Florence Museums
In a way, most of (downtown ) Florence is a museum. You can see it as a architectural museum with a vast collection of old buildings, or as an ethnographical museum with an even vaster collection of present-day ethnographies, traipsing around in awe of what they see. A lot of the old buildings are museums proper, exhibiting art of one kind or another. There are also lots working churches. They are thus not officially museums but it amounts to the same thing. In any case, if you want to go inside any of the more popular buildings, you stand in line. If not for tickets, for the security check.
Going inside is always worth the wait - provided you have the slightest interest in world-famous art and possibly some knowledge of what hides behind the catch-words "renaissance" and "enlightenment ". If your interest lies exclusively with rusty iron or other more or less corroded metals, you are in for a disappointment.
Here is about the best I could come up with in this respect (from the Archeological Museum)
 
Flornce museum; iron
Rusty iron in Florence Museums; about all of it (Archeological Museum)
Source: Photographed in Florence March 2018
     
There is, however, a lot of art dedicated to the use of swords. The most famous one is this:
     
   
Flornce museum;
Benvenuto Cellini; Perseus with the Head of Medusa; ca. 1550;
Loggia dei Lanzi
One of the most famous sculptures around. Note how lovingly the spurting blood is modelled
Source: Photographed in Florence March 2018
     
Everybody except Medusa loves this bronze sculpture. Medusa was having a bad hair day, a topic also lovingly shown in one of the most famous art museums in the world, the Uffizi:
     
   
Annibale Carracci; Medusa, 1587; Uffizi
Source: Photographed in Florence March 2018
     
Innumerous other paintings show swordplay; here is a small part of a particularly busy one:
     
Flornce museum; sword use
Florence is winning
Small part of monstrous painting in the Palazzo Vecchio, probably showing how Florence clobbered Siena
Source: Photographed in Florence March 2018
     
You will have a great time to hunt for art involving swords, especially if you focus on the "Dead Christian" school of art. As I have pointed out before, medieval art can be roughly divided into two genres featuring either dead Christians or naked women, with a few heroes or mythical topics thrown in for a bit of diversity.
Personally, I prefer the naked women genre or the occasional still living Christian like this one:
     
Flornce museum; Magdalena
Maria Magdalena. Donatello; 15th century, Duomo Museum
This lady is more than 500 years old and like new! Worth a sin or two.
Source: Photographed in Florence March 2018
 
I know I kept you waiting - so here are the naked women:
 
Flornce museum; Venus, Tizian
Venus; Tizian, 1538 (Uffizi)
Source: Photographed in Florence March 2018
   
   
Flornce museum; Naked women
Giambologna; The Rape of the Sabine Women (1574–82), Loggia dei Lanzi
Source: Photographed in Florence March 2018
     
Don't miss the Galleria dell'Accademia! It contains Michelangelo's David and his girl friends. Lots of them : All naked, here is one of them:
     
 
Florence museums; naked women
One of many in the Galleria dell'Accademia
Source: Photographed in Florence March 2018
     
I even made a scientific discovery while studying a naked marble woman in the Boboli gardens (behind Palazzo Pitti): Boobs induced pattern formation or BIPF:
     
Florence museums; naked women
Boobs induced pattern formation with respect to the growth of algae. Boboli Garden
Source: Photographed in Florence March 2018
     
  Quite exciting, considering that pattern formation was one of my scientific specialities.
It goes without saying that there are plenty of dead Christians too in all those museums. In Santa Croce, you don't just find the tomb of Galileo but a masterpiece of Bronzini that merges the two genres:
   
Florence museums; Bronzini
Bronzini: "The descend of Christ into limbo"; 1552.
Source: Photographed in Florence March 2018
     
It appears that there are lots of admiring groupies in limbo, ready for whatever one does there.
Enough! Florence is not noted for its contribution to the history of iron and steel by displaying relevant artifacts in its museums. It is noted for showing breathtaking beauty in many expressions. Enjoy it and hunt for your particular favorites like Ledas or whatever.
   

With frame With frame as PDF

go to Critical Museum Guide

go to Galileo Galilei

go to Museums in Rome

go to Leda and the Swan

go to Segregation at Room Temperature

go to Master of Animals

© H. Föll (Iron, Steel and Swords script)