-photo shoot by Majlend Brano, words by Valeria Ronzani-
It is not parochialism, it is the portrait of a unique age of the human history, a cornerstone for the Western culture. That now shows itself, with the strength of evidence, in a nodal passage when the Middle Age curls in its flows, smells of Rome and Athens and blooms in the Renaissance season. There are no violent cuts in the history of art, but a continuous nourishment spread by the culture that pollinates the creators. It will be inaugurated on the 29th of October, after three years of work and a 15-year project. To revolutionize the heart of Renaissance, with the façade of Santa Maria del Fiore, destroyed in 1587 by order of grand duke Francis I, rising from its ashes. While Lorenzo Ghiberti knew he had to converse with the one made by Arnolfo di Cambio. Now, in the Paradise hall (the ancient Teatro degli Intrepidi, purchased by the Opera in 1998, when after several steps, it had turned into a singular and avant-garde garage), that historic and incomplete façade, the most beautiful and real that the Duomo has ever had, as the architect Nadalini has pointed out. It is born again along with the unbelievable original apparatus of sculptures. There, in front of the two doors of the Baptistery, fused together by Lorenzo Ghiberti. In the end of the renovation, also Andrea Pisano will come. An exposition room of almost 6000 square metres, an overall investment of 45 millions, 200 renovated works, 750 works in total: some of them were believed to be lost. 25 halls on 3 floors, an amazing terrace over the dome, Donatello’s Penitent Maddalene, Michelangelo’s Pietà, Donatello’s Cantoria in front of Luca Della Robbia’s Cantoria, but also a series of Renaissance models and projects and the nineteenth-century papers. If apparatuses and models for the building of Brunelleschi’s dome were not enough for you. A respectful and spectacular setting, a philological visit that gives emotions, but that can also be a moment of learning. A moment to lose yourself in that sphere of influence, when Florence really was a “world”. The great museum of the Opera del Duomo, go to the website.
Donatello, Penitent Maddalene (back)
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Donatello, Penitent Maddalene (Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo)
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The Gallery of Brunelleschi’s Dome
A game of perspectives that synthesizes two centuries of sculpture through its masterpieces: Donatello up front, Andrea Sansovino with the back of his baptized Christ, Arnolfo di Cambio and his façade, with all the biggest artists of the 14th and 15th century that worked on it. 40 statues.
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Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, the monumental hall called “the hall of the ancient façade”, 36-metres long, 20-metres tall and wide. The three original doors of the Baptistery will be placed in front of it. The renovation of the oldest one, the one made by Andrea Pisano, has almost ended at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure. The two doors made by Ghiberti are already there, after an amazing renovation.
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Games of perspectives in the Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo. From the gallery to the first floor, the view on Arnolfo di Cambio’s façade. On the back, the Baptist of the wonderful bronze group of Vincenzo Danti, a masterpiece that has been rediscovered thanks to its amazing renovation. Placed over Andrea Pisano’s door, it portrays the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist.
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The gallery on the first floor of the museum, with some of the 16 statues. You can recognize Donatello. In the middle, the rear view of Andrea Sansovino’s Christ, part of the group of marble statues of the Baptism of Christ, built by Sansovino in 1502 and placed above the Gates of Paradise.
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Arnolfo di Cambio, Enthroned Madonna and Saints (Glass-eyed Madonna, Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo). Created for the lunette of the central gate of Arnolfo’s façade.
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Model of Arnolfo’s façade with statues repositioned in their niches at a scale of 1:1. (Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo).
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Andrea Sansovino’s “Baptism of Jesus”, a marble group above the Gates of Paradise, and Giovanfrancesco Rustici’s “St. John the Baptist” above Ghiberti’s first gate, currently exposed in the Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, placed respecting the way they were displayed at the time.
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Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Giotto’s campanile Gallery. 36 m long, hosting 16 life-size statues, Donatello’s prophets included. In front of them, the 54 original tiles which decorated the campanile. The statues are separated by openings overlooking the main hall, creating magic effects of perspective.
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“The prophets” and “Isaac’s sacrifice” in the series of 16 statues made by Andrea Pisano, Donatello and others for Giotto’s Campanile.
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“The prophets” and “Isaac’s sacrifice” in the series of 16 statues made by Andrea Pisano, Donatello and others for Giotto’s Campanile.
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Donatello’s prophets in the Gallery on the first floor of the Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo. In the background: Arnolfo’s façade.
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Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, the original 54 tiles of Giotto’s Campanile.
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Detail of the full-scale model of Arnolfo di Cambio’s façade in the Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo.
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A perspective from the second gallery, down to the main hall of the Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo.
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Arnolfo di Cambio, Dormitio Virginis (Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo). Originally located in the lunette of the right portal. The original piece, which was exposed at the Bode Museum in Berlin, has been strongly damaged by Second World War’s bombardments.
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Lorenzo Ghiberti, The Gates of Paradise (Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo).
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Donatello, Cantoria, Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo.
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Lorenzo Ghiberti, The northern Gate of the Baptistery. Above, Giovan Battista Rustici’s sculpted group “La predica del Battista” (Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo).
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Luca della Robbia, Cantoria, Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo.
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The gallery on the second floor of the Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, with the 16th and 17th century models for the façade. Signed by artists like Bernardo Buontalenti, Giovan Antonio Dosio, Gherardo Silvani.
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The gallery on the second floor of the Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, with the 16th and 17th century models for the façade. Signed by artists like Bernardo Buontalenti, Giovan Antonio Dosio, Gherardo Silvani.
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Brunelleschi’s Dome from the terrace of the Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo.
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In the middle, Boniface VIII, By Arnolfo di Cambio. It is one of the sculptures located in the upper register of the Duomo’s facade. In the Nuovo Museo dell’Opera all statues in the highest level of the façade are copies. Original pieces are exposed in the lower part, to be seen by the audience.
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A glimpse of Brunelleschi’s Dome from the terrace of the Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo.
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Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo. A detail of the executioner in the bronze group of Vincenzo Danti’s Beheading of St. John the Baptist, placed above Andrea Pisano’s gate. Thanks to the renovation, this work revealed the greatness of a forgotten artist. In the background, a perspective of Andrea Sansovino’s “Baptism of Christ”.
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Perspectives at the Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo.
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Mold of Arnolfo di Cambio’s Dormitio Virginis.
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Andrea Pisano, Santa Reparata (Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo).
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Michelangelo, Pietà (Nuovo Museo dell’Opera del Duomo).
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Equipment and materials used for the building of Brunelleschi’s Dome, exposed in the gallery that the new museum has dedicated to this construction.
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A perspective of the upper register of the façade. You can see the copy of Arnolfo di Cambio’s statue of Boniface VIII.
Translated by Riccardo Gileno
Proofread by Antoinette D’Arbela
