The New Museum of the Innocents
On June 24, 2016, the new Museum of the Innocents in Florence will be inaugurated on three floors and 1465 square meters of exhibition with an additional 1655 square meters for temporary events and educational activities.
On June 24, 2016, the new Museum of the Innocents in Florence will be inaugurated on three floors and 1465 square meters of exhibition with an additional 1655 square meters for temporary events and educational activities.
Thanks to two new open entrances on Piazza Santissima Annunziata, the museum will offer numerous services to the city: art workshops for children and families, temporary exhibitions, and a welcome point for residents and tourists visiting the city, conferences and training activities, a bookshop specializing in children and teens, and a cafeteria.
The Istituto degli Innocenti was the first secular institution in the world to deal exclusively with child care. The Institute was founded in 1419 and will now be enhanced and properly arranged to give Florence a new museum dedicated to childhood and its history. The historic route of the Institute can be found on the basement floor in a multimedia presentation where the evolution of childcare is reconstructed through over 100 biographies of the boys and girls who lived here, over a period of six centuries. The new museum will tell the entire history of the institution from the founding year to present times, explaining how the old hospital became a foundling hospital and finally an important national and international reference for children and adolescents.
The old courtyards will now be visible along an architectural path to discover the history of the building and its reception area. The gallery above the portico of the façade will host the last portion of the route dedicated to important works and the Choir of the wet nurses.
The museum hosts about 80 works of art including masterpieces by Luca and Andrea della Robbia, Sandro Botticello, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Piero di Cosimo. Intense research went into developing the new museum; the history of the institution as well as its artistic and cultural heritage. The research led to the restoration of almost all of the building as well as approximately 50 works including the 10 putti by Andrea della Robbia seen on the façade.
The inauguration of the Museo degli Innocenti is the fulfillment of a long journey that began in 2010 with the signing of a pact between the State and the Region of Tuscany and will continue through the collaboration between the Istituto degli Innocenti and the Tuscan region, being supported by many cultural institutions including the Opificio delle Pietre Dure.
The museum is open Monday thru Sunday from 10am until 7:00pm. The café, open to the public, will have the same opening hours. The entrance fee is Euro 7.00 per adult but there are also family prices available.
Ask Walks Inside Florence about a guided walking tour to visit this new museum.
