Facciata Della Chiesa Di San Colombano 1890

Giuseppe Barberis created this print of the Facciata Della Chiesa Di San Colombano sometime between c.1840 and c.1917. During this period, architectural prints became vital tools for disseminating knowledge and shaping perceptions of urban spaces. Barberis’s focus on the church’s facade invites us to consider how religious institutions projected power and influenced social life. We can reflect on how the architecture itself might reinforce notions of hierarchy and authority. Consider who would have been welcome within these walls and who might have been excluded. Churches like San Colombano were often central to community identity. Barberis’s print serves as a reminder of the complex relationship between religious spaces and the lives of ordinary people. It prompts us to reflect on the stories embedded within the stones of this facade.