Sunday, March 21, 2010

Lunedi Lovelies: Palazzo dei Diamanti


The Diamond Palace. . . another gem of Ferrara (pun intended, hee hee) The palace was commissioned by the Estes and is one of the most famous Renaissance buildings in the world. The exterior is made of 8,500 diamonds carved out of marble.

To me the design is very contemporary but it was built in 1492. The same year Columbus sailed the ocean blue and way before power tools. Can you imagine carving each of those pieces of marble? Amazing. Legend has it that a very valuable diamond is hidden behind one of the marble diamonds.

It is now owned by the city and the interior is an art museum that also hosts many important traveling exhibits. They had an amazing Boldini exhibit (my favorite artist) and currently have an exhibition on Kandisky.




interior courtyard

2 comments:

  1. Kandisky -- should I know him? Painter? sculptor? What era? Have you been?

    Does your son still love museums?

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  2. 1900's. I think he's mostly known for his later works which are pretty abstract. I had a Kandisky print in my house in college.

    Yes, B still loves museums. Will, not so much.

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