Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Gates of Paradise are gone:(


The biggest disappointment today. I studied in my undergrad Roden's Gates of Hell and Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise. In France I waited two hours to see the Gates of Hell. Now I traveled to Florence to see the Gates of Paradise and they are gone. Who knows, taken for restoration or something. The Italians are going to reinstall them in the museum in a new spot to make it look like they are once again in a wall. So the fake ones must do. The fake ones are in the original entrance of the Baptistery. Most visitors do not know the difference, but I do. The doors were center to our lecture today, as well as David I, II and David III. We have yet to see, the David, yes the one in Palazzo Vecchio is a fake, reproduction, and the real David is in the Accademia. So what did I learn today? You have to be patient. We did see the Donatello's and Verrocchio's Davids and had a great coffee and super. We studied during the afternoon. The weather cooled as we were graced with a thunder shower. Then the heat was restored. We are trying to get into Chapels but it is hard as they are only open in the morning when we have class and then for a short time for evening prayers. Our assignment is to research a chapel and it is getting frustrating not being able to access them.

Now to bed. I did not sleep due to the noise of the street. So last night I used ear plugs and I was shocked to wake up at 9:00 - half an hour to spare. Corinna can sleep through a bomb. We got an alarm clock now and the ipods are set too.

Forgot to mention that we did see the Santa Trinita, most importantly we discussed the Chapel that has the St. Francis Cycle of Frescoes. We revisited here during evening prayers. I lit candles for Loralee and Nathan.

1 comment:

  1. thanks for the update...very interesting your writings. Keep it up and enjoy yourself.

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