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The restoration of the famous room called Tribuna in the Uffizi in Florence will last one more year. The octagonal room was designed by Beranardo Buontalenti for Francesco I de’ Medici in 1584 in order to display paintings and sculptures of the Medici collection. The restoration of the ceiling, composed of 6 thousands shells of pinctada margaritifera (650 mother of pearl shell in each of the 8 sectors) was finished and had pointed out the peculiarity of the red lacca plaster on gold leaf. To recuperate the original chromatic effect they took more time than they expected and this attention made the restoration more complex. The walls of the room will be covered again with red silk expressly made with the ancient looms of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino (the Ancient Silk Factory). In the next future the Tribune will be no more open to public, but visible from glass doors and will have a XVIII century arrangement with different paintings from the storage of the Gallery and the original ancient statues. The restore was made possible because of the grant of 700,000 euros given by the Foundation Friends of Florence, whose President is Simonetta Brandolini d’Adda.
At the moment, visiting the Uffizi Gallery with an official tourist guide you can have a private tour and you can see some stages of the restoration on a video set in front of one of the glass doors of the Tribuna. Enjoy the visit.
