Florence’s San Marco Museum is one of the hidden gems of Italy
The San Marco Museum is located in the massive wings of an old Dominican convent located in the Dominican Convent. The National Museum of San Marco is situated within Piazza San Marco in Florence and is an architectural masterpiece by Michelozzo. It also houses the most extensive collection of paintings of Beato Angelico, one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance period, who was a monk within the monastic community.
Although the San Marco Museum is indeed outside the major tourist routes of Florence, It is a must be explored, both for the design of the structure (Michelozzo was among the greatest architects during the Renaissance and was extensively employed by Cosimo de’Medici) and also for the artwork in the Museum, which includes works of Fra Bartolomeo, Domenico Ghirlandaio Alessio Baldovinetti, and Jacopo Vignaliamong others.
The building was commissioned by Cosimo Vecchio da’ Medici. The church was dedicated in 1443. It was then the center of religious fervor. Devotional activity.
Fra’ Angelico, a Dominican monk who resided in the convent between 1438 and 1445 and was appointed the convent’s first prior, exquisitely decorated the spaces, both private and public, within the church, such as the chapter hall and the chapel that was dedicated to Saint Anthony, the monks’ cells on the first floor, the Refectory, and The hospice rooms.
The Museum is an excellent illustration of a convent of the 15th century that was designed to simplify and harmonize the monastic life and to improve the tranquility of the cloister as well as the library. It is thought to be among the most stunning of the Renaissance.
In Fra Angelico’s early work, the most famous of them all is the Crucifixion of saints within the Chapter Hall; in the cells, there is The Annunciation and The Three Marys at the Tomb, The Noli me Tangere, and many more.
The paintings on the walls of the Refectory contain early paintings by Angelico and the gorgeous altarpiece from The Last Judgment and the Deposition of the Cross, which shows the Tuscan hills that are visible in the background.
San Marco Museum San Marco Museum has a stunning The Last Supper fresco painted by Domenico Ghirlandaio at the end of the 16th century. There is also an impressive library of Enlightenment books in the library.
The library is a good example. It is near the entrance to the library that preacher Girolamo Savonarola was snatched up. He was later burnt and hanged upon Piazza della Signoria.
