Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Florence)
 Paradise Hall |
|
| Data | |
|---|---|
| place | Piazza del Duomo 9, Florence 
|
| Art |
Art, archeology
|
| opening | May 3, 1891 |
| operator |
Opera del Duomo Firenze
|
| management |
Timothy Verdon
|
| Website | |
The Museo dell'Opera del Duomo is a museum in Florence , on the northeast side of the Piazza del Duomo. It contains works of art from the church complex of the Florence Cathedral , the Baptistery and Campanile by Giotto, with a very important centerpiece of Gothic and Renaissance statues.
Among the most important works are works by Andrea Pisano , Arnolfo di Cambio , Nanni di Banco , the original reliefs of the Door of Paradise by Ghiberti , the Pietà Bandini by Michelangelo and one of the world's largest collections of Donatello's works , the second largest after the Bargello .
History and collection
The current museum has a long history: the building has been used as the seat of the Opera del Duomo since 1296, an institution created by the Florentine Republic made up of administrators, artists and workers responsible for building the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore were responsible.
Due to lack of space, the Opera moved to its current location in 1400, a palace built on the site of an earlier farmhouse next to the stoves in Lorenzo Ghiberti's workshop (exactly where the artist cast his bronze doors for the Baptistery). Here, around 1500, Michelangelo carved the famous David and reused a partially used block of marble from the Opera del Duomo.
After the completion of the basilica (1436), the Opera remained with the task of preserving the church complex consisting of the cathedral, baptistery and campanile and, from 1891, converting part of the rooms into a museum and making them accessible to the public.
Over the centuries an amazing collection of masterpieces from the three monuments, but also valuable historical memories from the construction of Santa Maria del Fiore, such as: For example, the model of the dome by Brunelleschi , the various facade projects from the 16th and 17th centuries and some construction machines ( winches , wagons, hemp ropes ...).
Today the museum displays a multitude of masterpieces that give a complete overview of the development of Florentine sculpture from the 14th to the 16th centuries. Among the most important works are the original panels by Lorenzo Ghiberti from the door of Paradise in the Baptistery; the sculptures by Arnolfo di Cambio , most of which come from the old façade of the cathedral ( Boniface VIII, Mary cycle, etc.); the pulpit of the cathedral by Donatello and Luca della Robbia ; the works removed from the bell tower, such as the panels by Andrea Pisano , the sculptures by Donatello such as the prophet Habakkuk (also called Zuccone by the Florentines because of the bald head); the penitent Maria Magdalena , a wooden sculpture also by Donatello; the Pieta by Michelangelo (1548–1555), a late work that may have been intended as a memorial to his burial.
However, the museum also has a very large number of Roman finds that were used to build temples, sculptures and bas-reliefs, as well as a large collection of sacred art (relics, crosses, caskets, chasubles, bishop's staff).
The relic of a finger of St. John the Baptist was made by Antipope John XXIII. who was buried in Florence.
The expansion, modernization and technical adaptation work carried out between 1998 and 2000 in view of the anniversary of Luigi Zangheri and David Palterer have increased the exhibition area of the old museum by around a third. In the rooms next to the museum, to the left of today's ticket office, where the former Intrepides Theater was located, which was built by Grand Duke Peter Leopold in 1779 , a new extension was built from 2009 to 2015 based on a design by Adolfo Natalini . The museum, reopened on October 29, 2015, contains a reconstruction of the facade of Santa Maria del Fiore according to the first Arnolfo plan, facing the doors and statues of the Baptistery.
Major works
- Different authors
- Silver altar of St. John
- Statue of Boniface VIII
- Madonna dagli tatting di vetro
- Madonna della Natività
- hope
- Faith
- Sibylle
- Baptism of Jesus
- Head of 'John
- Creation of Eve
- Beardless prophet
- Thoughtful prophet
- Little prophet
- Sacrifice of Issak
- Choir pulpit
- Jeremiah
- Saint John the Evangelist
- Zuccone
- Penitent Mary Magdalene
- Little prophet
- Saint Luca
- Choir pulpit
- Antonio del Pollaiolo
- Reliquary Cross of Saint John
- Curtain of San Giovanni
- Pietà Bandini
literature
- The Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Firenze . Mandragora, Florence 2000, ISBN 88-85957-58-7 (Italian).
- David Palterer, Luigi Zangheri: Il nuovo Museo dell'Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore Firenze . Edizioni Polistampa, Florence 2001, ISBN 88-8304-344-8 (Italian).
Web links
- Museo dell'opera di Santa Maria del Fiore ( it ) Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali (MiBAC).
- Il sito dell'Opera del Duomo ( it )
- Audioguida Museo dell'Opera del Duomo ( it ) leaudioguide.net.