The San Marco Museum

The San Marco Museum covers a large of the Dominican  convent built between 1437 and 1452 by Michelozzo, an architect highly regarded by Medici. It houses frescoes by Ghirlandaio, fra Bartolomeo and numerous paintings of their successors.

Particularly interesting are the cells that belonged to Cosimo the Elder, the greatest exponent of the Medici family, who paid for the rebuilding of the church and monastery, that partly collapsed in the 15th century. But the fame of the San Marco Museum is mainly due to the dormitories cells, decorated with frescoes by Beato Angelico, one of the greatest figures of the Renaissance. Over 1900s other paintings of various origins were collected in the museum, Beato Angelico, this has allowed us to create a collection that offers visitors an extraordinary documentation of the painter’s. World famous is also the fresco of the Annunciation, at the top of the stairs leading to the dormitories, a symbol of purity, obedience and faith. 

Of great impact is the entrance of the library, also commissioned to Michelozzo and considered one of the finest examples of Renaissance interiors, with its narrow arches supported by columns with Ionic capitals.