Accademia Gallery Florence

The Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence with the statue of David

The Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence was originally an art school and is now a famous art museum and gallery because of Michelangelo's statue of David.

Visit Michelangelo's David in the Galleria dell’Accademia

The most famous statue in Florence is by far the David by Michelangelo. The statue was first placed in the Piazza della Signoria , but to protect it from the weather, David was transferred to the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence. There is only a replica left on the piazza. The statue at the city's vantage point, Piazzale Michelangelo, is also just a copy of the real statue. But in the Galleria you will not only find the original David; You can also find artists such as Botticelli and Del Sarto.

Watch and learn in the gallery

The Museo dell’Accademia was founded in 1563 by Bartolomeo Ammanati, Agnolo Bronzino and Giorgio Vasari, artists of the previously mentioned Mannerism art style. This made the Galleria dell’Accademia the first art academy in Europe. In 1784 an art collection was housed in the academy with the aim of providing students with examples to study and copy. In addition to famous statues, the museum also contains a large collection of paintings by Florentine artists, a collection of works of art created by students of the Accademia, religious prints from the Middle Ages, and Russian icons.

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The works of Michelangelo: statue of David

Michelangelo Buonarotti's most famous work, the David, was housed in the Galleria dell'Accademia in 1873 to protect it from the weather in the open Piazza della Signoria. The David is a nude biblical statue 5.20 meters high, which just killed the giant Goliath. The statue was commissioned by the city and made Michelangelo the most important sculptor of his time at the age of 29. The David can be found in the Tribune, a special area in the Galleria dell'Accademia. Other sculptures by Michelangelo in the Accademia are Quattro Prigionieri, which would be placed on the tomb of Pope Julius II. You will also find Matthew and the Pietà van Palestrina in the Accademia Gallery of Florence.

Museum of Musical Instruments in the Accademia Gallery

The Accademia Gallery building also houses the Museum of Musical Instruments of Florence. Here you can see the conservatory's collection of musical instruments of Luigi Cherubini, on loan given since 1996. For example, Bartolomeo Christofori's oldest piano is located here. There are fifty instruments in total, most of which come from the Lorraine families and the Medici. The most special instruments are the violins, cellos and violas of Ferdinando de Medici, some of which are made by the violin maker Antonius Stradivarius.

Michelangelo's David location in Florence

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