Trifter

Italy – Florence – The Galleria dell’ Accademia and Michelangelo’s David

If time is expressed as cold it can be best felt at the Galleria dell’ Accademia in Florence. Outside in the dark cobbled street the exterior building belies a bright interior where you can feel where time has frozen. Once inside the Galleria the echoes of visitors’ voices and their hollow footsteps, thoughtful coughs and sniffles echo inside your head. It’s as if the welcoming space of the Galleria flows through you in order to prepare your modern mind for the wonder to come. At the departure point where the tourist shop meets the gallery the heated air drifts upwards leaving behind in its wake a comfortable coolness. Imagine the threshold between the gentleness of a tropical coral reef and the huge cavern of ocean. Once you step over the edge the chilly air overwhelms your senses. Along the walls left and right are four of Michelangelo’s creatures of hell. They appear enraged by the whiff of existence because they have been abandoned and condemned to their gelid existence.

At the end of the first floor room hovering beneath a dome of light is Michelangelo’s David the icon of many a Secondary School Art 101 class from across the globe. His presence and our gaze undiminished for over 500 years. Suspended by artifice David’s disproportioned, yet, seemingly perfectly grooved form awaits Goliath’s coming. The wretched torsos you passed merge into the walls. Once at the base of the statue look up and feel the lights showering warmth onto your face. Do not let the fact that you too are part of the tourist frenzy disturb your gaze because millions of eyes from 500 years are staring right back at you. David has waited for you and now that you’re there you become a flash in history.

There is a temptation to study and reflect indefinitely because the sun falling on David drips onto you. The grand portico gives David the grandness of an emperor and one feels closer to the many who have come into contact with the massive weight of Michelangelo’s personality. This is what the Galleria dell’ Accademia can do! However, it also reveals a needless desire for immortality and the folly of idol worship.