Live Restoration at the Bargello Museum

Restoration work has begun on the base of the famous Perseus by Benvenuto Cellini, one of the masterpieces of sixteenth-century Florentine sculpture.
The restoration will be visible in a a live site open to the public set up in the Museum’s ground-floor exhibition hall.
From May 12 to September 5, 2026, visitors will be able to access it during usual museum opening hours, following up close all phases of the restoration and observing the work of the restorers, thus gaining a deeper understanding of the techniques, materials, and methodologies involved. that are often not visible.

Commissioned by Cosimo I de’ Medici to accompany the famous bronze statue for the Loggia dei Lanzi, the marble base was created between 1549 and 1553.  Housed in the same room as masterpieces by leading 16th-century Florentine masters such as Michelangelo Buonarroti, Giambologna, Bartolomeo Ammannati and Baccio Bandinelli, the work is a refined masterpiece of sculptural carving conceived as a richly decorated altar filled with symbolic meaning.
It features at the four corners goat-head protomes, alluding to the zodiac sign of Capricorn associated with the duke, while the torches and grotesque masks refer to the triumph of truth over deception. Lower down, the female herms representing Diana of Ephesus evoke nature and prosperity, while in the niches are the four bronze statuettes depicting Jupiter, Minerva, Mercury, and Danaë with the young Perseus.
Along with the base and the bronze statuettes, the iron sword of Perseus will also be restored; it is usually displayed in one of the showcases in the museum’s Armoury Hall.