It is believed that in Florence is about a third of all the cultural values of Italy. However, if this city of the famous Academy of Fine Arts and a museum such as the Gallery of the Academy had not been in this city, many priceless treasures of world culture would have been lost forever. Or simply not created.
The Academy Gallery in Florence is not just a museum where priceless canvases of Florentine masters and the original “David” by Michelangelo are stored.
This is a collection of the best of the best examples of fine arts, which was conceived as ... the perfect study guide. In other words, in the halls of the Gallery are collected the most perfect works, one of its kind designed to inspire creators to create something like that.
Entrance to the Academy Gallery
Tourists visiting today Academy Gallery, do not hide the fact that within its walls they experienced a real cultural shock, only slightly inferior to the most visited museum on the Apennines - the Uffizi Gallery. But this is already the result - the history of the Academy Gallery began under much more gloomy circumstances.
Academy of Arts in Florence? Of course, where else!
By the middle of the XVI century. Florence was no longer a republic, but the capital of the Tuscan duchy. But art still belonged to some extent to the people. Michelangelo's “David,” a symbol of the republic and the free spirit of the Renaissance, still stood on Signoria Square. True, next to the controversial, according to the townspeople, Neptune fountain Bartolomeo Ammanati ...
However, the Florentines, headlong immersed in worries about their daily bread, were less and less concerned with the fine arts. Pride in the great sons of Florence is not bad, but you won’t be fed up with a stone ...
Michelangelo's “David” stood at Signoria Square for a long time
"... But you still need to maintain and maintain statues, paintings, buildings in good shape. Moreover, because of the endless military campaigns of the French towards the Italian lands, the center of cultural life in Europe gradually moved to France. And the artists with architects having had time to rely on his native Florence, they leave for ever either there, or, at best, in Rome. And the papal treasury, despite the Reformation, is the papal treasury ... And the Venetians, despite the bickering with Turkey because of the dominance of trade in the Mediterranean, poor, re Aniva rich orders of the best Florentine artists ... Although they and their lot ... "
One way or another, the artist, architect, writer Giorgio Vasari (incidentally, a native of Arezzo) reasoned, wishing to slightly change the existing order of things.
Of course, in those years in Florence he created not only the great Vasari, but also the equally great Agnolo Bronzino and the already mentioned Bartolomeo Ammanati. But that was no longer the High Renaissance, but Mannerism (early Baroque), which gradually but steadily lost its renaissance harmony in body style between body and spirit.
And the time was different: religious wars swept all over Europe, and human existence ceased to seem unshakable.
The impoverishment of the budget, the decline of the city, the lack of a unified school in art caused Vasari and the "company" to live up to the idea of opening the world's first Academy of Fine Arts in Florence - an educational institution where artists, architects, sculptors from all over Europe would come to study. Why exactly in Florence? A strange question ... Where else? The idea, of course, was warmly supported by the Duke of Cosimo I of Medici ...
Academy and its gallery
Initially, the Academy of Fine Arts, opened in 1562, is located in the building of the Church of Santissima-Annunziata. And herself Academy Gallery in Florence (as one of the training halls) appeared already two centuries later.
Firstly, because there was simply no place for her in the premises of a small parish church. Secondly, the students, who actually came to Florence from all over Europe, had enough work.
The number of "visual aids" even on the streets of the city has never been lacking. The best students were subsequently involved in restoration work, and already in 1588 a restoration department appeared at the Academy. Musicians also studied within the walls of the institution: this department later became the Cherubini Conservatory (1849).
In Florence, there is a third of all the cultural values of Italy
The first teachers and academics were the "founding fathers": Vasari, Ammanati and Bronzino. By the middle of the XVIII century, the Academy of Arts were already in many cities of Italy, France and even in Russia. And yet, the first were the “cunning” Florentines, who were thus able to lay the foundations of any art according to their own designs.
But these samples, as well as those wishing to study only in Florence, became more and more. And in 1784, by decree of the then Duke of Tuscany Pietro Leopold, the educational institution was moved to the spacious building of the former hospital at the monastery of St. Matthew and St. Nicholas on Ricazoli Street. In the same walls appeared and Academy Gallerywhere students could study the creations of great masters of the past.
