San Marco Museum

The Collections

Visitors who have a love for literature will want to make sure that they allow plenty of time to peruse the books that can be found in the library of the San Marco Museum. Particularly of note here is a large collection of illuminated, medieval and Renaissance. No visit would be complete without exploring the San Marco Church, where the work of Santi di Tito can be found above the first altar on the right. This prominent artist and architect was responsible for Florence’s changing preference from Mannerism to the Baroque style, which took the city by storm.

The Museum

This impressive museum was built by the respected architect Michelozzo between 1473 and 1452. The building was originally intended to be used as a convent and when it was completed it proved to be one of the most comfortable in the whole of Italy. The project was capped off with the construction of an enormous sober, graceful and elegant building that was created in the renaissance style. The building was used as a library during the era of Lorenzo the Magnificent and served as a welcome retreat for some of the greatest intellectuals and humanists of the time, who would visit the library in order to consult books on Greek and Latin. Therefore, the building became the world’s first public library.

In 1808, during the Napoleonic era, the convent of San Marco was taken over before being returned to the Dominican Friars when the French empire fell. The building received extensive renovation in 1866 before being confiscated by the Italian government. The building was declared a National Monument in 1869 and the San Marco Museum was established. In addition to a huge collection of artefacts of all types, many people flock to the San Marco Museum in order to admire the building’s magnificent architecture. Visitors are given the opportunity to fully explore a perfectly preserved 15th century convent where every aspect has been consciously designed to simplify and coordinate the monastic life from the calm cloister to the spacious library that is flooded with light and is often regarded as being one of the best interiors of the Renaissance.