CHURCHES AND PALACES. Although the build ings of old Florence are remarkable as works of architecture, in which some of them, indeed, were epoch making, they are no less so by reason of their historic associations, and especially for the works of painting and sculpture which they contain. The earliest surviving examples are constructed in a species of Romanesque, more closely related to the antique than this style is elsewhere, and characterized especially by beau tiful marble incrustation. The most prominent examples are the exquisite little Church of San Miniato and the basilica Santi Apostoli—both probably dating from the eleventh century—and, especially, the Baptistery (San Giovanni), prob ably originated in the seventh century, but in its present form dating principally front the twelfth •century. Its three bronze portals, one by An drea l'isano and two by Ghiberti, one of which is the Paradise portal, mark epochs in the devel opment of Florentine sculpture.
A most remarkable activity in building was evinced in the last decades of the thirteenth cen tury, from which date the principal Gothic build ings of Florence. The oldest of the churches is Santa. Maria Novella (1278), the central seat of the Dominicans, constructed by two monks, Fra Sisto and Fra Ristoro. A monument of simple architectural grandeur, it is even more famed for its Gothic paintings by Cimatme, Andrea Orcagna, and the Giottesehi in the Spanish Chapel, and its Renaissance frescoes by Filippo Lippi and Ghirlandajo. Equally cele brated is Santa ('roe" (q.v.), ellureh of the Franciscans, and the Florentine Pantheon. The ( athedral, begun in 129.8, continued throughout the fourteenth century, and elan pleted, excepting the facade, in the fifteenth, owed its construction to the pit riotism of the citizens. Among its architects were Arnolfo di cambio, the original designer, Giotto, Francesco Talenti, Gliiberti, and Brunellesehi. The exte. rior is celebrated for its marble incrustation, the interior for its wide N:tulting and the many works of art it contained, some of which, like the "Singing Galleries" of Donatello and Linea, (1011:1 Robbia, have been removed. The celebrated cupola belongs to the Renaissance ( see below), and the Meade, though in the Gothic style, is modern.
The Campanile (bell-tower), begun in 1334 and built after (liotto's designs, is pure Italian Gothic; light and airy in construction. adorned with reliefs and statues by the most Florentine sculptors of the fourteenth and fif teenth centuries. this is the most beautiful tower of its kind in the world. Among the civic build ings of the same epoch is the grim and fortress Ba Eget 1 o mice palace of the podesta. With its mighty bell-tower and walls of rough-hewn stone, the l'alazzo Vecchio formed a typical seat of the ever warlike :Ind alert Gov ernment of Florence. The usual ascription of this building to Aruolfo is not certain, and it was not erected in 1298, but in 1300-1301. Nor was Andrea Orcagna the architect of the Loggia (lei Lanzi, which was begun in 1374, years after his death, by Simone Talenti. This fine open
hall, once used to protect from the weather the participants in the great state ceremonies, which were conducted in the presence of the people, has become the model for such buildings. llalf chureh, half guildhall, the Late Gothic Or Sall Michele, begun in 1337 by Orcagna, possesses ill its tabernacle and in the statues of its Melte,: an epitome of early Florentine sculpture.
The entrance of the Renaissance into Florence is assoeiated with the many works of Brunel leschi. First of all, and his principal construc tive work, stands the cupola of the Cathedral (1421-34), the first great dome in the history of modern art. :Modeled upon that of the Pan theon, which somewhat exceeds it in diameter, though not ill height, it is second only to Saint Peter's in magnitude. Other important churches are San Lorenzo (1421) and Santo Spirit() (1443). and the beautiful little Pazzi Chapel (1420), while, in the grim Pitti Palace (q.v.), Brunelleschi erected a of palace construc tion in rough-hewn stone. A frowning exterior, coupled, however, with light and attractive courtyards. is characteristic of Florentine pal aces of the fifteenth century. The most impor tant are Palazzo Riccardi by Michelozzo. once the residence of the Medici ; Palazzo Strozzi (1489), perhaps the most beautiful in Florence, by Benedetto dal Majano, and with cornice by Cronaca; and Palazzo Rueellai. by LeonbattiAta, Alberti. The Mgt] Renaissance is not so well represented; among the best example* are Ra phael's Palazzo Pandolfini (1330) and the New Sacristy of San Lorenzo, by Michelangelo.
EirreArroxm, NSTITUTION!4. As a princi pal centre of Italian and art, Florence has always been the seat of a number of impor tant educational institutions and art collections. The ancient university (1349) is now organized as an Institute of nigher Study; the time-hon ored school for notaries is now combined with a higher gymnasium. The most important of the art schools, the Accademia delle Belle Arti, pos sesses a fine collection illustrative of early Flor entine painting. and Michelam.s.elo's "David." Chief among the incomparable art collections of Florence are those of the Pitti and Uflizi palaces (see these titles). The Aram()logical Museum, rich in Etruscan antiquities, is now housed in the Palazzo Croeetta, and the Aluseo Nationale, important for early Florentine sculp ture, in the Bargello. The Opera del Duomo con tains many treasures made for the Baptistery and the Cathedral, and in the old house of Michelangelo is the Mimeo Buonarroti, a collec tion of hi F, works and designs. Among the many and important Florentine libraries are the Laur begun in 1444 by Cosmo Mediei, and ineomparably rich in classic nmnuseripts; the National Library, composed principally of the Biblioteca Maglialwechiana, founded by Magna becchi in 1747, and possessing almost half a million volumes, besides pamphlets, letters, prints. etc.; the Marmelliana (1713), with a fine collection of prints; and the Ricciardana. The Florentine archives (Archivio Ceutrale) are unusually rich and well organized.