Florence, Italy - Part II

After we left the palazzo, we ventured down another street and came across the cathedral (Duomo), Santa Maria del Fiore. It was one of the major churches in Florence, although it is not in use today. Construction of the Duomo began in 1296. I couldn't get over the outside colour of this church. It is unlike anything I had ever seen before. The other churches that we came across during our stay in Florence did not have this finishing or colour. 

 Door at the front of the Duomo.

Eastern Door of the Baptistry


This is the masterpiece of Ghiberti, who worked on it for 27 years, lavishing on it all the richness of his imagination, combined with a fine sense of composition and profound knowledge of the modeller's art. Michelangelo defined the door as fit to be the "gate of Paradise".
The door, a universally admired masterpiece, has ten panels depicting Biblical scenes. At the centre of the door at left is the self-portrait of Ghiberti. The door's original gilding has recently been recovered from beneath the patina formed over the centuries. It was badly damaged by Florence's flood in 1966 when the waters of the Arno reached a height of more than 180 cm. After restoration it was moved to the museum of the Cathedral and substituted by a copy.  http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/g/ghiberti/paradiso/1porta.html

This is an enlargement of the picture above.

The above two pictures were familiar sights in Florence.  You would see them at the corners of streets and above doorways.  Some of them were very elaborate and also well kept.

The group had tickets to go to "The Gallery of the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence".  This is where Michelangelo's David is now housed.  Before going to see David, we went through some of the other rooms in the Museum.  I was impressed with the room that was dedicated to old musical instruments.  While we were in this area, a woman was playing one of the Museum's harpsichords while another woman was playing a flute.  I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the music that the duo were creating.  I could have sat down in a comfy chair, if there had been one, and enjoyed the mini concert.  We finally made our way to David.  As we walked down the aisle to David, we passed Michelangelo's "The Prisoners".  I have copied a picture of what one of these statues looked like.  (Picture taking, anywhere in the Museum, was strictly prohibited.)  This is the best that I could do and it's a nice reminder for me to have this picture.







And for The David...what can I say?  It was so much bigger than I had imagined.  It is roughly 5.2 metres high.  I just can't imagine being able to take a huge piece of marble such as this must have been and release this incredible figure from within it.  The attention to detail such as the tendon's in his neck and the veins in his hands are unbelievable.   Again I have had to take a copy of a picture from the net since I couldn't take one myself.  I must admit that this was one time that seeing was believing.  Pictures don't really seem to do it justice.

Now that I have seen this beautiful piece of art, I can't wait to see more.  

 These pictures were taken as we walked down the streets of the local street side market.  There were purses galore along with T-shirts, leather coats, gloves, scarves, etc.  I finally broke down on our last night out and bought myself a real Italian leather purple purse and at another stall a pair of purple kid leather gloves.  I totally am in love with all of it.  Watch out world, here I come.