Certo'sa di Pavia

Certo'sa di Pavia, a celebrated Carthusian monastery, 5 miles N. of Pavia, was founded in 1396 by Giovanni Galeazzo Visconti, first Duke of Milan, in atonement for the murder of his uncle. The church is a splendid structure in the form of a Latin cross, the ground-plan being 252 feet long by 177 feet broad. The richly sculptured facade, designed by Borgognone, was commenced in 1473. The building is made up of various styles, but the Pointed prevails in the interior, which is decorated with frescoes, paintings, &c., and contains a gorgeous high-altar, the mausoleum of the founder, and several monuments. After the battle of Pavia (1525), Francis I. was for three days a prisoner at the Certosa, which, since the dissolution of the monasteries, has been constituted a national monument. The name certosa is a form of Carthusian (q.v.), and is used of other monasteries of the order, as that to the south of Florence.