The Accademia di Belle Arti Firenze was converted in 1784 from two former convents into the gallery so that students from the fine arts academy could study great works of art from the past. The museum is best known for housing Michelangelo’s David, the world’s most famous sculpture. The museum houses five other Michelangelo sculptures along with Gothic and Renaissance paintings that were once a part of the Medici collection. The museum is the second most visited in all of Florence and houses many other amazing works of art other than the statue of David. The Accademia di Belle Arti Firenze has great cultural significance for the people of Florence because of all the Gothic and Renaissance works of art in the museum; with the statue of David being the most important cultural artifact. The statue of David was designed by Michelangelo to symbolize the virtues of Republican Florence and freedom from foreign and papal domination. It has also become a symbol of the artistic and intellectual ambitions of the Renaissance. The paintings in the Accademia di Belle Arti Firenze have cultural significance because they mostly comprise of religious paintings by major artists working in or around Florence between the mid-13th and late 16th centuries. Other famous works of art housed in the museum are Botticelli’s Madonna and Child and Madonna and the Sea, Giambologna’s Rape of the Sabine’s, and Michelangelo’s the Prisoners.
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.visitflorence.com/florence-museums/accademia-gallery.html
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.polomuseale.firenze.it/en/musei/?m=accademia
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.visitflorence.com/florence-museums/accademia-gallery.html
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.polomuseale.firenze.it/en/musei/?m=accademia