The Orphanage (Ospedale degli Innocenti) is a historic building in Florence in Piazza Santissima Annunziata, an outstanding example of Early Renaissance architecture in Italy. The building was designed in 1419 by Filippo Brunelleschi at the request of the Guild of Wool Producers "Arte della Lana" - one of the richest in Florence. For a long time, the building housed an orphanage - sometimes children were left directly in the pool, located in front of the portico.
But in 1660 the pool was removed and a mechanism for secret reception of children was built in its place: the door had a special rotating wheel, with its help the child got inside, and the adult who brought the child remained unnoticed. This system worked until the shelter closed in 1875.
The building of the Ospedale delli Innocenti was built in several stages, and only the first of them - from 1419 to 1424 - was under the leadership of Brunelleschi, who relied on the ideas of ancient Roman, Gothic and Romanesque architecture. The innovation was the use of round columns with classical and additional capitals, as well as circular arches and spherical domes. Later, an attic floor was added to the shelter, and the building itself was expanded with an additional wing on the south side. Formally, the orphanage was opened in 1445, and ten days later the first orphan appeared in it. In the late 1520s, a wing for girls was added from Via de Fibbiai.
Later, in 1463-1466, the loggia was decorated with 14 polychrome majolica medallions made of glazed clay in the tympanum between the arches created in the studio of Luca della Robia, probably Andrea della Robia, depicting babies swaddled to the waist. This image has entered the circle of international medical symbols. A copy of the medallion was placed on the facade of the building of Westminster Children's Hospital in England. Since the XIX century. "Florentine baby" has become a symbol of pediatrics in some countries.
Today, the Ospedale degli Innocenti houses a small Renaissance museum with works by Luca della Robbia, Sandro Botticelli, Piero di Cosimo and Domenico Garlandaio.
But in 1660 the pool was removed and a mechanism for secret reception of children was built in its place: the door had a special rotating wheel, with its help the child got inside, and the adult who brought the child remained unnoticed. This system worked until the shelter closed in 1875.
The building of the Ospedale delli Innocenti was built in several stages, and only the first of them - from 1419 to 1424 - was under the leadership of Brunelleschi, who relied on the ideas of ancient Roman, Gothic and Romanesque architecture. The innovation was the use of round columns with classical and additional capitals, as well as circular arches and spherical domes. Later, an attic floor was added to the shelter, and the building itself was expanded with an additional wing on the south side. Formally, the orphanage was opened in 1445, and ten days later the first orphan appeared in it. In the late 1520s, a wing for girls was added from Via de Fibbiai.
Later, in 1463-1466, the loggia was decorated with 14 polychrome majolica medallions made of glazed clay in the tympanum between the arches created in the studio of Luca della Robia, probably Andrea della Robia, depicting babies swaddled to the waist. This image has entered the circle of international medical symbols. A copy of the medallion was placed on the facade of the building of Westminster Children's Hospital in England. Since the XIX century. "Florentine baby" has become a symbol of pediatrics in some countries.
Today, the Ospedale degli Innocenti houses a small Renaissance museum with works by Luca della Robbia, Sandro Botticelli, Piero di Cosimo and Domenico Garlandaio.
Translated automatically from Ukrainian. View original
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