(ANSA) - Florence, October 13 - Florence's Museum of the
Works of the Duomo, home to one of the world's most important
collections of Medieval and Renaissance sculptures, is set to
undergo a six-year renovation project which will double its
capacity and allow all of its works to go on show.
"This is a historic moment for the museum, a significant step in its seven centuries of life," said the president of the Duomo complex, Anna Mitrano, at a news conference unveiling the 25-million-euro scheme. The Duomo complex includes the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral and Filippo Brunelleschi's dome, Giotto's Bell Tower, the Baptistery and the neighbouring Museum of the Works of the Duomo, which now also stores most of the original works from the buildings, where they have been replaced by copies in recent years. The Museum, one of the must-see venues of any visit to Florence, contains masterpieces by Michelangelo, Donatello, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Luca Della Robbia, Andrea Pisano and Andrea Verrocchio, among others. The renovation will encompass the neighbouring 18th-century Teatro degli Intrepidi, which was purchased by the Duomo complex in 1998. "It will be interesting to see how an 18th-century theatre will be transformed into a 21st-century museum space," said Mitrano. "The materials used will be traditional ones - plaster and stone - and we'll preserve the theatre's large open spaces so that illumination can pour over the masterpieces from on high," explained Adolfo Natalini, one of three architects tasked with the renovation. Among the highlights of the new spaces will be the rooms showcasing Michelangelo's late Pieta' (1548-55), the reconstruction of Arnolfo di Cambio's Medieval 'ancient facade' of the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral and Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise for the Baptistery. The hall of the 'ancient facade' will be spectacular, said Mitrano, because visitors will be able to take in the 19th-century Gothic revival facade of the cathedral by Emilio de Fabris as well as the original work by Arnolfo di Cambio. Donatello's 1445 masterpiece - the painted and gilded wooden Mary Magdalene, once thought to have been placed on the south-western side of the Baptistery - will be displayed so as to allow visitors to a look at the work as it was meant to be seen, said Mitrano. The renovation process will be lengthy and completed only by 2016 because the museum will not shut down so that visitors to Florence will not be denied the chance to admire the masterpieces they came to see. Once completed the museum will have 2,430 square meters of exhibition space and another 1,000 square meters for welcoming areas.
photo: Anna Mitrano unveiling the restored Noah panel from Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise
"This is a historic moment for the museum, a significant step in its seven centuries of life," said the president of the Duomo complex, Anna Mitrano, at a news conference unveiling the 25-million-euro scheme. The Duomo complex includes the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral and Filippo Brunelleschi's dome, Giotto's Bell Tower, the Baptistery and the neighbouring Museum of the Works of the Duomo, which now also stores most of the original works from the buildings, where they have been replaced by copies in recent years. The Museum, one of the must-see venues of any visit to Florence, contains masterpieces by Michelangelo, Donatello, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Luca Della Robbia, Andrea Pisano and Andrea Verrocchio, among others. The renovation will encompass the neighbouring 18th-century Teatro degli Intrepidi, which was purchased by the Duomo complex in 1998. "It will be interesting to see how an 18th-century theatre will be transformed into a 21st-century museum space," said Mitrano. "The materials used will be traditional ones - plaster and stone - and we'll preserve the theatre's large open spaces so that illumination can pour over the masterpieces from on high," explained Adolfo Natalini, one of three architects tasked with the renovation. Among the highlights of the new spaces will be the rooms showcasing Michelangelo's late Pieta' (1548-55), the reconstruction of Arnolfo di Cambio's Medieval 'ancient facade' of the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral and Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise for the Baptistery. The hall of the 'ancient facade' will be spectacular, said Mitrano, because visitors will be able to take in the 19th-century Gothic revival facade of the cathedral by Emilio de Fabris as well as the original work by Arnolfo di Cambio. Donatello's 1445 masterpiece - the painted and gilded wooden Mary Magdalene, once thought to have been placed on the south-western side of the Baptistery - will be displayed so as to allow visitors to a look at the work as it was meant to be seen, said Mitrano. The renovation process will be lengthy and completed only by 2016 because the museum will not shut down so that visitors to Florence will not be denied the chance to admire the masterpieces they came to see. Once completed the museum will have 2,430 square meters of exhibition space and another 1,000 square meters for welcoming areas.
photo: Anna Mitrano unveiling the restored Noah panel from Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise
