Bargello

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Bargello

The Bargello, also known as the Bargello Palace or Palazzo del Popolo (Palace of the People) is a former barracks and prison, now an art museum, in Florence

Florence

Florence is the Capital city of the Italy Regions of Italy of Tuscany and of the provinces of Italy Province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany and has a population of 364,779 ....
, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
.

word bargello appears to come from the late Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
bargillus [from Goth bargi and German burg]: castle or fortified tower.

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The Bargello, also known as the Bargello Palace or Palazzo del Popolo (Palace of the People) is a former barracks and prison, now an art museum, in Florence

Florence

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
.

Terminology

The word bargello appears to come from the late Latin

Latin

Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
it was the name given to a military captain in charge of keeping peace and justice (hence "Captain of justice") during riots and uproars. In Florence he was usually hired from a foreign city to prevent any appearance of favoritism on the part of the Captain. The position could be compared with that of a current Chief of police. The name Bargello was extended to the building which was the office of the captain.

The palace

The Bargello palace was built to house first the Capitano del Popolo and later, in 1261, the Podestà, the highest magistrate of the Florence City Council

City council

A city council is a form of local government, usually covering a city or other urban area, such as a town. The system of government has roots back at least to the Roman Empire....
. This Palazzo del Podestà

Podestà

Podest? is the name given to certain high officials in many Italy cities, since the later Middle Ages, mainly as Chief magistrate of a city state , but also as a local administrator, the representative of the Emperor....
, as it was originally called, is the oldest public building in Florence. This austere crenellated building served as model for the construction of the Palazzo Vecchio

Palazzo Vecchio

The Palazzo Vecchio is the City hall of Florence, Italy. This massive, romanesque architecture, Crenellation fortress-palace is among the most impressive town halls of Tuscany....
. In 1574, the Medici

Medici

The M?dici family was a powerful and influential Florence family from the 14th to 18th century. The family had three popes , numerous rulers of Florence and later members of the French and English royalty....
dispensed with the function of the Podestà and housed the bargello, the police chief of Florence, in this building, hence its name. It was employed as a prison; executions took place in the Bargello's yard until they were abolished by Grand Duke Peter Leopold

Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor

Leopold II , born Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1790 to 1792, King of Hungary, archduke of Austria, and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790....
in 1780, but it remained the headquarters of the Florentine police until 1859. When Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor Peter Leopold was exiled, the makeshift Governor of Tuscany decided that the Bargello should no longer be a jail, and it then became a national museum.

The original two-story structure was built alongside the Volognana Tower in 1256. The third story, which can be identified by the smaller blocks used to construct it, was added after the fire of 1323. The building is designed around an open courtyard with an external staircase leading to the second floor. An open well is found in the center of the courtyard.

The Bargello opened as a national museum (Museo Nazionale del Bargello) in 1865, displaying the largest Italian collection of gothic

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture which flourished during the high and late Middle Ages. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
and Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe....
sculptures (14–17th century).

Art collection

The museum houses masterpieces by Michelangelo

Michelangelo

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance Painting, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer....
, such as his Bacchus, Pitti Tondo (or Madonna and Child), Brutus and David-Apollo.

Its collection includes Donatello

Donatello

Donatello was a famous early Renaissance Italy artist and sculpture from Florence. He is, in part, known for his work in bas-relief, a form of shallow relief sculpture that, in Donatello's case, incorporated significant 15th-century developments in perspectival illusionism....
's David and St. George Tabernacle , Vincenzo Gemito

Vincenzo Gemito

Vincenzo Gemito, was an Italy sculptor and artist who was considered both genius and insane, but whose works are highly prized by international galleries and collectors today....
's Pescatore ("fisherboy"), Jacopo Sansovino

Jacopo Sansovino

Jacopo d'Antonio Sansovino , was an Italy sculptor and architect, known best for his works around the Piazza San Marco in Venice. Andrea Palladio, in the Preface to his Quattro Libri was of the opinion that Sansovino's Biblioteca Marciana was the best building erected since Antiquity....
's Bacco, Giambologna

Giambologna

Giambologna, born as Jean Boulogne, also known as Giovanni Da Bologna and Giovanni Bologna , was a sculpture, known for his marble sculpture and bronze sculpture statuary in a late Renaissance or Mannerist style....
's L’Architettura and his Mercurio and many works from the Della Robbia

Della Robbia

Della Robbia may mean:*Della Robia apartment building located on the north east corner of Eleventh Avenue and 96th Street on Manhattan.*Luca della Robbia , Italian sculptor...
family. Benvenuto Cellini

Benvenuto Cellini

Benvenuto Cellini was an Italy goldsmith, Painting, sculpture, soldier and musician of the Renaissance, who also wrote a famous autobiography....
is represented with his bronze bust of Cosimo I.

The museum also has a fine collection of ceramics (maiolica

Maiolica

Maiolica designates Italian tin-glazed pottery dating from the Renaissance.The name is thought to come from the medieval Italian word for Majorca, an island on the route for ships bringing Hispano-Moresque wares from Valencia, Spain to Italy....
), textile, tapestries, ivory, silver, armour

Armour

Armour or armor is protective covering used to prevent damage from being inflicted to an individual or a vehicle through use of direct contact weapons or projectiles, usually during combat....
s and old coins

COinS

ContextObjects in Spans, commonly abbreviated COinS, is a method of embedding latent OpenURL ContextObjects in the HTML code of Web pages....
.

It also features the competing designs on Isaac's Sacrifice (Sacrificio di Isacco) that were performed by Lorenzo Ghiberti

Lorenzo Ghiberti

Lorenzo Ghiberti was an Italy artist of the early Renaissance best known for works in sculpture and metalworking.Ghiberti was born in Florence....
and Filippo Brunelleschi

Filippo Brunelleschi

Filippo Brunelleschi was one of the foremost architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance. All of his principal works are in Florence, Italy....
to win the contest for the second set of doors of the Florentine Baptistry

Battistero di San Giovanni (Florence)

The Florence Baptistry or Battistero di San Giovanni is a religious building in Florence , Italy, which has the status of a minor basilica....
(1401).

Honolulu Hale

Honolulu Hale

Honolulu Hale, located on 530 South King Street in downtown Honolulu in the City & County of Honolulu, Hawaii, is the official seat of government of the city and county, site of the chambers of the Mayor of Honolulu and the Honolulu City Council....
's interior courtyard, staircase, and open ceiling were modeled after the Bargello.

Bargello

Terminology

The palace

Art collection

External links