Basilica, Ambrosian
Basilica, Ambrosian
Church, Milan, dating from the 9th century and restored in the 12th, replacing the original edifice erected by Saint Ambrose and consecrated, 386. In 1864 a sarcophagus containing the relics of Saints. Gervasius and Protasius and of Saint Ambrose was discovered in the confession of the basilica. The golden altar-frontal dates from 835; and the brazen serpent on a column in the nave was brought from Constantinople, c.1001, under the supposition that it was the serpent erected by Moses in the desert.