The Siena Civic Museum, the Museo Civico, was built in the 1930s on the first and second floors of the Palazzo Pubblico. Its visit (about an hour) is highly recommended, as the museum to be discovered in Siena.
It preserves many masterpieces of Sienese art, with particular attention to two remarkable rooms of the Globe and the Nine, of which paintings related to the government of the Nine, which was committed to the well-being of citizens and illustrated it here.
The palace still houses the city council.
First Floor
Art Gallery
The first four rooms (called the Pinacoteca) house works from the 16th to 18th century, including a sketch of the Virgin and Child with Saints by Sodoma, 1537-39 (originally placed in the Piazza Chapel (1537-1539).
Risorgimento Hall
The Sala del Risorgimento is decorated with 19th century frescoes and sculptures, which are based on the historical period of the Italian Risorgimento, created by Tuscan and above all Sienese artists.
Balia Hall
The Sala di Balia (also called Pope’s Hall) is named after Balia, the permanent body that sat in the room from 1455. It was decorated in the early 15th century by Martino di Bartolomeo and Spinello Aretino with ceiling frescoes depicting the Virtues and on the walls the life of Alexander III, a Sienese pope. The beautiful carved wooden door by Domenico di Niccolò.
Hall of the Cardinals
The Cardinalate Hall, also known as the Consistory’s Anteroom, is decorated with various frescoes, some of which are attributed to Anbrogio Lorenzetti, from the 14th and 15th centuries, which come from other parts of the building or from the exterior walls.
Consistory Hall
A marble portal, by Bernardo Rossellino in 1448, leads to the Consistory Hall. Here the city leaders of the time of the Sienese Republic met.
On the vault, the allegorical frescoes by Domenico Beccafumi (1529-1535) represent the three virtues considered necessary for good government: love of the homeland, justice and harmony (or mutual benevolence).
The walls are decorated with gobelin tapestries. The frieze illustrates scenes from Greek and Roman mythology.
Vestibule and Anti-Chapel
A Madonna and Child by Ambrogio Lorenzetti (1340 approximately) decorates the vestibule, which was originally in the Loggia dei Nove. There is also the golden wolf that feeds the twins, sculpted by Giovanni di Turino in 1430, which was on the column at the entrance of the Palace.
The Anti-chapel was painted by Taddeo di Bartolo around 1415, illustrating mythological themes and elements of Roman history, the virtues necessary for good government, including the cardinal virtues (Justice, Strength and Prudence), illustrious men like Cicero, Judas Macabeus, Scipio the African, Cato the Elder, etc embodying these virtues.
Palace Chapel
Taddeo di Bartolo also decorated the chapel of the palace, with frescoes from around 1407 depicting scenes from the Life of the Virgin, evangelists, saints, prophets.
It also includes works by Giovanni di Turino, an altar designed by Marrina, and the Holy Family with Saint Leonard by Sodoma (1530).
The carved and inlaid wooden choir is a refined work by Domenico di Niccolò (1415-1428).
The organ was built between 1519 and 1525 by Giovanni di Antonio detto il Piffaro. The wrought iron grille is a work of 1437.
Globe Room
The Globe Room (or World Map Room) is the largest room in the palace, also designated as the Council Room. It preserves two remarkable large frescoes with the Maestà (Majesty) of the Virgin on her throne with the child and saints by Simone Martini (1312-1315) and Guidoriccio de Fogliano on his horse at the seat of Montemassi attributed to Simone Martini (1330). However, the latter would be a replica of the 15th of a lost work by Martini. Below this is represented the Taking of a castle perhaps that of Giuncarico, which would be by Duccio Buoninsegna (1314). Before he was finding a large globe painted by Ambrogio Lorenzetti in 1345 that was hung on the wall but has disappeared.
Other frescoes adorn the walls, from the 14th to the 16th century, celebrating victories won by Siena over Florence: the battaglia della Val di Chiana and the battaglia del Poggio Imperiale.
Hall of the Nine
The Hall of the Nine is the one after the Hall of the Globe. These two rooms are the most important in the palace.
Also called the Peace Hall, it preserves on three walls famous frescoes by Ambrogio Lorenzetti with the Allegory and the Effects of good and bad government (1338-1339). It is probably the most fascinating work within these museums, see in Siena whole, remarkable example of political allegory, with a vast representation of landscapes and secular subjects as religious.
This vast composition illustrates and personifies the abstract concepts that are named below. Two landscapes want to reveal the effects on the city and countryside, one of good government, the other of bad government.
Unfortunately, some of the Bad Government is erased.
Other rooms on the first floor
Column Room
The Hall of Columns contains works from the 14th and 15th centuries.
Loggia
A staircase decorated with the fresco of Neroccio Bartolomeo Landi’s Madonna (1481) leads to the second floor, with its three rooms and the Loggia supported by four pillars. There is a beautiful view of the market square and a view of the southern half of Siena.
Second floor rooms
The Sala del Capitano del Popolo (People’s Captain’s Hall) is now the meeting room of the City Council. It is decorated with two paintings by Amos Cassioli.
In the other rooms there is a collection of prints, paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries, a portrait gallery, maps and documents on Siena and the Palio.
In the first room is the fresco of the Crucifixion by Pietro di Giovanni d’Ambrogio (1446) and in the second a ceiling from 1680.
Where is the Civic Meseum of Siena, map
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Entrance tickets and reservations
Links and sources
- Official websites : museocivico.comune.siena.it
- Informations : en.wikipedia.org
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