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Loggia dei Lanzi

Open Air Sculpture Museum

The Loggia dei Lanzi is located on the south side of the Piazza della Signoria in Florence and was built in the 14th century as an assembly stage. There are three arches on the front of the building, and inside there are more than ten sculptures, including "Perseus with the Head of Medusa" and "The Rape of the Sabine Women", making it an open-air sculpture gallery.

The Loggia dei Lanzi is located on the south side of Piazza della Signoria (Square of Lordship) in Florence, and was built at the end of the 14th century. Originally used as a public meeting place, its vaulted ceiling provided shelter for people beneath it and was modeled after by many similar architectures in Europe.

The Three Arches on the Front of the Loggia dei Lanzi are decorated with trefoils with four virtues. Guarded by a Medici lion, the Loggia has more than ten sculptures by famous artists inside, spanning from Roman times to the 16th century, which make the Loggia an Open-air Sculpture Gallery.

Manywhere Trivia:
The roof of the Loggia dei Lanzi is an open-air terrace. If you are willing to pay, you can enjoy the square and the old palace from above.

Statue of Perseus with the Head of Medusa by the Italian Renaissance sculptor Cellini, features a smoothly muscled figure of Perseus holding up the head of Medusa in his left hand while stepping on her corpse. This sculpture is the only replica in the Loggia dei Lanzi, while the original one is in the nearby Bargello National Museum (Palazzo del Bargello).

The French-born Giambologna was a sculptor working for the Medici family, and the Loggia dei Lanzi contains two of his masterpieces: Hercules and Nessus and Rape of the Sabine Women. The former depicts a fight scene between Hercules and the centaur Nessus, while the latter uses a spiraling compositional style, with several characters facing in different directions, allowing the viewer to enjoy them from multiple angles.