The Milan convent where Leonardo painted The Last Supper belonged to the Dominicans. The mural occupies the refectory, or communal dining hall, of Santa Maria delle Grazie, a Dominican church and convent.
The complex was closely tied to Milan’s ruling Sforza family. Duke Ludovico Sforza supported rebuilding work there and intended the church to serve as a Sforza burial site. Leonardo painted The Last Supper on the refectory’s north wall for the Dominican community, probably between 1495 and 1498. Its placement meant that the biblical meal faced the friars’ own everyday communal meals.
The painting is not a conventional fresco. Leonardo used an experimental technique on dry plaster, allowing more time for detail but making the work unusually vulnerable to damp, flaking, and later restoration problems. The convent and mural survived serious wartime damage in 1943, although the refectory was badly affected. Jesuits, Benedictines, and Franciscans are also Catholic religious orders, but they did not own this Milan convent. Santa Maria delle Grazie and The Last Supper became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980.