Story
The story of Uffizi Gallery
The name Uffizi simply means 'offices'. In 1560 Cosimo I de' Medici asked Giorgio Vasari to build a single home for the city's many committees, agencies and guilds, so that he could control them all in one place. The building was completed in 1581, and the top floor became a private gallery for the Medici family's art.
The gallery could be visited on request from the sixteenth century, and in 1769 it officially opened to the public – making it one of the first modern museums. When the Medici dynasty died out, the last heiress, Anna Maria Luisa, gave the collections to the city of Florence through a famous family pact. Today it is Italy's most visited museum, famous for its Renaissance paintings.
Before going in, stand in the long, narrow courtyard: architectural historians call it the first regular streetscape in Europe, framing a view to the Arno at the far end.
This story is compiled from Wikipedia and other open sources; dates and numbers are checked against the source. The text is shared under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Source ↗
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