Museum collection
Everyone was soon granted access to viewing great works of art in their free hours. Of course, for a fee. The Gallery of the Academy in Florence, in modern terms, was already a brand of brands, and its collection was constantly replenished.
So, during the Napoleonic wars, many temples and monasteries of Tuscany were closed, and the Roman Church, in order to avoid plunder by the French, handed over its treasures to the Academy as visual aids. Here we can already say that the genius of Vasari soared to an unattainable height: he was able to "outwit" even papal Rome, which had once lured many prominent artists and sculptors.
Treasures were considerable: a collection of works by artists of the XIII-XIV centuries. (for example, the students of Giotto - Taddeo Gaddi and Jacopo del Casentino), tapestries, tabernacles (carved Gothic gift-keepers), triptychs and polyptychs (including works by Jacopo di Chone), sculptures.
Of course, Florence, for which the Academy Gallery became one of the favorite brainchildren, regularly had a hand in replenishing the collection, taking care, at the same time, about the safety of many works of art.
"David" by Michelangelo
In 1873, the city authorities decided to open the museum of his works in the Gallery on the occasion of the 400th birthday of Michelangelo. And the pearl of the meeting was, of course, "David", transferred from Signoria Square.
In 1882, a separate building was built for the statue - the Tribune. They say that the play of lighting in this room causes the complete illusion that the sculpture is about to sigh and come off the pedestal.
In 1909, from the Boboli Gardens to Academy Gallery Michelangelo’s later works were transferred: 4 unfinished statues - “Slaves”.
Over the years, the museum’s collection has also included paintings by famous Florentine artists: Ghirlandaio, Filippino Lippi, Andrea del Sarto, Botticelli, Perugino, Bronzino. But the paintings of Giorgio Vasari himself should be looked for in the Palazzo Vecchio, the Palazzo Pitti and the Uffizi Gallery, built, by the way, also according to his design. Modesty, you know, adorns geniuses ...
Academy Gallery Tickets
To find the building where the Academy Gallery is located, you need to go along Ricazoli Street from Duomo Square to house No. 58-60. If the Gallery is the first point of the program when visiting the center, from other areas of the city you will have to take buses No. 6, 14, 19, 23, 31.
The fact that you are not far alone in your burning desire to see the unconditional treasures of this museum, you will learn from the impressive crowd long before you get to the place.
Academy Gallery Halls
Of course, in Florence there are many crowds of tourists. You could even say that its entire historical center in any season is one big crowd, but the Academy Gallery almost leads in this regard.
The reason should be sought all in the same Michelangian “David”, to see which in the original is one of the main reasons for visiting Florence in principle.
And in order to purchase tickets to the Academy Gallery, you have to wait a little, to say the least. At different times of the year - from an hour to three. Moreover, they start to admire the imperishable masterpiece in small groups - about 30 people each. The advantage, in addition, is reserved for those who already have tickets for the Academy Gallery in their hands.
In other words, if you are traveling in Florence and do not want to waste time in endless lines, you should get tickets in advance. Thanks to the development of the Internet, this is not at all difficult: on the Weekendinitaly website you can buy online tickets not only to the Gallery, but also to other TOP attractions of the city.
It makes sense to book tickets at least a couple of days before the actual visit.
| Check ticket availability and prices ››› |
Opening hours
The museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 8:15 to 18:50.
The exhibition is closed on Mondays, December 25, January 1 and May 1.
Every last Tuesday of the month you can go here for free. But also after the official closing: from 19:00 to 23:00.
Useful links on the topic:
- Uffizi Gallery: Italy's most visited museum
- Florence: the most romantic hotels in the center. TOP 5 BlogoItaliano
- How to get from Milan to Florence and from Florence to Milan
- How to get from Venice to Florence and from Florence to Venice
- How to get from Rome to Florence and from Florence to Rome
Photos by: TuscanyArts, Ben Rimmer, Chris Yunker, David McSpadden, Percy, Joseph Maestri.
