Upstairs in Orsanmichele

3/23/15

Day 67

Ever since I went to Orsanmichele with my art history class and found out it's possible to go upstairs and walk across the bridge connecting it to the Dante Society building next door, I've been dying to go.

(The Dante Society is a really pretty building too)

Unlike the rest of Florence (all the other museums are closed on Mondays), the Orsanmichele museum is only open on Mondays! This fits my schedule perfectly because I usually have absolutely nothing to do on Mondays after about 12:30. 

The museum houses the real statues that were carved to fit in the niches on the outside of Orsanmichele. Now, the statues that I have pictures of in the niches are all copies.

Here, the original statues by masters like Donatello and Ghiberti are safe from bad weather and not as high so they are easier to see up close.

(The front of Christ and St. Thomas)

(The back)

I got to see the rusting (maybe rusting isn't the right word?) backs of some of the statues and it added to the experience. It made my friend and I think about how the art in front of us was at one point in front of Brunelleschi or Nanni di Banco (I always feel like I have to say his full name- not really sure why) or, in this case, Verrocchio, and we tried to imagine him creating it. I still don't understand how bronze statues happen. It seems like it would be impossible to make metal look so lifelike. Apparently the bronze signified the richer guilds because it was more expensive than stone. 

Surprisingly, there weren't that many people in the museum with us so we had it mostly to ourselves. Besides the statues, there were big windows to look out of on every side that we could see all of Florence from.

(The distinctive spire of Palazzo Vecchio) 

(The Badia Fiorentina and Santa Croce on the right) 

(And most importantly- Duomo :) ) 

The building itself was part of the overall aesthetic- it had a high arched brick ceiling and a staircase that spiraled up to the aforementioned bridge I was so excited about. I think actually the building might have even overshadowed the statues themselves.

And then, it was time. I got to climb the stairs and go on the bridge.

The view from the stairs was great and the view from the bridge was even better! I'd only seen the decorations around the outside from the ground looking up but from the bridge looking down, they were closer and I could see them much more clearly!