Art and Renaissance Lesson for the Day

I know I just blogged last night (I guess it was afternoon for most of you), but I want to tell you about two places I have been recently. The first is the Church of Santa Croce (CRO-chay). I went with my architecture class. Built between 1294 and 1442, it's one of Florence's biggest and oldest churches. The beautiful facade wasn't finished until the 1850s. Here's what it looks like.

The square in front is where the Chocolate Festival took place :)

The star of David on the top is there because the designer of the facade was half Jewish and half Christian. It's interesting; my teacher said there is really no history of antisemitizam here, and the star of David is found in quite a few Christian churches.

In 1966, the Arno flooded and the churched was submerged halfway up the center doorway.

Inside the church, there are many tombs of well-known people. You can find here the tomb of Galileo (Because he was considered a heretic, his body was not originally allowed in the church when he died; it was moved there later.), Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Gioacchino Rossini, the composer of the William Tell Overture.

Michelangelo's tomb

Galileo's tomb

Santa Croce was really interesting. There are many more churches here I want to visit, though! Today I met Lindsey and we went to the Accademia Gallery, home to Michelangelo's David. You know, the naked one that's all over Florence. Postcards, little statues, aprons. . . I never really was a fan of David until today. It's really incredible to see it in real life. The statue is 17 feet tall and was carved when Michelangelo was 26 years old. He had been given a piece of marble that had been rejected by other sculptors as too tall and shallow to be of any use.

Michelangelo believed that as a sculptor, he was a tool of God. He was simply revealing the figures encased in the marble, not creating them. I am truly in awe at the talent of these Renaissance figures. If you mess up while painting, you can paint over it. If you mess up while carving a statue, you can't really glue the piece back on and start over. (This was pointed out to Lindsey and I as we were eavesdropping on a nearby guided tour, but it's really amazing to think about.) David looks like he could start walking around any minute; he's that real.

The Accademia Gallery also houses a really neat collection of musical instruments. Here you can find the oldest upright piano in existence! It was small. And it was very cute. And I love pianos so I loved this part of the museum. I'm very disappointed that photography is prohibited at the Accademia, and that they don't have any postcards of this piano in the gift shop, and that I couldn't even find a picture of it online.

However, the pass I bought when I first came to Florence gives me unlimited admission to places like the Accademia. I could always go back and try to sneakily take a picture. . .