When Milan became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy the collection, by the will of Napoleon turned into a museum that wanted to exhibit paintings more significant from all territories conquered by the armies French. Brera then, unlike other major Italian museums, like the Uffizi for instance, comes from private collection principles and the aristocracy but from political and state.

In fact, since the early nineteenth century, even after the suppression of many religious orders, there flowed the paintings requirements from churches and convents of Lombardy, which added to works identical subtracted from the various departments of the Kingdom of Italy. This explains the prevalence of birth, in collections, the sacred paintings, often of great size and gives the museum a physiognomy particular, only partly mitigated by subsequent acquisitions.

The palace, built on an ancient convent of the order of the fourteenth Humiliated and then went to the Jesuits who established a school, he met the current arrangement, solid and stern, as beginning of the seventeenth century by Francesco Maria Ricchino.

In 1773, following the dissolution of the Jesuits, the Collegio di Brera became state property and Empress Maria Theresa of Austria took it home to some of the most advanced institutions of cultural city over the Academy of Fine Arts and Institute of Lombard Arts and Sciences, the National Library Braidense Observatory Astronomical Observatory and the Botanical Garden.

In charge of design and further work was Joseph Piermarini, one of the protagonists of Neoclassicism in Italy.
He was should the arrangement of the library (a room is visible from The room of the gallery), the solemn entrance portal on Via Brera and completion of the courtyard, at whose center was laid in 1859, the bronze statue depicting Napoleon as Mars peacemaker, cast at Rome on the model of Antonio Canova.

Throughout the nineteenth century loggias, courtyards, lobbies and corridors were intended to accommodate public monument that celebrates artists benefactors, men of culture and science-related institution Braidense. Among the best examples of this rich and little known furniture are monuments to Cesare Beccaria Pompeo Marchesi and Giuseppe Parini, Gaetano Monti, visible on the staircase access to the gallery.

How to get there

Subway: Line 2 (Lanza) - line 3 (Montenapoleone) tram: 1-4-8-12-14-27 Bus: 61-97

Opening days

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday

Opening hours

All year round except holidays - Tuesday to Sunday 08:30-19:15

When Milan became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy the collection, by the will of Napoleon turned into a museum that wanted to exhibit paintings more significant from all territories conquered by the armies French. Brera then, unlike other major Italian museums, like the Uffizi for instance, comes from private collection principles and the aristocracy but from political and state.

In fact, since the early nineteenth century, even after the suppression of many religious orders, there flowed the paintings requirements from churches and convents of Lombardy, which added to works identical subtracted from the various departments of the Kingdom of Italy. This explains the prevalence of birth, in collections, the sacred paintings, often of great size and gives the museum a physiognomy particular, only partly mitigated by subsequent acquisitions.

The palace, built on an ancient convent of the order of the fourteenth Humiliated and then went to the Jesuits who established a school, he met the current arrangement, solid and stern, as beginning of the seventeenth century by Francesco Maria Ricchino.

In 1773, following the dissolution of the Jesuits, the Collegio di Brera became state property and Empress Maria Theresa of Austria took it home to some of the most advanced institutions of cultural city over the Academy of Fine Arts and Institute of Lombard Arts and Sciences, the National Library Braidense Observatory Astronomical Observatory and the Botanical Garden.

In charge of design and further work was Joseph Piermarini, one of the protagonists of Neoclassicism in Italy.
He was should the arrangement of the library (a room is visible from The room of the gallery), the solemn entrance portal on Via Brera and completion of the courtyard, at whose center was laid in 1859, the bronze statue depicting Napoleon as Mars peacemaker, cast at Rome on the model of Antonio Canova.

Throughout the nineteenth century loggias, courtyards, lobbies and corridors were intended to accommodate public monument that celebrates artists benefactors, men of culture and science-related institution Braidense. Among the best examples of this rich and little known furniture are monuments to Cesare Beccaria Pompeo Marchesi and Giuseppe Parini, Gaetano Monti, visible on the staircase access to the gallery.

How to get there

Subway: Line 2 (Lanza) - line 3 (Montenapoleone) tram: 1-4-8-12-14-27 Bus: 61-97

Opening days

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday

Opening hours

All year round except holidays - Tuesday to Sunday 08:30-19:15