World’s foremost constellation of Renaissance sculpture
The Museo Nazionale del Bargello holds among the most prized collections of sculpture and works of art from the Renaissance. It occupies an impressive palazzo built for the Capitano del Popolo in the mid-13th century, which later became the seat of the Podestà and Council of Justice. In 1865, the palazzo became home to the National Museum, bringing together many important Renaissance sculptures, including masterpieces by Donatello, Luca della Robbia, Verrocchio, Michelangelo and Cellini. It hosts Donatello’s famed bronze “David,” one of the most innovative works of the early Renaissance, and the bronze-relief panels entered by Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi for the Baptistery door competition of 1401. The collection was subsequently enriched with splendid examples of bronzes, majolica, waxes, enamels, medals, seals, ivories, amber, tapestries, furniture and textiles from the Medici holdings and those of private donors.
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