Opera magazine
2024-08-26
The restoration of the facade of the Opera del Duomo Museum
The complex of the Opera del Duomo Museum has developed throughout the 20th century and includes the group of buildings that, starting from the first half of the 15th century, housed the headquarters of the 'Opera del Duomo'. This institution was created at the end of the 13th century to oversee the construction of the new Cathedral. Over the centuries, the entire complex has been adapted according to the needs of the Opera, evolving from a site for magistrates, workshops, and warehouses to its current use as a museum.
The urban layout of the vast area surrounding Santa Maria del Fiore results from a deliberate design, explicitly aimed at creating a space worthy of the Basilica’s monumentality. In the years following the beginning of the new Cathedral’s construction, in the second half of the 14th century, many buildings were purchased and demolished by the Opera to construct the Tribunes and create a square of sufficient size between the corner of Via del Proconsolo and the perimeter of the apse chapels, thereby renewing the surrounding built environment.
The new houses built along the eastern and northern edges of the square, once called Via di Santa Reparata or delle Fondamenta, followed the layout of the Tribunes up to the height of the central one, where the curve of the enclosure straightens until the intersection of Via del Proconsolo and the current Via dell'Oriolo.
The records of the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore provide detailed instructions. In 1381, a new road was planned, leading from Via del Proconsolo to Via dei Servi, to avoid crossing the construction site, thus defining the eastern side of what is now Piazza del Duomo. It is noteworthy that in these records and decrees regarding the urban layout, there is never any mention of a ‘square,’ but rather of streets and roads. Thus, in 1388, the officials of Santa Maria del Fiore, "desiring that the said church be adorned with roads," decreed that "beautiful and wide roads" should be opened around the church, "as befits what is just and honorable, for the honor and benefit of both the citizens and the city of Florence."
They prescribed a width of 27 braccia ('arms', about 16 meters), an exceptional measure for the dense space of the medieval city, especially since this figure would later be expanded in subsequent decrees to first 28 and finally 37 braccia. With the creation of the large space around the Cathedral, there was also a focus on ensuring the square’s decorum, not only through its size but also by standardizing the facades facing it. The officials ordered the beautification of the streets around the Cathedral with windows of a design to be agreed upon with the officials, "with rusticated pilasters and arches similar to those surrounding the church [...] up to the entrance of the Falconers' workshops," as is still visible today.
The ground floor was to be built with rusticated stone arches made of 'pietraforte', carefully carved, with specific guidelines for the width of the pilasters, the structure of the rough blocks, and the dimensions of the stones, both at the base and the keystone. The upper floors, intended for residential use, were to have simple plastered masonry facades. Additionally, it was established that all facades should feature a uniform sill at a height of 12 braccia, creating a consistent interior level to establish the height of the windows opening onto the first floor. This arrangement is still partially visible on the facades overlooking the square.
This prescription, dictated by an ordinance from 1389, is confirmed in the current design of the facades along the Cathedral’s perimeter, from the Museo dell’Opera to the junction of Via Ricasoli. In the section between Via Ricasoli and Via dei Servi, eight arches corresponded to the palatio of the Opera, on which seven shields bearing the emblem of the Opera and the insignia of the Florentine Republic were placed, still preserved today.
Thus, by the end of the 14th century, the space surrounding the Cathedral took on a unified appearance, which remains visible today in the ring of *pietraforte* arches that extends from Via Ricasoli to the Museo dell’Opera, despite later transformations.
THE BUST OF COSIMO I
The bust of Cosimo I is set within an oval niche, surrounded by a lavish frame decorated with scroll motifs, clusters of fruit, Medici emblems, and, at the bottom, the insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece held by a lion mask. The entire composition is topped by the Grand Ducal crown supported by two cherubs. Around the niche is the Latin inscription: Cosimo de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany; on the band of the Grand Ducal crown, there is a reference to the title granted by Pope Pius V.
The bust was placed above the external entrance of the Museum, as recorded by Lapini in November 1572: "In our city, five marble heads of the Grand Duke Cosimo are visible, the first above the door of the Opera of Santa Maria del Fiore..." so writes Borghini in the biography of Giovanni Bandini. Baldinucci also recalls this and the other busts of Cosimo as examples of Bandini's skill in portraiture. The designation "dell'Opera" was given to Bandini to emphasize his long artistic career in the service of the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, for which he also created the reliefs of the Duomo’s choir balustrade. The bust can be compared stylistically with the portrait of Cosimo I in marble, currently housed at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), dated 1542, with the bust of Francesco I placed above the Door of Petitions at the Uffizi, and the marble bust of Brunelleschi kept in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo.
Since the bust was placed on the facade in 1572, when the building housed the Magistrate’s Office of the Opera and was not yet a museum, it can be considered a celebratory symbol of the Grand Duke’s role in supporting the Christian faith. After reaching an agreement with the Pope, in which he promised to provide his fleet in support of the Holy League, Cosimo I was awarded the title of Grand Duke. The cherubs holding the Grand Ducal crown symbolically represent the divine spirit offering Cosimo I the rank of Grand Duke. The insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece, of which Cosimo became a member, also has religious connections, as it became a Catholic order after the Counter-Reformation, receiving the approval and support of the Holy See.
