Precious religious artefacts from the Chapel of the Relics, a symbol of the devotion of the Grand Duchess of Tuscany and of the last Medici Grand Dukes

During the Medici period the Reliquary Chapel was a part of the grand duchess's apartments.

It was the principal chapel for the entire palace until the consecration of the neoclassical Palatine Chapel in 1785.

The Chapel of the Relics was built by Cosimo I and embellished by his wife, Maria Maddalena d’Asburgo, Archduchess of Austria and Grand Duchess of Tuscany, for storing precious relics which formed an important part of the Grand Dukes’ collections. Maria Maddalena was devoted to the acquisition of relics since her arrival in Florence in 1608.

Maria Maddalena was able to gather in her 'Chapel of the Relics' already in a few years an extraordinary body of work. The content of the chapel was then further enhanced by the Grand Duchess Vittoria della Rovere and his son, the Grand Duke Cosimo III, becoming one of the largest sacred treasures in Europe. Cosimo III devoted part of his life to the search of relics belonging to people from distant regions. In order to preserve those relics Cosimo III commissioned the design of decorated enclosures to sculptors and workshops masters.

The exhibition held at Pitti Palace is the result of a major research and it brings together for the first time after more than two hundred years more than one hundred artefacts and relics. The idea was to recreate a valuable collection, evidence of deep religious devotion of the family and, at the same time, a symbol of its economic power and prestige.

The different sections of the exhibition make the visitor discover the story of the collection from its origins to the beginning of its disintegration, when the most valuable items were dismantled to recover the gold, silver and precious stones.

Bottega romana, Agnus Dei, 1701, cera, argento sbalzato, cesellato e  filigranato. Firenze, Gallerie degli Uffizi, Tesoro dei Granduchi Manifattura milanese - botteghe granducali, Reliquiario di san Ranieri, prima metà sec.  XVII secolo, argento dorato fuso e cesellato, cristallo di rocca molato e intagliato, ebano  tagliato e impiallacciato. Firenze, Gallerie degli Uffizi, Tesoro dei GranduchiJustus Sustermans (Anversa, Belgio 1597 – Firenze 1681), Ritratto di Vittoria della  Rovere e di Cosimo III come Sacra Famiglia, XVII secolo (1645 ca.), olio su tela.  Firenze, Gallerie degli Uffizi, Galleria Palatina ed Appartamenti RealiManifattura dell'Italia settentrionale, Madonna della Ghiara, XVI secolo,  avorio e ebano. Firenze, Gallerie degli Uffizi, Tesoro dei GranduchiFrancesco Ubertini detto Bachiacca (Borgo San Lorenzo 1494 – Firenze 1557),  Santa Maria Maddalena, 1530 ca., olio su tavola. Firenze, Galleria degli Uffizi Giovanni Battista Gaulli detto Baciccio (Genova 1639 – Roma 1709), Ritratto del cardinale  Leopoldo de' Medici, 1667 ca., olio su tela. Firenze, Galleria degli Uffizi, depositi
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Sacred splendours. The treasure of the Chapel of the Relics in the Pitti Palace

Silver Museum, Pitti Palace, Florence

10 June – 2 November 2014

Exhibition curated by Maria Sframeli, Riccardo Gennaioli

Exhibition catalogue published by Sillabe (available only in Italian)

Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo con la Direzione Regionale per i Beni Culturali e Paesaggistici della Toscana, la Soprintendenza Speciale per il Patrimonio Storico, Artistico ed Etnoantropologico e per il Polo Museale della città di Firenze, il Museo degli Argenti e l'Arcidiocesi di Firenze, con Firenze Musei e l’Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze.