Until June 30, 2024, the visitors of the Uffizi Gallery will be able to attend the grand exhibition “Divina Simulacra. Masterpieces of classical sculpture from the Gallery”, with the most beautiful ancient statues of the Uffizi reunited in the rooms on the ground floor of the Vasari museum.

It is an opportunity to take advantage of these ample spaces to see and admire the statues up close, in all their beauty.

For the first time in the exhibition, individual replicas of classic marble groups are juxtaposed, which, in the historical setting, are placed in different points of the Gallery. Thus, the Dancing Faun of the Tribune is reunited with the Seated Nymph placed in the second corridor, in order to reconstruct the group of the “Invitation to Dance”, one of the masterpieces of Hellenistic statuary of the micro-Asian ambit.

Similarly, the Arrotino, one of the historical guests of the Tribune, can finally be approached to the Hanging Marsyas of the third corridor, thus restoring unity to the group, originally completed also by the figure of Apollo, whose original is to be attributed to workshops from the late 3rd century BC.

Finally, the splendid series of twelve ancient herms with portraits of Greek philosophers, athletes, poets, and statesmen is restored in its entirety to the public’s interest, originally intended by Ferdinando I to adorn the garden of Villa Medici on the Pincian Hill.

A bit of history

The first ancient works of art to enter the newly completed Vasari complex, already in the 1580s, were the ancient marbles from Cosimo I’s collection, kept until then in the Pitti Palace. It was Ferdinando I’s insight to place the precious sculptures in the eastern corridor of the top floor, where they could be fully admired bathed in natural light.

During the 17th century, the statues and portraits spread, occupying the southern corridor and, with the reign of Cosimo III, also the western one. It was also thanks to Cosimo III’s insight to have ancient sculptures of large dimensions arranged in the Tribune. Among these was the Venus de’ Medici, destined to become, for the following two centuries, the icon and symbol of the Florentine museum.

The admission to the exhibition is included in the museum ticket. As you may know, the Uffizzi is very popular, so we advise you to contact our concierge to make your reservation.