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The Church of Santa Croce in Florence


..... Cathedral of Santa Croce


Church of Santa Croce
The Church of Santa Croce is considered as the most important expression of the Florentine Gothic Style. It was began in 1294 by Arnolfo Cambi and its name comes from a piece of the Holy Cross that the French King Louis gave to the Franciscan Order in 1258. Today the Church is very famous because there are many important mortal remains inside but also for its fantastic masterpieces. On the left side of the main door there is a statue of Dante Alighieri.

The interior of the Church of Santa Croce is divided into one nave and two side aisles. In the right side aisle there is the tomb of Michelangelo Buonarroti: his main arts (painting, sculpture and architecture) are represented on the tomb by three muses. On the same side there is also a sculpure made by Antonio Canova in 1810. At the end of this side aisle there is the tomb of Machiavelli. Among all the others chapels of famous Florentine families, like Bardi and Peruzzi, in the Church of Santa Croce there is also a chapel of Medici. Near the transept there are five smaller chapels lined up with the Mayor Chapel: they belong to Bardi and Peruzzi and they are painted with frescos of Giotto. In the central chapel in the north transept there is a wood crucifix made by Donatello. Near the entrance, on the left side aisle there is the tomb of Galileo Galilei. Besides the tombs of famous persons we have already mentioned, we must also notice the tomb of the composer Gioacchino Rossini, the poet Ugo Foscolo and the architect Leon Battista Alberti. Brunelleschi designed cloisters before his death in 1446. Near the first cloister there is "the Museum of the Construction of Santa Croce" where it is possible to see a crucifix of Cimabue: it was very damaged by the flood of 1966 but now it has been partially restored.

 

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