Address: Piazza San Marco, 1
It is worth visiting the setting of the Museum of San Marco for its architecture
alone. This consists of the former Dominican convent restored and
enlarged to its present size for Cosimo the Elder de' Medici by
his favourite architect Michelozzo (1396-1472). Consecrated in
1443, this building was the scene of fervent religious activity,
highlighted by personalities such as St. Antonino Pierozzi,
Bishop of Florence, the Beato Angelico (c. 1400-1450) and, later,
Gerolamo Savonarola. Fra' Angelico was a Dominical monk who later
became Prior of the convent and who decorated in a style
perfectly adapted to the architecture of the chapter house,
cloister and the brothers' first floor cells.
The museum offers the visitor an example of a perfectly preserved
fifteenth century convent, its rational and harmonious plan based
on Brunelleschi's
innovations. Everything is designed to coordinate and simplify
the monastic life within its walls as much in its calm cloister
as in the light-filled library, one of the finest interiors of
the Renaissance.
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On the other hand, the conlplex also contains the museum of the
works of Fra' Angelico in the form of frescoed interiors and the
panels displayed in the large alms-house. Among the first series,
the most famous is the Crucifixion painted in the Chapter House,
permeated by the contemplative melancholy found in the refined
spirituality of the Dominicans; in the cells, austere yet full of
meditative inspiration for the brethren, are the Annunciation,
the Three Maries at the Tomb, Noli me tangere and others. The
panel paintings in the refectory include the youthful works of
Angelico such as the superb reredos showing the Last Judgement
and the Deposition set against the background of the Tuscan
hills.
Apart from Angelico's paintings, the museum also has a very
beautiful Last Supper
frescoed by Ghirlandaio at the end of the fifteenth century, and
in its library a fine series of illuminated manuscripts. These
were created in the convent in the same spirit of meditative
creativity characteristic of Fra' Angelico's work. Savonarola's
cell and the one where Cosimo the Elder retired to meditate are
both open to the public.
Some precious relics and fragments remaining from the nineteenth
century destruction of the city's old centre are arranged in the
underground rooms together with a rare and evocative collection
of bells.
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