Santa Croce The Largest Franciscan church in the world. Wh

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Santa Croce

• The Largest Franciscan church in the world.

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Who are these?
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Pretend you know these people
Susan
Bob
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Today Bob and Susan are visiting Santa Croce
It is our job to tell them how to get around the
church.
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• Susan still doesnt really know anything about
  Santa Croce.
• Is there any information you know?

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• We start in the piazza.

• Looking at the church we tell Bob and Susan to
  walk straight.

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Santa Croce is built in gothic style.

• What is gothic style?
• Gothic is a style of architecture which developed
  in northern France and spread throughout Europe
  between the 12th and 16th centuries. It is
  characterized by slender vertical piers and
  counterbalancing buttresses, cross vaultings and
  pointed arches.

Paris Nôtre Dame
Chartres the Cathedral
Milan the Cathedral
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Pinnacle
Door
Pointed arch
Rose-window
Bell-tower
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• The façade is made of white marble from Carrara,
  green marble from Prato and pink marble from
  Verona.
• There are three doors on the front of the church
  corresponding to the nave and the two aisles.

• On the left of the church there is a statue of
  Dante Alighieri.
• Dante is surrounded by four lions (symbolizing
  the Florentine Republic), one on each corner.
• It was placed here in 1865 on the occasion of the
  600th anniversary of Dantes birth.

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Façade of Santa Croce

• The neo-gothic façade was installed between
  1857-1863.
• It was designed by Nicolò Matas, a jewish
  architect. He added the star of David to the
  front of the church.
• Matas wanted to be buried inside the church with
  his peers but because he was Jewish he was buried
  under the porch, not within the walls of the
  church.

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Façade of Santa Crocebefore 1857
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The Bell-Tower

• It was built in1842.
• It replaced the old tower which was struck by
  lightning and destroyed.

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Well, lets enter!

• The inside is lined with octagonal columns

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Apse
Chapels
Octagonal columns
Chapels
Nave
Aisles
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Santa Croce

• The church is built in the shape of an Egyptian
  Tau Cross. This is the symbol of the Franciscan
  monks.

Roman cross
Egyptian cross
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Santa CroceThe temple of the Italian glories

• Many famous Italians have tombs in Santa Croce.

Do you recognize any of these?
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• Galileo Galilei, Michelangelo, Niccolò
  Machiavelli.
• Walking along the right aisle you can see
• the tombstone of Michelangelo by Giorgio Vasari
  (1570)
• the cenotaph of Dante Alighieri (1829)
• the tombstone of Vittorio Alfieri by Antonio
  Canova (1810)
• the tombstone of Niccolò Machiavelli (1787)
• the tombstone of Leonardo Bruni a Chancellor of
  the Florentine Republic by Bernardo Rossellino
  (1450)
• the tombstone of Gioacchino Rossini (1900)
• the tombstone of Ugo Foscolo (1938) who, in his
  poem i Sepolcri spoke about these famous
  tombstones in Santa Croce

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• Walking back along the left aisle, to the exit of
  the church, you can see other funerary monuments,
  among which the most important ones are
• the monument to Leon Battista Alberti by Lorenzo
  Bartolini (at the first column)
• the monument to Carlo Marsuppini secretary of the
  Florentine Republic by Desiderio da Settignano
• the monument to Vittorio Fossombroni a famous
  politician by Lorenzo Bartolini
• the monument to Galileo Galilei.

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The aisles of the church host many paintings,
sculptures and key works.
trusses
pointed arches
Stained glass window
Octagonal column
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Giotto and Taddeo Gaddi in Santa Croce

• Inside Santa Croce you can find famous chapels
• the Baroncelli chapel with frescoes by Taddeo
  Gaddi representing the life of the Virgin and a
  Polyptych by Giotto.

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• the Bardi chapel with frescoes by Giotto with
  scenes from the life of San Francesco
• the Peruzzi chapel with frescoes by Giotto
  representing scenes from the lives of Saint John
  the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist.

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Outside Santa CroceThe Pazzi Chapel

• The Pazzi family hired Brunelleschi to build a
  chapel in their honor in the cloister of Santa
  Croce.

The dome in the Pazzi chapel looks a lot like the
dome Brunelleschi constructed for the Cathedral.
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Outside Santa CroceThe Opera Museum

• In the Cenacolo, among masterpieces of the
  Middle Ages, you can find
• the huge fresco
  by Taddeo Gaddi
  representing the Holy Cross Tree
• the Crucifix by Cimabue which was greatly
  damaged by the Flood in 1966

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Cimabues Crucifix
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Flood of 1966

• When the Arno flooded the water destroyed many
  paintings in Santa Croce. It took decades to
  restore them.

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There is so much to do!

• There are so many things in Santa Croce that if
  you wanted to, you could spend an entire day
  there!

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Glossary

• Aisle
• Apse
• Bell-tower
• Buttress
• Cathedral
• Cenotaph
• Chancellor
• Chapel
• Church
• Cloister
• Cross
• Cross vaulting
• Crucifix
• Dome
• Façade
• Flood
• Fresco
• Funerary monument
• Lightning