Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence—which opened in 1865 by order of by royal decree, making it Italy’s first national museum—houses the city’s most important collection of Renaissance sculpture. A former barracks and prison, the building alone is impressive, never mind the masterpieces by Michelangelo and Donatello. The Bargello’s collection includes some of the most important works of Renaissance sculpture: masterpieces by Donatello, Luca della Robbia, Andrea del Verrocchio, Michelangelo, and Benvenuto Cellini. The building also houses bronzes, ceramics, waxes, enamels, medals, ivories, tapestries, seals, and textiles, some from the Medici collections and others from convents or private collectors. In 1888, Louis Carrand, an antiquarian from Lyon, made one of the most important donations to Bargello: more than 2,500 paintings and works of decorative art.
