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Michelangelo's Cloister

This is a part of The National Museum of Rome. It includes the remains of the Baths of Diocletian that were the largest Roman baths in Rome. Michelangelo was tasked with turning part of the baths into a church and as part of that he designed this cloister. The objects lining the walls are funerary monuments.

 

The cloister of the charterhouse of the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, this is often referred to as "Michelangelo's Cloister" as he was tasked by the Pope with transforming the Baths into a church and chapterhouse. However, it is more likely that Michelangelo just came up with the layout and that a pupil of his, Giacomo del Duca, was responsible for most of the actual architecture, at least in the initial phase of construction. The cloister was built only after Michelangelo's death in 1564. Construction began in 1565 but took at least until 1600. The upper floor was finished in 1676 and the central fountain dates to 1695. 

Inside the square of the cloister, a 16th-century garden features outdoor displays of altars and funerary sculpture and inscriptions. These notably include some colossal animal heads, several of which date from Antiquity and were found near Trajan's Column in 1586.  [Wikipedia]

 

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Uploaded on October 31, 2022
Taken on October 6, 2022