National Archaeological Museum (Florence)

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National Archaeological Museum of Florence
Museo archeologico nazionale di Firenze
Museo archeologico nazionale, ingresso 01.JPG
LocationPiazza Santissima Annunziata 9 B, Florence, Tuscany, Italy
Type archaeology
Website Official website
An Etruscan pavilion at the National Archaeological Museum Museo Archeologico di Firenze.JPG
An Etruscan pavilion at the National Archaeological Museum

The National Archaeological Museum of Florence (Italian – Museo archeologico nazionale di Firenze) is an archaeological museum in Florence, Italy. It is located at 1 piazza Santissima Annunziata, in the Palazzo della Crocetta (a palace built in 1620 for princess Maria Maddalena de' Medici, daughter of Ferdinand I de Medici, by Giulio Parigi).

Florence Comune in Tuscany, Italy

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with 383,084 inhabitants in 2013, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.

Maria Maddalena de' Medici was a Tuscan princess, the eighth daughter of Ferdinando I and Christina of Lorraine, making her the sister of Cosimo II.

Ferdinando I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany Grand Duke of Tuscany

Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1587 to 1609, having succeeded his older brother Francesco I.

Contents

History

The museum was inaugurated in the presence of king Victor Emmanuel II in 1870 in the buildings of the Cenacolo di Fuligno on via Faenza. At that time it only comprised Etruscan and Roman remains. As the collections grew, a new site soon became necessary and in 1880 the museum was transferred to its present building.

Victor Emmanuel II of Italy Italian politician, king of Sardinia-Piemont and Italy

Victor Emmanuel II was King of Sardinia from 1849 until 17 March 1861. At that point, he assumed the title of King of Italy and became the first king of a united Italy since the 6th century, a title he held until his death in 1878. The Italians gave him the epithet of Father of the Fatherland. The monument Altare della Patria in Rome was built in his honor.

The collection's first foundations were the family collections of the Medici and Lorraine, with several transfers from the Uffizi up to 1890 (except the collections of marble sculpture which the Uffizi already possessed). The Egyptian section was first formed in the first half of the 18th century from part of the collections of Pierre Léopold de Toscane, from another part of an expedition promoted by the same Grand Duke in 1828–29 and led by Ippolito Rosellini and Champollion (the man who first deciphered hieroglyphics). In 1887 a new topographic museum on the Etruscans was added, but it was destroyed in the 1966 floods.

Uffizi Art museum, Design/Textile Museum, Historic site in Florence, Italy

The Uffizi Gallery is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums and the most visited, it is also one of the largest and best known in the world and holds a collection of priceless works, particularly from the period of the Italian Renaissance.

Ippolito Rosellini Italian egyptologist

Niccola Francesco Ippolito Baldassarre Rosellini, known simply as Ippolito Rosellini was an Italian Egyptologist. A scholar and friend of Jean-François Champollion, he is regarded as the founder of Egyptology in Italy.

Etruscan collections

Chimera of Arezzo Chimera di Arezzo.jpg
Chimera of Arezzo

The organisation of the Etruscan rooms was reconsidered and reordered in 2006. Also in 2006, the 40-year-overdue restoration was carried out on over 2000 objects damaged in the 1966 floods.

<i>Chimera of Arezzo</i> sculpture

The Chimera of Arezzo is regarded as the best example of ancient Etruscan artwork. British art historian, David Ekserdjian, described the sculpture as "one of the most arresting of all animal sculptures and the supreme masterpiece of Etruscan bronze-casting." Made entirely of bronze and measuring 78.5 cm high with a length of 129 cm, it was found alongside a small collection of other bronze statues in Arezzo, an ancient Etruscan and Roman city in Tuscany. The statue was originally part of a larger sculptural group representing a fight between a Chimera and the Greek hero Bellerophon. This sculpture was likely created as a votive offering to the Etruscan god Tinia.

Bronze sculpture sculpture cast in bronze

Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply a "bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as well as bronze elements to be fitted to other objects such as furniture. It is often gilded to give gilt-bronze or ormolu.

Etruscan art

Etruscan art was produced by the Etruscan civilization in central Italy between the 9th and 2nd centuries BC. From around 600 BC it was heavily influenced by Greek art, which was imported by the Etruscans, but always retained distinct characteristics. Particularly strong in this tradition were figurative sculpture in terracotta, wall-painting and metalworking especially in bronze. Jewellery and engraved gems of high quality were produced.

Roman collections

The Idolino, or Idolino of Pesaro, is a Roman bronze statue of a nude youth in contrapposto, standing 146 cm high, made in approximately 30 B.C. It is a copy of a Greek sculpture in the style of Polyclitus made in approximately 440 B.C. It received the name "Idolino," which is Italian for "Little Idol," in the 19th century.

