Tuesday Tabernacle: Orsanmichele

This is the tabernacle in Orsanmichele, in Florence.

The church building itself was built in 1336 as a grain store and market on the site of an oratory and within the garden area of a monastery. About fifty years later, became more used as a church but still as a granary store house. (The market was moved elsewhere.)

The gothic tabernacle was designed by Andrea di Cione di Arcangelo (aka Orcagna) and houses a beautiful madonna and child by Bernardo Daddi (1347, a pupil of Giotto).

If you look closely, you will see that the tabernacle fits perfectly inside the church. The halo on the figure on the very top of the tabernacle touches the frescoed ceiling.

Unlike some of the other huge churches in Florence, this one does not take a long time to visit and see all there is to see inside. It you can go on a Monday, you can go upstairs to see the originals of the statues that adorn the exterior of the building, but either way, it's well worth the visit.