attracts art connoisseurs of all levels - amateurs and connoisseurs alike. In addition to world-famous works of art, its halls contain a vast collection of works of art of a religious nature removed from churches, monasteries and religious orders due to their dissolution during the Napoleonic era.

The Pinacoteca occupies 38 rooms arranged chronologically and by region: all schools of Italian painting are represented, but works from Veneto and Lombardy are the main part.

There are a number of works of art which are considered to be world-class masterpieces. Works by Raphael, Caravaggio, Rubens, Van Dyck, Bellini, Mantegna, Tintoretto and many others are represented. Among the most famous works are The Abduction of St. Mark's Body by Jacopo Tintoretto, The Dead Christ by Andrea Mantegna, The Betrothal of the Virgin Mary by Raphael, The Altarpiece of Montefeltro by Piero della Francesca, The Kiss by Francesco Aiez. A separate place in the collection belongs to the works of artists of the XIX-XX centuries, including such names as Picasso, Modigliani, Boccioni, Carr and others.

The restoration workshop, located right there, attracts attention just as much as the paintings: its glass walls allow you to watch the restorers at work. And cozy seats in the halls invite you to sit down and admire the picture you like.

Already in ancient times they said: "Ars longa, vita brevis: life is short, art is eternal. Come for a tour - touch the eternal, and you'll have memories to last a lifetime!