Pavia, Santa Maria del Carmine

The building of this church began around 1374 with the economic support by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, and was completed only a century later, thanks to the funding of the Dukedom and the city-states, the money coming from the trade of indulgencies.
Despite the long time needed for completion, the church is the result of a unitary design that reflects in the whole building.
Attributed to Bernardo Da Venezia and consecrated in 1511, the church boasts a rose window framed by angels’ heads, buttresses with rising-up pinnacles and pointed-arch mullioned windows with two lights; it is a unique example of Lombard Gothic architecture.
The façade, dating back to 1450, has the typical hut-shaped structure, modified by the robust overhang of buttresses and the slight elevation of the central part. Divide into five compartments, it features original statues of God, the Angel of the Annunciation, and the Virgin Mary, beside the statues placed in the side lunettes of the three portals, made during the 19th-century remaking.