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The Accademia's most famous inhabitant is, of course, Michelangelo's David--the original. After it was removed from the Piazza della Signoria and restored, it was put here in an apse built especially for it. If my three pictures at the top of the page don't disgust you enough, try this Quicktime 360 degree view of it by clicking here. It's not a bad piece of work when you figure Michelangelo was only 25 years old when he started carving the huge stone abandoned by another sculptor. (He lived to be almost 90 years old. What's it like to do a David at 25 and still have 65 years to live? It's probably OK if you have a Sistine Chapel ceiling in you but it would probably scare the rest of us.)
On the way to David, you pass several other Michelangelo works including some of the slaves meant for Pope Julius II's tomb. (We've got two in my neighborhood museum in Paris, too, in case you were wondering).
There is also an art gallery which includes Botticelli's Madonna of the Sea. However, we found the Gipsoteca room to be more interesting. The Accademia is, after all, an art school (the first in Europe) and in this room the professors kept their plaster casts of their marble sculptures.
I apologize for not having much to say about the Galleria (you may not be regretting it as much as I am). The Michelin guide says to give the place a half-hour. Another guide says the wait in line is two hours in the summertime.
Next we went to lunch and tried to get to two other places that were closed including the Palazzo Strozzi. Finally we were able to get into the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, but almost wished we hadn't. But please join us there anyway by clicking here.
Where do you want to go today? Here's a few choices:
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