Past, Present and Future of the Forgotten Places in the Ancient “Ospedale Maggiore” (Ca’ Granda) in Milan: Studies, Surveys, Analysis, Prospects and Projects

Abstract

During the last 10 years an inter-disciplinary campaign of surveys, researches and analysis has been undertaken on the buildings of the historical Archive and the church of the B.V. Annunciata in the Ospedale Maggiore in Milan, dubbed from the milanese the Ca’ Granda. The campaign was urgently appointed in 2002 by the Cultural Heritage Service of the Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, as a consequence of the worrisome structural conditions, the clear suffering signals displayed by the places and the severe environmental conditions. Moreover it had to be taken into consideration the vulnerability of the valuable multimaterial cultural heritage (manuscripts, paintings, wood libraries, sculptures etc.) that has been hosted here for centuries. We could count on a rare disposal of financial resources and time that made it possible to improve and to refine through the years the steps, the methods, the tools, and the goals themselves, given the priority to the going on of the original and historical function inside the places. It should be stressed that despite the well known importance of the places, as far as the history of architecture and of restoration are concerned, the progress of the researches and the multidisciplinary approach led to a true rediscovery of the identity, the role, the specific history, the material features and the artistic arrangement of some hidden and forgotten places of the Ca’ Granda, such as the crypt and the sepulchres below the church of S. Maria Annunciata. We were given the opportunity to set up and coordinate a well cooperative team that has followed the different steps of the work, including the researches on the archive sources, the geometrical survey, the stratigraphic survey, the detailed description of the building features and conditions, done room by room, and a broad campaign of diagnostic tests and analysis on the structures, on the materials and on the microclimate. A thorough knowledge was gradually increased during the years, thanks to the disposal of new resources, with the primary aim to permit a well planned program of interventions for the maintenance and for the conservation of these once forgotten places, giving the priority to the strengthening of structures.