ckv art review florence

7/31/2019 CKV Art Review Florence

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Florence

Florence lies in Italy. It is the capital city of the region Tuscany and also of the province Florence.

It is the most populous city in Tuscany, it has 367,569 citizens. The river Arno goes through the city.

The city was important in the middle ages and in the renaissance, especially for its art and architecture.

In that time Florence was a the European centre for trade and finance and it was one of the richest andwealthiest cities then. Florence is the birthplace of the renaissance. From 1865 until 1871 it was even

the capital city of the Kingdom of Italy. Florence has had a major European impact in music,

architecture, education, cuisine, fashion, philosophy, science and religion. It also has a lot of palazzos

(big buildings with nice architecture), academies, parks, gardens, churches, monasteries, museums, art

galleries and ateliers. The city has a big collection of art, most of them are held in the Pitti Palace and

the Uffizi which receives around 1.6 million tourists a year. The city has been nominated for the best

destination for tourists in the world. Florence is arguably the last preserved Renaissance city in the

world and is considered by many as the art capital city of Italy.

The city is established in 59 before Christ by Julius Caesar. The city was built like a roman army

camp. You can still see that, because the streets form squares. Because the city lies next to the Via

Cassia, the main route from Rome to the north and the fertile valley of the Arno it became animportant city. After the Roman empire there were many fights between Ostrogoths and Byzantines

the population fell back to 1000 citizens. When the Lombards controlled the city in the 6th

century the

population started growing. When Charles the Great took over the city in 774 the city became a part of

Tuscany with capital city Luca. The population grew even more when trade became more important

around year 1000 and Florence then became the capital city of Tuscany. When Pisa lost power

Florence became more a trade centre and Florentine merchants opened shops in Flanders and England.

The family Medici was very important for Florence. The family even controlled the city centuries.

They had a big interest in art. Since in the 15th

century Florence was an important financial centre,

the offspring married high ranked people all over Europe and some became king or queen of France,

Scotland, Spain and some of them even became pope. The Medici family controlled the city more than

two centuries. It ended when in 1737 the last of the Medici died without children. Habsburgers took

over the city and even France has controlled the city a while. In 1859 the Kingdom of Italy took it

back and Florence was the capital city of Italy for six years.

When I was in Florence in the May holiday 2 years ago, I have seen important art buildings. First we

went to Palazzo Vecchio. On the plaza you see a replica of Michelangelo's David. Inside the old

government building you can see the real David. We didnt

go in. Inside you can also see a creation of Donatello: Judith

and Holofernes. On the front of the old government building

you can see all the signs of the districts of Florence. On the

plaza is also the Loggia dei Lanzi, it is statue gallery After

we hadbeen there, we went to Ponte Vecchio, thats a

bridge in Florence. The bridge is in the middle of a street,and in on the bridge there are only jeweller shops. Under the

bridge the river Arno flows. And at last we went to the

Duomo, also known as Santa Maria Del Fiore. To be honest

with you there were too many things, because next to the

Duomo, there is the Campanile. The Duomo is one of the

biggest cathedrals of Europe. The dome on the cathedral

was the biggest dome made in that time. The maker: Filippo

Brunelleschi used a new technique. He let the right and left

part of the dome push against each other and it worked. In

Florence there is the San Lorenzo-market, a big, active

market, in the heart of Florence. At the begin of the market

there is a stone pig. If you stroke his nose, you will comeback to Florence once. We all stroke his nose.


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Old govervenment building David Judith and Holofernes

Statue Gallery


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Campanile

Duomo


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We at the Ponte Vecchio

My dad and I on the street that leads over the bridge

ckv art review florence

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