Il Bisonte
Tourist informations
Entrance from: Piazza de' Mozzi 1.
Opening hours: Holydays: 8-13; Working days: 9-14. Closed on Wednesday.
Admission ticket: Closed for restoration.
Opening hours: Holydays: 8-13; Working days: 9-14. Closed on Wednesday.
Admission ticket: Closed for restoration.
Bardini Museum is named after its founder, the antiquarian Stefano Bardini; it contains many artworks that he collected and then donated to the City of Florence.
At current time the Museum is closed for restoration.
History
In 1880 the antiquarian Stefano bardini (1836-1922) bought several buildings located between Via San Niccolò and Via dei Renai, in the area today occupied by the museum; among these buildings was the ancient church of San Gregorio della Pace (13th Century), largely ruined and not more used since long time. Bardini restored completely these buildings, unifying them with a new façade but mantaining on the interior their characteristics and differences. For this restoration Bardini used original parts he had bought in and outside Florence (the windows on the façade, for example, are from the altars of a demolished church in Pistoia).
In the rooms Bardini placed the works he collected in Italy and abroad, and in doing so he followed systematic criteria very ahead from those of his time.
At his death (1922) Stefano Bardini donated the Museum to the City of Florence.
In the spotlight
Ground floor: the 9 rooms contain collections of sculptures: Etruscan, Roman and medieval sculptures arranged chronologically. Among them are fragments, capitals, columns and statues such as the Charity by Tino da Camaino;
Mezzanine floor: here are exhibited Tomb Stones and Glazed Terracottas by the della Robbia;
First floor: the 10 rooms at this floor contain sculptures (among them a Madonna with the Child and Angels ascribed to Donatello) and paintings: remarkable are 30 Drawings by Tiepolo, St. Michael Archangel by Antonio del Pollaiolo and Martyrdom of a Saint by Tintoretto.
In this section of the Museum are also displayed several collections of Stefano Bardini: collections of musical instruments, furnitures, weapons, pottery, coins and medals.
