Santa Maria del Fiori, Archbishop Archive, Orsanmichele
Today’s class was very informative. It was great being able to break out of the classroom and gain hands-on experience with the city. Since taking A.P. Art History in high school, I have had a slight obsession with Santa Maria del Fiori; I loved hearing more about the building and its place within the ancient city of Florence. I had no idea that the Piazza has cemeteries beneath it… or that the bell tower doesn’t ring during the Lenten days.
At the Archbishop’s Archive, we learned a multitude of things about how the Florentines had made use of paper and even parchment parchment to record special events, such as marriages, births, and deaths… Personally, I found it very interesting to think about how people have come to understand the concept of “history”… If such events, names, dates, and places hadn’t been written down and recorded, we would have no idea where we come from. It is through these written records that we can bridge the gaps between our past, present, and future.
As I learned about the intimate relationship between both the religious and political centers in Florence, I realized that the layout of the city of Florence absolutely reflects that relationship. Another interesting parallel I drew during today’s class was the similarity between the books of recorded baptisms, as they featured the names of the newly-baptized as well as the names of their parents! Similarly, at the Archaeological Museum last week, I saw that as per the Egyptian tradition, the name of a deceased person, as well as their parents’ names, was featured on each coffin.
From our journey to Orsanmichele, I learned that although the omnipresent image / icon of the Madonna and Child depict both the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus, the focal point of that classic image is the Christ child himself. I also found it interesting that the two 'sides', if you will, of the church each depicted only images of one gender. This brought upon my question as to why the depiction of Mary would have been so prominently displayed on the male side of the church... Little did I know how thoroughly a child could dwarf his mother!
-Margaret Mary DeMark
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