Īmong the 19th-century restorations, the 16th-century altars and plaster were removed from the Bardi Chapel, revealing Giotto's frescoes of the Life of St Francis, which include the Death of St. In 1866, the complex became public property, as a part of government suppression of most religious houses, following the wars that gained Italian independence and unity. Matas had wanted to be buried with his peers but because he was Jewish, he was buried under the threshold and honoured with an inscription. The Jewish architect Niccolò Matas from Ancona designed the church's façade, working a prominent Star of David into the composition. The neo-Gothic marble façade dates from 1857 to 1863. The bell tower was built in 1842, replacing an earlier one damaged by lightning. The Bardi Chapel which contained a cycle of frescoes of the life of St Francis was plastered over, at the behest of Cosimo I, and Vasari placed some new altars against the walls, causing considerable damage to the frescoes. As a result, there was damage to the church's decoration and most of the altars previously located on the screen were lost. In 1560, the choir screen was removed as part of changes arising from the Counter-Reformation and the interior of this area was rebuilt by Giorgio Vasari. Filippo Brunelleschi (who had designed and executed the dome of the Duomo) was involved in its design which has remained rigorously simple and unadorned. The Primo Chiostro, the main cloister, houses the Cappella dei Pazzi, built as the chapter house, completed in the 1470s. To the south of the church was a convent, some of whose buildings remain. The floorplan is an Egyptian or Tau cross (a symbol of St Francis), 115 metres in length with a nave and two aisles separated by lines of octagonal columns. The building's design reflects the austere approach of the Franciscans. It was consecrated in 1442 by Pope Eugene IV. The construction of the current church, to replace an older building, was begun on, possibly by Arnolfo di Cambio, and paid for by some of the city's wealthiest families. Legend says that Santa Croce was founded by St Francis himself. Its most notable features are its sixteen chapels, many of them decorated with frescoes by Giotto and his pupils, and its tombs and cenotaphs. The basilica is the largest Franciscan church in the world. Being the burial place of some of the most notable Italians, such as Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, the poet Foscolo, the philosopher Gentile and the composer Rossini, it is also known as the Temple of the Italian Glories ( Tempio dell'Itale Glorie).īuilding The original brick west front (before the 1860s Gothic Revival embellishments by Niccolò Matas) The nave facing east It is situated on the Piazza di Santa Croce, about 800 metres southeast of the Duomo, on what was once marshland beyond the city walls. The Basilica di Santa Croce ( Italian for ' Basilica of the Holy Cross') is a minor basilica and the principal Franciscan church of Florence, Italy. Bruni’s successor, Carlo Marsuppini, is buried in another fine renaissance tomb on the other side of the nave, by Desiderio da Settignano (c. It is significant that Santa Croce, which was to become the resting-place of so many great Italians, has the first truly renaissance funerary monument: the tomb of Leonardo Bruni, Chancellor of the Republic, sculpted by Bernardo Rossellino (1444). The wooden Crucifix in the Bardi di Vernio Chapel in the left transept, and the stone Annunciation (commissioned by the Cavalcanti) in the right aisle, are both by Donatello. The Chapel of the Noviciate, which Michelozzo built around 1445 for Cosimo de’ Medici, has a glazed terracotta altarpiece by Andrea della Robbia, of the Madonna and Child with Saints. It is one of the most harmonious buildings of the Florentine Renaissance, and is decorated not by frescoes but by glazed terracotta roundels, made by Luca della Robbia and his followers. In 1429 Andrea de’ Pazzi undertook the construction of the Chapter House (known as the Pazzi Chapel), which was designed and begun by Filippo Brunelleschi, but not completed until long after his death. In the following century Santa Croce received some important architectural additions. Its well-preserved frescoes and original 14th-century furnishings give a good idea of how the whole church must have looked in the 14th century when it was completely covered with paintings. The Sacristy, which includes the Rinuccini Chapel, is reached from the south transept.
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