Museo di San Marco

This museum occupies a vast area of the Dominican convent of San Marco and preserves much of its original atmosphere. Founded in 1436 and designed by the architect Michelozzo di Bartolomeo Michelozzi, the convent played an important role in the cultural and religious life of Florence, especially during the time of Girolamo Savonarola, the Italian Dominican friar whose tumultuous period of fanatical reformation ended in his execution. The museum owes its renown to the paintings of Fra Angelico, one of the great artists of the Renaissance, who frescoed every room of the convent (in which he lived for several years) with episodes from the New Testament intended to inspire meditation and prayer. Among the most well known is the “Annunciation,” a bright, elegant portrayal of the Virgin and Archangel Gabriel, highly worthy of Fra Angelico’s nickname as the “painter of light.” Other works by Angelico from various provenances were assembled here during the 20th century, resulting in a remarkable collection of the artist’s works.