page_title: Basilica of San Magno, Legnano
section_title: The origins: the ancient church of San Salvatore
hierarchical_section_title: Basilica of San Magno, Legnano / History / The origins: the ancient church of San Salvatore
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Resti del campanile della chiesa di San Salvatore, oggi appartenente alla basilica di San Magno di Legnano.
context_page_description: The Basilica of Saint Magnus is the principal church of the Italian town of Legnano, in the Province of Milan. It is dedicated to the Saint Magnus, who was Archbishop of Milan from 518 to 530. The church was built from 1504 to 1513 in the Renaissance-style designed by Donato Bramante. The bell tower was added between the years 1752 and 1791. On 18 March 1950, Pope Pious XII named the Basilica of San Magno a minor basilica.
  The interior of the basilica church is adorned with numerous first-class examples of Lombard Renaissance artwork. Examples are Gian Giacomo Lampugnani's frescoes of the main vault, the remains of 16th century paintings by Evangelista Luini, the frescoes of the main chapel by Bernardino Lanini, and the altarpiece by Giampietrino. The item of greatest significance, however, is a polyptych by Bernardino Luini that is widely considered by art historians to be his masterpiece.
context_section_description: Upon the site of the Basilica of San Magno once stood the Lombard Romanesque parish church of San Salvatore, whose construction has been traced to the 10th or 11th centuries AD. By the 15th century, the stability of the parish church's foundation had been drastically weakened by its age and water leaking in from the nearby Olonella. To make matters worse, the Olona was prone to frequent and destructive flooding. Finally, in the very late 15th century, the parish church partially collapsed. The people of Legnano obtained permission from Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, to demolish its remains and to build a new church on the same site. Because the parish church had had a rather dour appearance, Legnano's populace decided to erect a much more sumptuous place of worship.
  There are a few reasons that the people chose, in spite of the danger of continued water damage, to reuse the site of the parish church. One is a confidence displayed by the people of Legnano in the technical skills of the builders of the basilica church. Another is that what is now the Piazza San Magno was the town's primary cemetery until a fiat of the Napoleonic government forced the municipal government to move the cemetery out of the town in 1808. The nobility were laid to rest inside the church until their bones were removed from the Basilica of San Magno in the 18th century.
caption: Remains of the Romanesque bell tower of the church of San Salvatore
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