Museum of San Marco, Art museum in San Marco district, Florence, Italy
The Museum of San Marco occupies a former Dominican convent in Florence and displays frescoes, paintings, and manuscripts from different periods. The building was reshaped in the 15th century following Michelozzo's designs, blending artworks with architectural elements from that era.
The site began as a Sylvestrine Benedictine monastery before 1300, also serving as a parish church. In 1437 Cosimo de' Medici obtained it for the reformed Dominicans of Fiesole and commissioned Michelozzo to rebuild it; the church was consecrated on the night of Epiphany 1443 in the presence of Pope Eugene IV. Cosimo spent over 40,000 florins, and Michelozzo worked there from 1439 to 1444.
Fra Angelico painted the monk cells with religious scenes meant for personal prayer and thought. These small rooms show how residents used art as part of their daily spiritual practice.
The museum occupies about half of the convent, in its oldest section, while friars still use part of the block. The 44 cells frescoed by Fra Angelico lie on the first floor, along three corridors around the cloister; allow time to walk them slowly. The cloister, chapterhouse and refectories are on the ground floor.
The library Michelozzo built on the first floor has two rows of columns forming three barrel-vaulted aisles, lit by many windows for reading manuscripts. Agnolo Poliziano and Pico della Mirandola studied the Greek and Latin texts collected by the Medici there.
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