Pesaro Comune in Marche, Italy

Pesaro is a city and comune in the Italian region of Marche, capital of the Province of Pesaro e Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the Marche, after Ancona. Pesaro was dubbed "Cycling City" by Italian environmentalist association Legambiente in recognition of its extensive network of bicycle paths and promotion of cycling. It is also known as "City of Music" as it is the birthplace of the composer Gioacchino Rossini. In 2015 the Italian Government applied for Pesaro to be declared a "Creative City" in UNESCO's World Heritage sites. In 2017 Pesaro received the European City of Sport award together with Aosta, Cagliari and Vicenza.

Greek collections

The "Vase Francois" Kleitias e vasaio ergotimos, cratere francois, 570 ac ca. 02.JPG
The "Vase Francois"
The "Apollino Milani" Museo archeologico di Firenze, Apollino Milani 520-510 a.c..JPG
The "Apollino Milani"
Gallery in the Egyptian collection Museo archeologico di Firenze, Museo Egizio, sala (2).JPG
Gallery in the Egyptian collection

The huge collection of ancient ceramics is shown in a large room with numerous cases on the second floor. Generally the vases come from Etruscan tombs and are evidence of cultural and mercantile exchange with Greece, and particularly Athens (where most of the vases were made) and date to the period between the 4th century BC and the present.

The most important of the vases is a large black figure krater of c. 570 BC signed by the potter Ergotimos and the painter Kleitias. It is named the "François vase" after the archaeologist who found it in 1844 in an Etruscan tomb at fonte Rotella, on the Chiusi road, and shows a series of Greek mythological narratives on both sides. Other notable objects are

Krater type of vessel from Ancient Greece

A krater or crater was a large vase in Ancient Greece, particularly used for watering down wine.

Egyptian Museum

The Egyptian section of the collection is known as the Egyptian Museum, and is the second largest collection of Egyptian artifacts in Italy, after that of the Museo Egizio in Turin.

Foundation

Florence's first collection of Egyptian antiquities was in the Medici collection, dating from the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth century, Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, began acquisition of the artifacts now housed at the Egyptian Museum. Together with Charles X of France, he financed a scientific expedition to Egypt in 1828 to 1829. The expedition was directed by Jean-François Champollion, who deciphered the hieroglyphic script. Ippolito Rosellini, friend and student of Champollion, represented the Italian interests during the expedition. He went on to become the father of Italian Egyptology. Many artifacts were collected during the expedition, both from archeological diggings, and via purchases from local merchants. On their return, these were distributed evenly between the Louvre in Paris, and the new Egyptian Museum in Florence.

Development

The museum was officially opened in 1855. The first director was Ernesto Schiaparelli, from Piedmont. He later went on to become director of the larger Egyptian museum in Turin. By 1880 he had catalogued the collection and organized transportation of the antiquities to the Florentine Archaeological Museum. Under Schiaparelli, the collection expanded with further excavations and purchases carried out in Egypt. Many of the artifacts were, however, later transferred to Turin.

The Florentine collection continued to grow after this time, with donations from private individuals and scientific institutions. In particular, the Papyrological Institute of Florence provided artifacts from its expeditions to Egypt between 1934 and 1939. These now provide one of the most substantial collections of Coptic art and documents in the world.

The Egyptian Museum today

The museum now has a permanent staff including two professional Egyptologists. It houses more than 14,000 artifacts, distributed in nine galleries and two warehouses. The artifacts displayed in the galleries have been substantially restored. The old classification system devised by Schiaparelli is being replaced by a new, chronological and partly topographical system.

The collection comprises material that extends from the prehistorical era right through to the Coptic Age. There are remarkable collections of stele, mummies, ushabti, amulets and bronze statuettes of several eras. There are statues from the reign of Amenhotep III, a chariot from the eighteenth dynasty, [1] a pillar from the tomb of Seti I, parts of the burial equipment of Tjesraperet, who was a wet nurse of king Taharqo, a New Testament papyrus ( 2 , 65 ) and many other distinctive artifacts from many periods.

Separate section

A separate section of the museum is in the baroque Villa Corsini a Castello, nearby Florence, mostly dedicated to Ancient Roman and Etruscan sculpture.

See also

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References

  1. W. Decker: Wagen, in: W. Helck; W. Westendorf: Lexikon der Ägyptologie, Band VI, Wiesbaden 1986, Sp. 1131.

Coordinates: 43°46′34.46″N11°15′44.16″E / 43.7762389°N 11.2622667°E / 43.7762389; 11.2622667