The new Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze 1882-2022

edited by Cecilie Hollberg

The birth of the Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze dates back to 1784, when the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Pietro Leopoldo I, wanted to modernize the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, founded in 1563 by Cosimo I de‘ Medici on the initiative of Giorgio Vasari. The Grand Duke reorganized the Accademia and renamed it the Accademia di Belle Arti (Academy of Fine Arts). Over time, museums change their appearance, their management, their size, and installations; they expand or reduce their collections. The Galleria dell’Accademia has also undergone various changes, de-accessing and acquiring treasured works, collections and spaces.
In these same rooms, the history of the Michelangelesque museum began in 1873, initially designed to house the icon of the Renaissance, Michelangelo Buonarroti’s David, which until that time had been on display in front of Palazzo Vecchio in Piazza della Signoria. Following the inclusion of the Prisoners and the sculpture of Saint Matthew in 1909, and thirty years later, the Palestrina Pietà, the Galleria dell’Accademia gained primacy in terms of number and excellence of Michelangelo’s sculptures.
Since 2015, the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence is among the Institutes that have been endowed with special autonomy led by an autonomous Director-in-charge and with a separate budget. Today, the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence not only ranks among the most important museums at an international level but boasts the good fortune to concentrate, preserve and present collections of great value and variety having an inestimable artistic heritage.