When you plan your
Florence stay, or guided tour in Florence,
buy in advance your
Uffizi tickets to admire maybe
the most popular attraction in Florence.
Φλωρεντία Μουσεία.Πινακοθήκη Ουφίτσι.
Find out about the things to do in Florence.
See all the must see halls of the Uffizi.
Your holidays in
Tuscany should include a visit to masterpieces like
The Birth of Venus by
Botticelli, portraits of the
Duke and Duchess of
Urbino by
Piero della Francesca, The Birth of Venus by Botticelli,
Head of
Medusa by
Caravaggio and so many great works.
The
Uffizi Gallery (
Italian:
Galleria degli Uffizi, pronounced [ɡalleˈriːa deʎʎufˈfittsi]) is an art museum in
Italy. It is located in Florence, and among the oldest and most famous art museums of
Europe and the world.
The building of Uffizi was begun by
Giorgio Vasari in 1560 for
Cosimo I de' Medici so as to accommodate the offices of the Florentine magistrates, hence the name uffizi, "offices". The construction was later continued by
Alfonso Parigi and
Bernardo Buontalenti and completed in 1581. The cortile (internal courtyard) is so long and narrow, and open to the
Arno at its far end through a Doric screen that articulates the space without blocking it, that architectural historians treat it as the first regularized streetscape of Europe.
Vasari, a painter and architect as well, emphasised its perspective length by the matching facades' continuous roof cornices, and unbroken cornices between storeys and the three continuous steps on which the palace-fronts stand. The niches in the piers that alternate with columns filled with sculptures of famous artists in the
XIX century.
The Uffizi brought together under one roof the administrative offices, the
Tribunal and the Archivio di Stato, the state archive.
The project that was planned by Cosimo I de' Medici,
Grand Duke of Tuscany to arrange prime works of art in the
Medici collections on the piano nobile was effected by
Francis I of Tuscany, who commissioned
Buontalenti the famous Tribuna degli Uffizi that united a selection of the outstanding masterpieces in the collection in an ensemble that was a star attraction of the
Grand Tour.
Over the years, further parts of the palace evolved into a display place for many of the paintings and sculpture collected by the
House of Medici or commissioned by them. According to Vasari, who was not only the architect of the Uffizi but also the author of
Lives of the Artists, published in 1550 and 1568, artists such as
Leonardo da Vinci and
Michelangelo gathered at the Uffizi "for beauty, for work and for recreation."
After the house of Medici was extinguished, the 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.
Because of its huge collection, some of its works have in the past been transferred to other museums in Florence—for example, some famous statues to the
Bargello. A project is currently underway to expand the museum's exhibition space in
2006 from some 6,
000 metres² (64,000 ft²) to almost 13,000 metres² (139,000 ft²), allowing public viewing of many artworks that have usually been in storage.
In
1993, a car bomb exploded in Via dei Georgofili and damaged parts of the palace, killing five people. The most severe damage was to the
Niobe room and classical sculptures and neoclassical interior of which have been restored, although its frescoes were damaged beyond repair. The identity of the bomber or bombers are unknown, although it was almost certainly attributable to the
Sicilian Mafia who were engaged in a period of terrorism at that time.
Today, the Uffizi is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Florence. In high season (particularly in July), waiting times can be up to five hours.
From
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uffizi
- published: 15 Mar 2015
- views: 597