Baccio Bandinelli, Altar and choir enclosure of the Cathedral

The main altar and cathedral presbytery were built in 1547-1572 by Baccio Bandinelli and Giuliano di Baccio d'Agnolo, under commission from Grand Duke Cosimo I, but the current appearance results from transformations carried out in 1842 by Gaetano Baccani.

The first enclosure of the cathedral choir was built in 1439, in wood, by Filippo Brunelleschi, but this would only be temporary. The current structure assumes the same octagonal plan but is slightly larger than the original, which was characterised by a colonnade with smooth entablature. In 1519, the decision was made in favour of a new structure in marble, with tasks assigned to Baccio d'Agnolo, Nanni d'Unghero and Domenico di Francesco Baccelli. The columns from this phase are perhaps the eight kept in the Museum’s Medici Theatre. In 1547, Grand Duke Cosimo I again commissioned Baccio Bandinelli and Giuliano di Baccio d'Agnolo for the creation of the definitive choir, in monumental forms, finally completed in 1572. The enclosure was made of white marble, including decoration of 88 panels with figures in bas-relief, possibly of prophets, characters from the Old Testament and philosophers. The intention was to intersperse these with further bas reliefs, showing devotional stories, however in the execution these were replaced by panels of “Medici breccia” marble. Above, an imposing colonnade supported a large smooth-corniced architrave, crowned by a balustrade. At the centres of the cardinal sides, this otherwise continuous entablature was broken by large round arches, with coffered ceilings in their intrados; all around above, it was set off by a series of lamps. In the 19th century the colonnade was dismantled and sold, except for one large arch, now exhibited in the Museum (Hall of the Naves). Twenty-four of the figured reliefs Baccio Bandinelli and his pupil Giovanni “dell'Opera” Bandini were also removed (now in the Choir Room of the Museum). In addition to the reliefs, the sculptural decoration included the colossal figures of God the Father blessing, and of the dead Christ supported by angels, rising above the altar: Gaetano Baccani, author of the 19th modifications, removed these to the Church of Santa Croce. The altar was also backed by the figures of Adam and Eve standing at the tree of sin: now in the Bargello Museum. Although the current structure preserves only traces of this elaborate iconographic program, the presbytery perimeter and altar table, as always, are still at the heart of the Cathedral liturgy. The plan of the Duomo choir takes the same octagonal form as the entire structure of the Baptistery: both allude to the "Eighth day", the eternal Sunday which is promised to the righteous of Christian faith. This salvation and infinite bliss are reached through the sacrifice of Christ, repeated in each Eucharistic Sacrament on the table of the altar: the very concept presented in the marbles of Bandinelli, with God the Father blessing the body of his dead Son. The figures in bas-relief, if we accept the hypothesis that they showed personages from the Old Testament, would have illustrated those who prepared the way for the era of salvation, with the incarnation of Christ, but – since these all faced outwards – without the possibility of witnessing this blissful future