Milan, Palazzo Citterio opens: wealth and culture shine in the 'Great Brera'

Every time I approach the Brera palace, I perceive its mighty bulk in relation to the surrounding context, and only when I first enter the court of honour and then along the open and closed spaces that follow on to the Botanical Garden and via Borgonuovo, do I perceive the degree of complexity that this imposing building has stratified over the centuries, welcoming ever more numerous communities and institutions. Observing its stereometric, well-designed and severe façade, one cannot perceive the degrees of architectural and cultural stratification that have materialised in this noble factory, transforming it into one of Milan's densest and most participatory design, artistic, cultural and scientific laboratories over the centuries.

The hurried passer-by ignores the fact that the hundreds of people who live, work and study there on a daily basis refer to it with subtle irony as 'the condominium', moving imaginations from the monumental box to the landscape intensely inhabited by each of its inhabitants. As with all living organisms that evolve, Brera today becomes the 'Great Brera' thanks to the acquisition of Palazzo Citterio forty years ago, changing the idea of the original building from a compact to a complex urban system.

The exhibition I have imagined opens the spaces of the second floor of Palazzo Citterio and is a necessary reading of the Brera palace and its cultural and social richness for the city of Milan, both as an architectural artefact and as an urban and community laboratory, demonstrating a unique and extraordinary continuity for the city from the 16th century to the present day.

Over the centuries, this complex evolved by adding functions that changed its surroundings: the Jesuit College was founded as an educational institution and from this time until today education is a fundamental part of the building's identity. Under the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa the Braidense Library, the Astronomical Observatory, the Botanical Garden and the Academy were created, then Napoleon founded the Lombard Institute of Letters and Science and the Picture Gallery to the point that the building was named the 'Palace of Science and the Arts'.

Between the 18th and early 20th century, the Brera Palace was a decisive workshop for the life of the city: the Academy trained the artists, sculptors, theatre set designers and architects who gave shape to the modern city; the Astronomical Observatory set the exact time for Lombardy and produced the first scientifically structured maps of the city and the region; the Braidense Library became a centre of study and collection of an extraordinary book heritage, as did the Lombard Institute, which gathered the best talents of the literary and scientific worlds; the Botanical Garden was a laboratory that trained Lombard botanists and agronomists. The Pinacoteca di Brera builds its collections from the religious and private heritage scattered throughout the territory.