I monumenti

The Bridge of Mermaids

The Bridge of Mermaids in Sempione Park has a long history. The first metal bridge in Italy, it was dedicated to the Austrian Emperor Ferdinand I and was inaugurated in 1842 by Archduke Ranieri, viceroy of Lombardy-Veneto. Built initially as a pedestrian bridge over the San Damiano canal (today's Visconti di Modrone Street), it was designed by the engineer, Francesco Tettamanzi and constructed by Rubini-Scalini-Falk in the Dongo foundry of Lake Como. The four sensual looking mermaids were admired by the Milanese and became the stuff of fantasies and urban myths. “The Ghisini Sisters” as the bridge was affectionately referred to, became a rendezvous for couples and the target of student pranks. In 1930, after the inner canal was covered over, the bridge was shortened and moved to the Park.

The Mysterious Baths Fountain

Placed in the park in 1973 as part of the “Art-City Contact” project for Milan’s XV Triennale, the “Mysterious Baths” is considered to be Giorgio De Chirico's greatest sculpture. Made from Vicenza stone, the installation is composed of eight elements placed in a large sinuous pool. Part of the floor of the pool, in yellow ochre, is decorated with a parquet motif that recalls the movement of waves. Highly glossed parquets that reflect people's legs was suggestive to De Chirico of water, prompting the analogy that is at the heart of the fountains design. The representation of enigmatic characters immersed in water is a theme that was dear to the artist and one that he would come back to repeatedly during his career. Upon its restoration, the original sculptures of the two swimmers and the fish were substituted by copies and moved to the Museum of the Twentieth Century, in Milan.

Seated Musical Accumulation

At the centre of this installation by Arman is an unusual stage for orchestras constituted by a cavea, on whose steps one can make out variously shaped iron chairs imprisoned in the armoured concrete. Trumpets and other musical instruments emerge from the podium intended for an imaginary conductor in front of the stage. The work was exhibited in the Sempione Park together with another 11 pieces for the XV Triennale in 1973.

Monument to Napoleon III

In 1873 Francesco Barzaghi was commimssioned to create a monument to Napoleon III and the French army, which triumphantly entered Milan on the 8th June 1859, liberating the city from Austrian occupation. Though Barzaghi is responsible for the general design of the monument and the statue of the emperor on horseback, the two lateral bas-reliefs commemorating the death of General Espinasse in the battle of Magenta and the entrance of Napoleon III and Vittorio Emanuele II to a crowd of celebrating Milanese, are the work of Antonio Bezzola. On the four sides of the pedestal eight laurel wreaths celebrate the French commanders who lost their lives taking the city, while the names of the 2584 fallen soldiers and officers are inscribed on a plaque. The bronze sculpture, which was completed in 1886, was initially placed in the courtyard of the senate building. On 27th February 1927 it was moved to its current location on Mount Tordo in the Sempione Park.