Orsanmichele : News & Reference

Simone Stella, aspiring to revive interest in baroque composer Dietrich Buxtehude, has initiated a series of concerts in the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance - the city of Florence. The concert series, called "Complete Organ Works by Dietrich Buxtehude", is being performed in the historic Orsanmichele Church in Florence. On August 30th the fourth of a series of ten free concerts will be held at 5:30 PM.

You can read more about Simone Stella and his thoughts on Buxtehude here.

More dates in the series: 2009 - October 11th, November 22nd. 2010 - January 31st, March 7th, April 25th, and June 6th.

"Monumental Sculpture From Renaissance Florence" was an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art (U.S) in Washington, D.C. from September 16, 2005 to February 26, 2006. The website is still on-line and is a great reference for Orsanmichele.

You don't know where and how the money comes together for projects like this - the authority of the museum can not even afford to keep it open (that is why it is only open on Mondays by a volunteer staff) - but somehow they are replacing all the glass in the windows. This is great news - the views are excellent and the old glass is in bad shape. I am still amazed however that more isn't done ahead of time to protect the tabernacles and the sculptures when work is performed on the building.

This is pretty neat - the Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina holds concerts inside Orsanmichele:

The Chamber Orchestra of Florence was created in 1981 by conductor and artistic director of the orchestra, Giuseppe Lanzetta. Consisting of 40 musicians, the orchestra has performed over 1300 concerts to date. Their repertoire contains both symphonic works and chamber music. International critics have described the Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina as "one of the best chamber orchestras of Europe".

You can buy tickets on-line and see the schedule at classictic.com.

In some very welcome and exciting news the museum of Orsanmichele, the primo piano with all the original sculptures, will now be opened on Mondays from 10 AM to 5 PM. The museums director, Antonio Goldoni, has been quoted as saying that, "It's a gift for all - both residents and tourists. For this we thank the Amici dei musei fiorentini". (The Florentine article goes on to say that the museum has been closed for 4 years which is not exactly accurate - when all the original sculptures were finally in place the museum was briefly opened again and was open several other times when special exhibits were on display).

The museum will be staffed by volunteers from the Amici dei Musei Fiorentini Association. We will be sure to visit as soon as possible and hope to have more to report.

At the same time as the window replacement project, there is also conservation being done on the tabernacle of St. John the Baptist. All of the tabernacles except for St. George (in the Bargello) are still the original works. All the statues are copies.

Pretty alarming to see this guy working from a cherry picker today with a huge drill almost right on top of the tabernacle. It looked like he was drilling a hole for some wire to go through. He was all alone though, and there didn't seem to be any kind of forethought to protecting the tabernacle or sculpture in case of an accident.

He also was chipping away at the building to the left of where he was drilling. I am not sure what the work is related to -

I returned to Florence to find the restoration work on the Gothic tabernacle (Albizzo di Piero, 1414) housing Ghiberti's St. John finished. It is a job very well done - the missing piece of stone under the base of the statue has been replaced, and the carvings of the tabernacle have been beautifully cleaned. The work on the small eagle emblems is especially fine. There is always a battle to leave things "as is" in restoration, and just clean, without ever adding anything new - but surely these eagles were very brightly painted at one time. The restoration work gives a glimpse to the trained eye of what must have been.

There is also a garland hanging under the tabernacle now, in celebration I suppose, and a new plaque has been put in place crediting the Rotary Club of Florence for the work.

It is important to remember that beside the tabernacle of St. George, all of these tabernacles are the originals. It is a testament to the craftsmanship and materials of the various times (the original construction dates span hundreds of years!) that they still survive the centuries. Pretty amazing.

The first photo below is the "before" picture:

It is great to report that the Orsanmichele Museum is indeed reopened, and better yet, admission is free! I got a chance to stop by this morning and there was another welcome surprise - the piano secondo is also open. You can access the top floor from the contemporary stair case that is built between the primo piano (the museum room with all the sculptures - or in English, the second floor) and the piano secondo (or third floor).

The top floor is mostly empty, but there are some spectacular views in all directions, as well as what really can only be described as the near ruins of the smaller sculptures that originally adorned the openings/windows of the church. The architecture is fantastic, with meter wide or more wooden beams spanning the width of the building and original stone work.

The scale of Orsanmichele is simply amazing - to walk up to the primo piano is four flights of huge stairs. I think floor to ceiling must be over 40 feet.

One thing that hasn't changed unfortunately is that no photos are allowed - which just seems sort of silly in this day and age.

The only missing sculpture in the museum is the one of St. George. I inquired about it with both guards but neither had a real answer. At least there is some clarity to the situation - the original marble is the one in the Bargello, and a marble copy is in the niche on the outside of the church. But at the moment, the bronze copy, which was in the niche until at least a year or two ago is nowhere to be seen. I have a feeling it must be in for restoration, probably at the Opificio Delle Pietre Dure. I am going to try to contact the museum administration for and answer to this mystery, and for permission to photograph the statues in the museum for this website.