Monza

MONZA. - City in Lombardy (diocese of Milan), which was of great importance in the time of the Lombards, who enriched it with monuments.

The church of St. John the Baptist, called the Duomo, was erected by Queen Theodelinda in 595. It was rebuilt in the 13th century, restored in 1577, repainted in 1739; the facade is the work of Matteo di Campione and his disciples (1369-98). In the chapel where Theodelinda and Agilulf are buried, the Iron Crown is preserved, so called because according to tradition it was fashioned with a nail from the Cross of Our Lord, found by St. Helena. In the main chapel, the antependium in embossed gold-leaf silver with gems and enamels was executed by the Milanese goldsmith Borgino del Pozzo between the years 1350-57; it depicts the Baptism of Jesus Christ, the symbols of the Evangelists and episodes from the life of St. John the Baptist.

The treasure, kept in an adjoining octagonal room, was removed for the first time in 1324 and taken to the court of the popes of Avignon; it returned in 1344; the French sent it to Paris in 1799, whence it returned in 1815. Preserved there are: the so-called "embroidery of the Madonna," which is in fact an Oriental fabric of the 6th or 7th century; the so-called "veil of the Madonna" in Oriental silk, which dates from the 11th century; a dish in gilded silver with the scene of a hen and seven chicks, attributed by some to the age of Theodelinda, by others to the 12th or 13th century; two parchment fragments of a letter of St. Gregory the Great (590-604); the votive cross in gold and gems of Agilulf, belonging to his crown, stolen in Paris in 1805; the Cross, called that of Berengar, belonging to the crown of Theodelinda; a cover for an evangeliary, another for a sacramentary in pierced ivory and silver leaf (9th century). More important is the "golden binding of Theodelinda," as the inscription engraved on it attests; a diptych in gold leaf studded with precious stones, pearls and cameos, the work of a learned Byzantine goldsmith; by some it was identified as the "theca persica" sent by Gregory the Great to Theodelinda for the Baptism of her son Adaloald, while others instead hold it to be an encolpion. A processional cross in gold and silver leaf with episodes from the life of Jesus Christ and of the Baptist, with in the center a medallion of the Madonna with the Child and Theodelinda kneeling; donated by the latter herself, it was remade in 1487 and in 1615.

There are furthermore three ivory diptychs: the first is consular, but the two figures of the personage were later transformed, one into King David, the other into St. Gregory; the second seems to represent Stilicho with his wife Serena and his son (late 4th century); the third, called "of the poet and the muse," is a work of the late 4th century; K. Weitzmann and S. Schultz propose to recognize in the poet Claudius Claudian (Zur Bestimmung des Dichters auf dem Musendipitychon von M., in Jahrbuch des deutschen archäologischen Instituts, 49 [1934], pp. 128-38). Also preserved are two collections of ampullae (v.), one composed of 28 glass phials that contained oils taken from the sanctuaries of the Roman martyrs and brought between 590-604 by a certain John to Queen Theodelinda, with indicative labels on each individual phial and a summarizing note (v. INDEX OLEORUM); the second group is composed of 16 metal ampullae (an alloy of tin and lead) and contained oils or earth from the sanctuaries of Palestine; they are adorned with figurations reproducing the said sanctuaries (late 7th century). Very precious is the Library of the Chapter for its manuscripts and incunabula.

Enrico Josi