Until January 7, the exhibition "The Treasure of the Holy Land. The Beauty of the Sacred, the Medici Altar and the Gifts of Kings" at the Marino Marini Museum pemits visitors to admire precious treasures (religious objects and jewelry, sacred ornaments, tapestries and ancient codices) donated over the centuries for the enrichment of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.
Beginning in the 15th century, in fact, many were the gifts, from Princes and Sovereigns, Kingdoms or Republics, that came to Jerusalem in tribute to this important place of worship. Among the more than 150 valuable objects on display in the exhibition, also from important museums and libraries throughout Europe, the Medici Altar, a monumental bronze reliquary, a 16th-century work by Giambologna and Francavilla, donated by Ferdinand I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, stands out. The exhibition route begins significantly from L.B. Alberti's Temple of the Holy Sepulcher . The valuable exhibition is an opportunity, in fact, to also admire this small-large architectural masterpiece of the Renaissance, unknown to the general public, created by Leon Battista Alberti - a strictly scaled imitation of the Jerusalem original - for the Rucellai chapel in San Pancrazio.
After all, the link between Florence and the Holy Land has always been very strong; think also of the Scoppio del carro/Burst of the Chariot (the traditional Florentine event originated by the arrival in the city of some stones from the Holy Sepulchre), the role that the Medici had in the reconstruction of famous places of worship in the Holy City, the Ecumenical Council of Florence in 1439.
