The Museum is situated in the deconsecrated church of San Pancrazio, one of the oldest churches in Florence. This church has been modified many times: in the 15th century it was restored by Leon Battista Alberti, who built the Santo Sepolcro Chapel for the Rucellai family and linked it to the church with a carved architrave. In the 18th century the church was remodernised by Giuseppe Ruggeri, who added a free-standing structure inside, leaving the original walls intact. Following the Napoleonic suppressions of the 19th century, the church was used for holding lotteries, as a law court, and finally as a tobacco warehouse. Then an iron gallery was added to divide the nave into two floors and in 1808, in order to conserve the Albertian triforium, the columns and architrave were transferred to the façade creating the portal which was surmounted by a neo-classical style lunette. San Pancrazio finally became the home of a collection of works of art donated by Marino Marini and later by his wife Marina. The church was restructured by Lorenzo Papi and Bruno Sacchi, who succeeded both in conserving the building's various architectural stratifications and in respecting Marini's desire for an exhibition site with airy spaces.

The Museum contains 176 works of Marino Marini, one of the most important sculptors of the twentieth century (1901-1980). There are sculptures, paintings, drawings and incisions donated on different occasions by the artist and his wife Marina. Their arrangement is of subject nature rather than chronological, fixing as a theme a mood rather than an iconographical subject: it revolves round an imposing equestrian group, from The Hague (1957-1958), placed in the centre of the old liturgical space and immersed in the light of a destroyed apse.



Indirizzo: Piazza San Pancrazio - Firenze
Biglietto:
Riduzioni: -
Orario apertura: On Working: 10.00 - 17.00; on Holidays 10.00 - 13.00
Chiusura: Tuesdays
Telefono: 055.219432