Palazzo Reale di Milano
Neoclassical royal palace with a ballroom of forty caryatid statues, scarred by wartime bombing and left unrestored as a memorial.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Palazzo Reale di Milano centers on the Hall of the Caryatids, a ballroom that has burned twice, first in a 1776 theater fire and again during Allied bombing in August 1943. You'll hear how architect Giuseppe Piermarini reshaped the ruined space with forty carved caryatid columns, and the choice restorers made in the 1950s about how to treat the scars left behind. It follows what brought Pablo Picasso to this particular room a decade later, and why he wanted it left exactly as it was.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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