Mirasole Abbey was founded as a monastery of the Humiliati in the first half of the 13th century. Its economy was based on the working of wool and the production of woollen cloth.
The Humiliati were abolished in 1571, and the abbey became the property of the Collegio Elvetico in Milan, which was taken over for the use of the Austrian administration in 1786 (the building is now the Palazzo del Senato); its spiritual life was administered by the Olivetans. In 1797, the former abbey was given to the Ospedale Maggiore of Milan.
In 2013 a community of Premonstratensian canons moved into the former abbey premises as the Priorato San Norberto, a priory of Mondaye Abbey in France.
The rectangular layout includes a church and cloisters. The buildings were once surrounded by a moat, towers and a drawbridge. One entrance led towards the country, the other into the city. The church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was constructed in the 14th and 15th centuries. It contains a fresco of the Assumption of the Virgin by an anonymous master of 1460, linked to the school of Michelino da Besozzo.
References:The Walls of Constantinople are a series of defensive stone walls that have surrounded and protected the city of Constantinople (today Istanbul) since its founding as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Constantine the Great. With numerous additions and modifications during their history, they were the last great fortification system of antiquity, and one of the most complex and elaborate systems ever built. They were also the largest and strongest fortification in both the ancient and medieval world.
Initially built by Constantine the Great, the walls surrounded the new city on all sides, protecting it against attack from both sea and land. As the city grew, the famous double line of the Theodosian Walls was built in the 5th century. Although the other sections of the walls were less elaborate, they were, when well-manned, almost impregnable for any medieval besieger.