Cappella Colleoni

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Colleoni Chapel.

The funerary monument to Medea Colleoni, by Giovanni Antonio Amadeo.

The Cappella Colleoni (Colleoni Chapel) is a church/mausoleum in Bergamo, northern Italy.

Dedicated to the saints Bartholomew, Mark and John the Baptist, it was built in 1472-1476 as the personal shrine for famous condottiero Bartolomeo Colleoni, member of one of the most outstanding families of the city, and his beloved daughter Medea. The site chosen was that of the sacristy of the nearby church of Santa Maria Maggiore, which was demolished by Colleoni's soldiers.

The design was entrusted to Giovanni Antonio Amadeo, whose plan respected the style of the church, as it can been seen from the octagonal tambour of the dome and in the lantern cusp, as well as in the use of polychrome marbles.

[edit] Overview

The façade is characterized by the use of tarsia and polychrome marble decorations in white, red and black lozenges. Over the main portal is a rose window, flanked by two medallions portraying Julius Caesar and Trajan.

The upper part of the basement has nine tiles with reliefs of Biblical stories, and four bas-reliefs with Hercules's deeds. The four pilasters of the windows flanking the portal are surmounted by statues of the Virtues. The upper part of the façade has a loggia in Romanesque style.

The interior includes a square hall and a smaller room housing the high altar. The tomb of Bartolomeo Colleoni (who died on November 2, 1475) is on the wall facing the entrance. It is decorated with reliefs of the Stories of Jesus Christ, statues, heads of lions and an equestrian statue of the condottiero in gilded wood, finished by German masters from Nuremberg in 1501. The whole complex is surrounded by a triumphal arch.

Amadeo himself executed the funerary monument of Medea Colleoni (died March 6, 1470). Located on the left wall, it has a statue of the Piety in alto rilievo. The tomb was transferred here in 1892 from Urgnano.

The presbitery has a high altar sculpted by Bartolomeo Manni in 1676, with statues of three titular saints.

Notable are the frescoes of the dome, depicting Episodes of the Lives of St. Mark, John the Baptist and Bartholomew, executed by Giambattista Tiepolo in 1732-1733.

[edit] Bartolomeo Colleoni's remains

For centuries it was believed the the condottiero's remains had been buried in another place, as the sarcophagus looked empty. On November 21, 1969, however, they were discovered in Colleoni's tomb into a wooden coffin, hidden under a plaster cover.