Uffizi Gallery,Florence, Italy

Description

Uffizi Gallery,Florence, Italy
The Uffizi Gallery (Italian: Galleria degli Uffizi, pronounced [ɡalleˈriːa deʎʎ ufˈfittsi]) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in central Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums, it is also one of the largest and best known in the world, and holds a collection of priceless works, particularly from the period of the Italian Renaissance.
After the ruling house of Medici was extinguished, their art treasures remained in Florence by terms of the famous Patto di famiglia negotiated by Anna Maria Luisa, the last Medici heiress; it formed one of the first modern museums. The gallery had been open to visitors by request since the sixteenth century, and in 1765 it was officially opened to the public.





Bargello MuseumThe National Museum of Bargello in Florence displays the most important collection in the world of Renaissance Tuscan Sculpture, with masterpieces by Donatello, Della Robbia, Verrocchio, Michelangelo, Benvenuto Cellini, Jacopo Sansovino, Giambologna, Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi, along with a significant group of medieval French ivories, Italian majolicas and arms. The ancient medieval palace, that houses today the Museum, was born as the residence of the Captain of the People, then of the Podestà of Florence and at last of the Captain of Justice (called indeed “Bargello”). Lately in the 14th century it was transformed in a prison and, afterwards a complete restoration, in 1865 it was opened as Bargello Museum. At the beginning it was dedicated to Medieval applied arts, then in 1887-1888, in occasion of the Donatello’s Year, the Hall of Renaissance Sculpture was opened and the collection was further enlarged between the late 19th century and the early 20th century thanks to private donations and legacies too. Several masterpieces are collected in the various museum halls, such as Tondo Pitti by Michelangelo, his Brutus and his Bacchus; the David by Donatello; the bronze reliefs cast by Ghiberti and Brunelleschi in competition for the second door of the Florentine Baptistery.

Archaeological Museum
The Archaeological Musem in Florence is one of the most important archaeological museums in Italy, renowned for a very significant Etruscan collection and an extraordinary Egyptian section, the second one in Italy (the first is in Turin). In the 19th century a French-Tuscan expedition discovered preciuos Egyptian works that were moved half to the Louvre, and half to the newborn Egyptian Museum in Florence. Few years later, the Etruscan museum was opened in the same location. The 2 adjacent museums, both started with the Medici and Lorraine collections and then developed and increased, were gathered together in the current location, in Santissima Annunziata Square and inaugurated in 1880 at the presence of the Savoy Royal Family. The Egyptian section displays works from Prehistory to the Copt Era: steles, pottery, small bronzes, fabrics and statues and many other works as a military chariot (18th Dynasty), a pillar from the tomb of Sety I, the “square lip” faience goblet, the portrait of a lady from Fayum. The Etruscan section is composed by a huge collection of cinerary urns, sarcophagi, stone and bronze sculptures, small bronzes, home tools and pottery: big bronzes as the Arezzo Chimera, the “Arringatore” (Orator) and the Minerva; funenary sculptures as the stone Mater Matuta, the terracotta Sarcophagus of Larthia Seianthi, the painted marble Sarcophagus of the Amazons. The Greek-Roman section inlcudes important marbles and bronzes, along with a big collecion of Greek painted pottery, but the real gem of the museum is an Attic black-figures crater called “François Vase”. A new section ha recently been added, housing Etruscan and Roman precious stones, gems, cameos and jewellery.






Galileo Museum
The Galileo Museum in Florence is an international reference on Galileo Galilei and the history of science. Five centuries of scientific collection are permanently displayed here, thanks to the Medici and Lorraine families. The Medici collection began in the 16th century, first in Palazzo Vecchio, then at the Uffizi and finally in Palazzo Pitti with the foundation of the Accademia del Cimento in 1657. In the 18th century the Lorraine family kept collecting and the Grand Duke Peter Leopold of Habsburg-Lorraine founded in Torrigiani Palace a veritable Museum of Physics. The adjoining workshop was attended by astronomers, physicists and inventors of great stature. In the 19th century was built the Tribune of Galileo to display all of his most renowned instruments and artifacts. But after the unification of Italy in 1861 the collections were broken up and abandoned, until the foundation of the Institute of the History of Science in 1927. The aim of the institute was to collect, catalog and restore this important scientific collection, up to the current Galileo Museum opened in 2010, that inherited and preserves today all those masterpieces of scientific culture. The collection displays all the instruments realized by Galileo Galilei, as the huge selection of telescopes, along with old globes and carved celestial spheres, not only to admire but also interactive thanks to educational workshops.

Visit the official website for complete details,Uffizi Gallery,Florence, Italy www.visitflorence.com/florence-museums/