Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
D2
A1
Eating
14
Carabé
C2
15
Clubhouse
B2
16
Da Nerbone
B2
B1
B2
Museo di San Marco
MUSEUM
(
www.polomuseale.firenze.it
; Piazza San Marco 1; adult/reduced €4/2; 8.15am-1.20pm Mon-Fri,
8.15am-4.20pm Sat & Sun, closed 1st, 3rd & 5th Sun & 2nd & 4th Mon of month)
At the heart of
GOOGLE MAP
and its adjoining 15th-century monastery where both gifted painter Fra' An-
gelico (c 1395-1455) and the sharp-tongued Savonarola piously served God. Today the
monastery, which showcases the work of Fra' Angelico, is one of Florence's most spiritu-
ally uplifting museums.
Enter via Michelozzo's
Cloister of Saint Antoninus
(1440). Turn immediately right to enter
the
Sala dell'Ospizio
(Pilgrims' Hospital) where Fra' Angelico's attention to perspective and
the realistic portrayal of nature comes to life in a number of major paintings, including the
Deposition of Christ
(1432).
Giovanni Antonio Sogliani's fresco
The Miraculous Supper of St Domenic
(1536) dom-
inates the former monks'
refectory
in the cloister; and Fra' Angelico's huge
Crucifixion
and Saints
fresco (1441-42) decorates the former chapterhouse.
The museum's highlights are on the 1st floor. At the top of the stairs, Fra' Angelico's
most famous work,
Annunciation
(c 1440), commands all eyes. Further on, the 44 monast-
ic cells reveal snippets of many more fine religious reliefs by the Tuscan-born friar, who
decorated the cells between 1440 and 1441 with deeply devotional frescoes to guide the
meditation of his fellow friars. Among several masterpieces is the magnificent
Adoration
of the Magi
in the cell used by Cosimo the Elder as a meditation retreat (Nos 38 to 39).
