Viewing of Leonardo Da Vinci's The Last Supper is carefully controlled, so as to maintain an environment conducive to its continued survival. Only a few people are allowed in at a time and you're unlikely to get in without an advance reservation. I had one for the first appointment of the day at 8:15, and they instruct you to show up 15 minutes early. This in itself is remarkable since, for the most part, nothing seems to happen or open in Italy before 9am.
I left my hotel in plenty of time and walked the short distance to Santa Maria delle Grazie. Most everything was closed, but I found an open caffe near the church and got my morning standing cappuccino (I recently learned that the Italian word for caffe has two f's). I stood outside the Cenacolo Vinciano with other early tourists. At precisely 8am, the wood door retracted into the sidewalk, a startling high tech feature built into an ancient building. Inside, they were all efficiency, checking our reservations and directing the few of us with 8:15 tickets to a holding area. When it was time, we were ushered through a series of glass chambers that are meant to isolate the refectory room from the outside atmosphere. This was another surprising high tech experience – after we entered one glassed-in chamber, the doors automatically closed behind us; then other doors automatically opened in front of us, advancing us to the next chamber. It reminded me of the opening sequence to the Get Smart show.
We finally made it to the refectory where da Vinci's Last Supper on one wall faces Donato Montorfano's Crucifixion on the opposite wall. The Last Supper is beautiful. I don't know how vivid the colors were originally, but they remain more vibrant than I expected, even as the overall effect is soft and ethereal. It's a bit smaller than I thought, but fills the entire wall and is painted to look like a continuation of the room. It was enjoyable to view both works in a huge room with only about 15 of us present.
This was my last official sight-seeing stop, and I felt it was a fitting conclusion to my whirlwind tour.
So... all I've ever seen are rather smallish photos of The Last Supper ~ in our ancient encyclopedia, for instance. Would you say it's Mary Magdalene in the painting?? (Of course, I believed every word in the "DaVinci Code" ;-).
ReplyDeleteThe person sure looks feminine to me...