Castello Sforzesco Museums
Museum of Ancient Art
The museum has an access from the Pusterla dei Fabbri arch, is located on the ground floor of the Corte Ducale, consists of 15 rooms. There are sculpturesi frescoes, mosaics dating back to the 4th and 11th centuries. Among the most ancient sculptures is the head which is said to represent Empress Theodora. The second room is dedicated to the sculpture in Milan and Lombardy with Romanesque and Gothic examples. There are the monuments of Bernabo Visconti and Regina Della Scala. Room 3 has the examples of Campione, Lombardy and Tuscan art. Room 4 hosts the frescoed coat-of-arms of the king of Spain Philip II and his wife Maria Tudor. Room 5 has the works of the 14th and 15th Centuries about religion. Room 6 and 7 are dedicated to historical events of Milan. Room 8 is called Sala delle Asse. In this room Leonardo da Vinci frescoed the ceiling with a false pergola made of the flower boughs of 16 trees laced with golden rope.
"Negre" the two adjoining rooms are called so because it was where Ludovico il Moro retired while mourning after his wife Beatrice. Sala dei Ducali and the Cappella Ducale rooms were built by the order of Galeazzo Maria Sforza. Room 13 which is called Sala delle Colombine is decorated in dark red and hosts the sculptures of the Lombard Renaissance. The last rooms are Sala Verde or also known as Sala delle Armi and Sala degli Scarlioni. The last room Sala degli Scarlioni has one the most important works of the museum, the Rondanini Pieta by Michelangelo.
Museum of Musical Instruments and Applied Arts Collections
These collections are located on the first and second floors of the Rocchetta. There are Trivulzio Tapestries, drawings by Bramantino, musical instruments from 16th and 17th centuries in the Sala della Balla. The applied arts collections have the examples of gold objects, ivories dating back to 4th-18th centuries and many scientific instruments, works in iron, glass and porcelain.
Furniture Collections and Pinacoteca
On the first floor of the Corte Ducale there are the crafts of Giuseppe Magiolini from the Neoclassical period. The Pinacoteca del Castello Sforzesco is located in the Torre Falconiera. There are the masterpieces of Mantegna, Correggio, Filippo Lippi, Antonello da Messina, paintings dating back to 14th-18th centuries, works of Foppa, Bergognone, Bramantino, Procaccini, Cerano and Morazzonne. Room 26 has the paintings by Correggio, Andrea Solario, Giovanni Bellini, Lotto, Romanino, Titian, Tintoretto, Bronzino and Van Dyck.
Prehistoric Museum
The collections are in the cellar of the Rocchetta and the Sala Viscontea. They are arranged in three sections as the Neolithic, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.
Galleria d'Arte Moderna
It was founded in 1868 and enlarged with donations till 1921 and after then it was installed in the rooms of Villa Reale. During the World War II the building was unfortunately damaged and in 1949 it was rearranged.
The Italian paintings dating back to 1800 to the early 20th century, Guiseppe Pellizza da Volpedo's The Fourth State, Neoclassical and Romantic sculpture, works of Francesco Hayez, Andrea Appiani, Antonio Canova, Tranquillo Cremona, Giacomo Favretto, Giovanni Sengatini and Medardo Rosso are within the collections of the gallery.
Civico Museo Archeologico
The museum was founded in 1965. It has the collections of Etruscan, Greek and Roman times such as tomb furnishings, bronze objects and statues, works in bucchero, urns, canopic jars which illustrate the Etruria culture, ceramics and vases, portraits, mosaics, cups and items in silver.
Museo del Duomo
It is located on the ground floor of Palazzo Reale since 1953. In the museum there are stained glass, drawings, models, and works of art such as the Statue of St George by Giorgio Solari, Ariberto's Crucifix, and wooden model of the Duomo, tapestries, architectural elements and sculptures.
