Florencia - Itineraries
CHIESA DI SANTA CROCE
Although the origins of the first Franciscan oratory are still lost in the mists of time, the construction of the new Basilica of Santa Croce is well documented. It officially started on May 3rd 1294, when the architect Arnolfo di Cambio laid the first stone of what was to become a masterpiece of Gothic art. Its spatial grandiosity and its structural elements carried out with rational clarity and sobriety. It was built on the plan of an Egyptian cross (in the shape of a T). The interior is divided into three naves (114,45 metres), a chancel and a transept full of chapels whose patronage was reserved to the most illustrious families: the Bardi and Peruzzi first, then also the Tosinghi, Pulci, Rinuccini and Alberti families. The walls of these chapels and the entire church were immediately covered with frescoes by Giotto and his school and the church became a museum of the Florentine painting of the XIV century. The same artists also designed the wonderful luminous stained glass windows.
The church, finished in 1442, was consecrated by Pope Eugene IV. The facade was left undecorated and it was completed only in 1857-63, more or less at the same time as the Bell tower was rebuilt to replace the original one which had been struck by lightning.
New architectural additions were introduced thanks to the patronage of Cosimo "the Elder" de' Medici and Andrea de' Pazzi. The former had the Chapel of the Novitiate built next to the Sacristy in 1434-45 by Michelozzo, then decorated by Andrea della Robbia and Mino da Fiesole; the latter sponsored the Pazzi Chapel, in the first cloister, or Cloister of the Dead, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and started around 1430.
Brunelleschi also designed the second Cloister of the Convent, or Greater Cloister, continued after his death by Bernardo Rossellino (1453 ca.) The entrance door (1450 ca.) was build by Benedetto da Maiano.
Rather out of place in this substantially Gothic ambience, the Niccolini Chapel (situated in the left transept) dates from a later period and was carried out around 1570 by the architect Giovanni Antonio Dosio. More or less in the same period (1566-1584) Giorgio Vasari was "modernizing" the basilica for the Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici.
The church, finished in 1442, was consecrated by Pope Eugene IV. The facade was left undecorated and it was completed only in 1857-63, more or less at the same time as the Bell tower was rebuilt to replace the original one which had been struck by lightning.
New architectural additions were introduced thanks to the patronage of Cosimo "the Elder" de' Medici and Andrea de' Pazzi. The former had the Chapel of the Novitiate built next to the Sacristy in 1434-45 by Michelozzo, then decorated by Andrea della Robbia and Mino da Fiesole; the latter sponsored the Pazzi Chapel, in the first cloister, or Cloister of the Dead, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and started around 1430.
Brunelleschi also designed the second Cloister of the Convent, or Greater Cloister, continued after his death by Bernardo Rossellino (1453 ca.) The entrance door (1450 ca.) was build by Benedetto da Maiano.
Rather out of place in this substantially Gothic ambience, the Niccolini Chapel (situated in the left transept) dates from a later period and was carried out around 1570 by the architect Giovanni Antonio Dosio. More or less in the same period (1566-1584) Giorgio Vasari was "modernizing" the basilica for the Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici.
